NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion University Head Football Coach Ricky Rahne has hired Dwike Wilson as cornerbacks coach and Hunter Sims as the General Manager, Rahne announced on Wednesday.
“We are excited to add Dwike to our staff. He has a wealth of experience recruiting and developing at this level,” Rahne said. “He has helped countless young men reach their goals on the field and in the classroom and I’m confident that will continue at ODU.”
Wilson comes to ODU after spending the previous two seasons at Southern Miss.
In his first season, he saw a unit assist the Golden Eagles with nine interceptions. Despite overseeing a depleted corps as the season progressed due to injury that saw two wide receivers transfer to cornerback spots, the group held their own as the season ended.
Prior to joining the Golden Eagles, Wilson spent a pair of seasons at South Alabama. In 2022, Wilson helped the Jaguars win 10 games and reach the New Orleans Bowl as the program established school marks for both overall and conference wins in a season. The Jaguars ranked No. 25 in total defense allowing 331.5 yards per contest and the squad was 30th nationally in interceptions with 13. Wilson oversaw one player, Darrell Luter, Jr., who earned All-Sun Belt honors, as he posted 42 tackles with one interception, seven pass breakups and a quarterback hurry.
Wilson also helped coach a Jaguar defense in 2021 which matched school season records with 15 interceptions and 25 total takeaways while recording the second-highest sack total in program history as well. Luter, Jr., who topped the Sun Belt in passes defended per game and was second in interceptions per contest, standing among the top five in the country in the former category and the top 15 in the latter, while picking off four passes and breaking up 10 others to go along with 21 tackles.
Wilson served two seasons at Indiana as the Hoosiers’ director of player personnel and high school relations. During his time with the program, IU posted a combined 14-7 overall record highlighted by an 11-5 mark in the Big Ten Conference after going 6-2 and ending up 12th in the final Associated Press poll in 2020.
He arrived in Bloomington after three years at Jones County (Miss.) J.C., where he was defensive coordinator and secondary coach during the 2016 and ‘17 campaigns before being named assistant head coach and moved to linebackers while maintaining coordinator duties his final season with the Bobcats.
Six individuals — including four named to the first-team — earned all-region and all-Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) South Division honors his final season at the school after JCJC went 10-2, won the Mississippi Bowl and was ranked fifth in the final National Junior College Athletic Association poll.
He filled multiple roles at Hinds (Miss.) CC from 2009-15, including spending one season as the Eagles’ secondary coach, special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator, three as the team’s defensive coordinator and three as a wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator.
Wilson also served as the recruiting coordinator and quarterbacks coach at North Carolina A&T for three years, one as recruiting coordinator and defensive backs coach at Murray State, and four seasons on the staff at Itawamba (Miss.) CC.
As a collegiate player, Wilson played at Hinds CC — helping the Eagles win the state championship in 1997 — before going on to work as a student assistant for two years at Ole Miss, where he would earn his bachelor’s degree.
Sims spent the 2024 season as the director of defensive recruiting at Tulane. He helped the Green Wave to a 9-5 record.
“Hunter brings a fresh perspective to our player development and retention department,” Rahne said. “His role will be wide ranging but will have primary focus on helping our program acquire and retain talented student-athletes.”
In 2023, Sims worked at Troy as a defensive graduate assistant, working primarily with the linebackers. The Trojans went 11-3 and won the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
Sims got his coaching start at the University of the Cumberlands as a student assistant working with the wide receivers. Following his year there, he spent three years at Meadowcreek High School (Ga.) coaching the wide receivers and quarterbacks.
Sims began his collegiate career at Hutchinson CC before transferring to the University of the Cumberlands to play wide receivers. He earned his undergraduate degree in coaching at Cumberlands and his master’s degree from Troy in 2024.