Sure, there might be a few gray hairs on 52-year-old Ricky Wilson’s head but he’s still got that look of a young assistant basketball coach.
“That might change now,” he joked Tuesday afternoon in a lengthy interview from his phone booth of an office at the Gaines Center at Winston-Salem State.
Wilson has moved over a chair on the bench and was named interim head coach by athletics director Etienne Thomas over the weekend. Cleo Hill Jr., left after six seasons as head coach and will get his first opportunity at the Division I level at Maryland Eastern-Shore.
Wilson, who along with Lance Beckwith, were the two trusted assistant coaches as Hill guided the Rams to a 90-50 record and two CIAA championships. Beckwith will likely go with Hill, but Wilson decided to stay with the hopes of landing the job after a national search is conducted.
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Winston-Salem State associate head basketball coach Ricky Wilson has been named the interim head coach with Cleo Hill Jr. leaving for Maryland Eastern- Shore.
Wilson, a 20-year veteran in college coaching, had a seven year stint as a head coach at a junior college where he won two conference titles and 60% of his games.
“I’m also 2-0 here,” Wilson said with a smile. His undefeated mark as a head coach for the Rams came when Hill missed two games during his six seasons in Winston-Salem when Hill was out sick.
The plan for Wilson is to be guided by Thomas on what she would like in keeping the program on solid ground this summer. Unfortunately for Wilson about two hours after this interview WSSU’s only returning starter, K.C. Shaw, and Division I transfer Wesley Tubbs, jumped into the transfer portal.
Naturally, when a coach leaves a job in the transfer portal era players will follow.
The reality for whoever is the next coach is this season’s team could have five new starters with not much experience at any position. That won’t make it easy in the competitive CIAA.
Winston-Salem State assistant coaches Ricky Wilson and Lance Beckwith were with Cleo Hill Jr. for all six of his seasons. Beckwith will likely be going with Hill to Maryland Eastern-Shore but Wilson is the interim head coach of the Rams.
Because Hill left for another job WSSU players have a 30-day window to go into the portal. It’s a good bet some of the Rams will end up with Hill at Maryland Eastern-Shore.
Shaw’s younger brother, Kyrell, is an incoming freshman for the Rams but so far hasn’t indicated on social media that he’s going anywhere.
Wilson said the roster with a bunch of moving parts is how college athletics operates now.
“For me, the most important thing is trying to understand what AD Thomas wants, and take her direction,” Wilson said. “Making sure I’m doing what she wants because I’m not the head coach, I’m just the interim.”
Thomas, who has been the athletics director since January of 2020, signed a five-year contract and that contract expires on Dec. 31, 2025. She said after Hill left there would be a national search for Hill’s replacement.
Coach Ricky Wilson is 2-0 as acting head coach over the last six seasons. He took over for Coach Cleo Hill Jr. twice when Hill was sick.
The hire will be the first major decision for Thomas other than when she removed the interim tag off football coach Robert Massey two years ago.
Wilson would like the job, which is one reason he stayed around.
“I hope (his time at WSSU) earned some merit,” Wilson said about being a candidate for the opening. “With Coach Hill, the great thing about him is he afforded me and (Beckwith) to do a lot of things within the program. He gave us a lot of responsibilities and that really was important to our success.”
During the six seasons Hill had great stability in the program thanks to the loyalty of Beckwith and Wilson. They were hired when Hill was hired and stayed the entire time.
“I’ve thought about that a lot,” Wilson said about the stability the coaching staff had at WSSU. “And I think that was part of our success was our chemistry as a coaching staff and that carried over to the team.”
Even though it’s late in the hiring process for college basketball, Thomas said her intent is to open the search.
Ricky Wilson has been coaching in college for the last 20 years.
One way to go if the search doesn’t come up with a strong candidate is keeping Wilson as the interim coach for this coming season. Whatever Thomas and the incoming chancellor, Bonita Brown, who was hired last week, decide it’s up to Wilson to keep the program going during the transition.
Among the possible candidates with ties to WSSU are Paul Davis, who is the women’s coach at Bluefield State, and Wykevin Bazemore, an assistant at Shaw for the men’s program. Both are young coaches who are former WSSU players who are familiar with the CIAA and Division II.
Bazemore, a four-year All-CIAA player, is in the Big House Gaines Hall of Fame and Davis, the school’s all-time leader in blocked shots, should be.
Wilson, who grew up down the street from Hill in New Jersey, was coach of the year twice in his seven seasons at Baton Rouge Community College. He also coached under Larry Eustachy at Southern Miss for seven seasons.
Wilson played two years at a community college and then played two seasons for the University of Idaho before graduating and getting into coaching.
“Mrs. Thomas has been awesome with really explaining to me the situation and helping me along,” Wilson said. “A lot of AD’s would sort of keep you in the dark but she’s been in constant contact with me and I appreciate that.”
As for lobbying for the job, Wilson said he hopes his experience, his knowledge of the CIAA and his ability to recruit will be considered.
“This school really is a gold mine,” he said. “I really think that if we would have stayed together within five years we would have won a national championship. We were on that track, and I just think the school sells itself and we talk about Ramily all the time and that is something I believe in. That’s how you get kids here is that Ramily because it’s a real thing.”
