Student Union

By Lilly Donahue | Indiana University

Anyone who knows anything about Indiana football knows about our coach, Kevin Wilson. But if you, like most of America, are not a fan of IU football, then K-Willy may be as unfamiliar to you as success is to Purdue fans. Coach Wilson is known to be blunt, and usually this creates hilarious press conferences. So let’s take a look at some of Coach Wilson’s most entertaining quotes:

The Fan Roast
Two weeks ago, IU played Ball State for their first home game of the season. I was at the game, and IU exceeded my expectations, running up a 30-0 lead by the end of the third quarter. So, like any student who has a lot of work to do, I chalked up the Hoosier W and left the game early. So you can imagine that I felt a bit guilty when Coach Wilson said this in his press conference the next day: “We played like our fans, and left in the fourth quarter.”  Now, I get what he’s saying. Fans should stay the entire game, or else players lose motivation. But let me tell you why I left. Last season, my mom and I went to the IU-Rutgers game. IU was playing amazing and had amassed a 25-point lead. We thought about leaving early, since it seemed like our victory was guaranteed with a lead this big. But, as loyal fans, we decided to see how many points our beloved Hoosiers could score. Boy, were we in for a shock. If you don’t know what happened, IU choked harder than Tony Romo and managed to not score a single point, all while allowing Rutgers to mount a comeback and WIN THE GAME. So yeah, I get where you’re coming from Kevin, I really do. But I’ve been an IU football fan for years, and I know that IU almost never fails to snatch a loss from the clutches of victory. Do I agree fans should stay for the whole game? Sure. But I totally understand why fans are tempted to dash for the exits to beat both the traffic and the crushing disappointment.

The Laundry List
Kevin Wilson has made a name for himself with the local media due to his affinity for naming off many players during his press conferences who have performed well. During his Big 10 Media Day interview this year, he rattled off 29 player’s names who he thought were notable, which doesn’t even include all the coaches and former players he mentioned. He does the same thing after EVERY game, which I guess is a nice way to recognize player, but it’s also a bit excessive. In a way, it does reflect the nature of the IU program. It’s my understanding that Coach Wilson is pretty close with his players, which I can respect.

The Hashtag Hoarder


Kevin Wilson has a Twitter account (@IUCoachWilson), and if you’re a fan of hashtags, you’re in the right place. Almost every tweet Coach Wilson sends includes a bare minimum of 2 hashtags (#iufb, sometimes #BOOM) I can see it’s benefit in terms of grabbing a reader’s attention, but I also have the image of him shouting the entire thing to some intern as he rapidly types it out.