Steve Wilks' latest career move proves Jets had one of the league's worst DCs

When Aaron Glenn was first hired as head coach of the New York Jets, he wanted to bring along with him some experience to his coaching staff, considering it was his first time at the helm of an organization.

He took a big swing on an up-and-coming offensive mind in offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand and hired former NFL head coach Steve Wilks to be his defensive coordinator. A year later, both coaches have moved on to greener pastures.

After an abysmal 2025 season, Glenn virtually wiped his entire coaching staff, including both his coordinators. In Wilks' case, he didn't even make it through the regular season. He was fired after a 48-20 blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15.

Engstrand landed a job with the Atlanta Falcons as a pass game coordinator under new head coach Kevin Stefanski. Wilks, on the other hand, seems to be taking his talents to college football.

Former Jets DC Steve Wilks lands new gig with Appalachian State University

Appalachian State University announced via their X account that Wilks would be joining their program as a special assistant to their athletics department.

It's a homecoming for Wilks, who played defensive back at App State from 1987 to 1991 and was also a coach there in 2001.

Congratulations to the longtime NFL coach for landing on his feet, but it's fairly telling that Wilks was unable to find another job in the pros, even as a positional coach.

It speaks volumes to how poor the Jets' defense was in 2025, ranking last or near-last in almost every major category.

For starters, New York was atrocious against the run last year. They gave 139.5 rushing yards per game to opponents, fourth most in the entire league.

The Jets' defense also struggled to get after the quarterback. They finished the season with 26 sacks, the second-least amount in the NFL in front of only the Nick Bosa-less San Francisco 49ers.

And the worst of all, as everyone knows by now, the Jets managed to go an entire 17-game season without recording a single interception, something never before seen in modern NFL history.

So, it makes sense why Wilks wasn't targeted by other teams to join their defensive coaching staffs. With the most recent year on his resume being a truly embarrassing one, he had no choice but to take on a non-coaching role with a college athletics program.

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