Chris Wilson is returning to the college ranks and he’s bringing a doctorate in football with him

BOULDER — If you look at Chris Wilson’s resume, four years stick out.

Wilson, 51, is a veteran coach. His career started in 1993 with Indiana State and he’s worked at Northern Illinois, Illinois State, Army, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Georgia, USC and now — for the second time — Colorado.

But from 2014-19, Wilson didn’t coach college football.

What did Wilson do instead?

An outsider would probably point to the Super Bowl ring he earned as a defensive line coach, or bring up the handful of Pro Bowlers he worked closely, including Fletcher Cox who was a first-team All-Pro under Wilson.

Wilson describes those years differently.

“I got a Ph.D. in football,” he told reporters Thursday. “That’s what I did for the last four years.”