Norries Wilson
Norries Wilson is the 18th head coach of the Columbia University football team, and the first African-American head football coach in the Ivy League.
A 1989 graduate of the University of Minnesota, he was hired at Columbia following the 2005 season, during which the Lions finished 0-7 in the Ivy League, 2-8 overall.
With a victory over the Fordham Rams in the 2006 Liberty Cup, he became the first Columbia head football coach since Aldo T. "Buff" Donelli in 1957 to win his debut. When the Lions beat Georgetown the following week, he became the first since Hall of Famer Lou Little to start his career 2-0.
During his first season, Columbia ended a 16-game Ivy League losing streak with a 21-14 victory over Cornell. A 22-21 season-ending win at Brown gave the Lions their first consecutive league victories since 2003.
The Light Blue finished Wilson's inaugural campaign with those two league wins and a 5-5 record overall. It was the first time in a decade that the Lions had finished at .500, and it gave Wilson the highest career winning percentage among Columbia coaches since Charlie Crowley led the team to a 26-16-4 record from 1925 to 1929.
Through three seasons with Columbia, Norries is 4-17 in league play and 8-22 overall.
Wilson joined Columbia after four years as offensive coordinator at the University of Connecticut. In 2004, he was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.
He also has coached at Bucknell University, Livingstone College, North Carolina Central University, and was a graduate assistant at Minnesota.
Wilson was a captain, two-year starter and three-year letterwinner for the Gophers. He also earned two letters in wrestling, and qualified for the NCAA Championships as a heavyweight.
Coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Rank# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Lions (Ivy League) (2006–present) | |||||||||
| 2006 | Columbia | 5-5 | 2-5 | 6th | |||||
| 2007 | Columbia | 1-9 | 0-7 | 8th | |||||
| 2008 | Columbia | 2-8 | 2-5 | 6th | |||||
| Columbia: | 8-22 | 4-17 | |||||||
| Total: | 8-22 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
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