Background
Wilson was born in Greenville, Texas and lived there shortly, but moved to Commerce, Texas where he spent most of his childhood.
Wilson was born in Greenville, Texas and lived there shortly, but moved to Commerce, Texas where he spent most of his childhood.
Wilson graduated from Commerce High School in 1977 and took a scholarship offer from Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University-Commerce (then East Texas State University).
Wilson is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical-Commerce Lions (formerly East Texas State), where he was an National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American. Wilson was the starting quarterback at ETSU from 1978 to 1980 for head coach Ernest Hawkins.
He led the Lions to a 5–5 record and 2nd-place finish in the Lone Star Conference as a junior, throwing for 1,826 yards and 10 touchdowns.
As a senior in 1980, he led the Lions to a share of the Lone Star Conference Championship with an 8–3–1 record, its first since winning the National Championship in 1972, and an National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics playoff berth. The Lions finished 6th in the country.
Wilson graduated in 1981 with a degree in Business Management. He finished his career in Commerce throwing for 4,574 yards and 32 touchdowns.
He was inducted in the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical-Commerce Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002 and then the Lone Star Conference Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.
Wilson was drafted in the eighth round of the 1981 NFL Draft. He was a one time Pro Bowler with the Vikings in 1988 and finished his career completing 1,391 passes on 2,428 attempts for 17,283 yards, 99 touchdowns and 102 interceptions. Wilson led the Vikings to three playoff appearances in the late 80s.
Wilson retired in 1999 at age 40.
Wilson was the Chicago Bears quarterback coach from 2004 until February 22, 2007, when he re-signed with the Cowboys, for whom he was quarterback coach from 2000 to 2002. On September 1, 2007, Wilson was suspended five games and fined $100,000 for purchasing and using performance-enhancing drugs.
In his defense, Wilson has said that the drug (HGH) was used to help his problem with diabetes. However, Commissioner Goodell seemed to sidestep this defense saying, "First of all, I"m not going to get into the personal situations of why Wade was taking it, but that"s not an accurate point.".