| Bobby Wilder | |
| Caption: | Wilder at 2017 C-USA Media Days |
| Current Title: | Head coach |
| Current Team: | Tennessee Tech |
| Current Conference: | OVC |
| Current Record: | 7–5 |
| Birth Date: | 1 August 1964 |
| Player Years1: | 1983–1986 |
| Player Team1: | Maine |
| Player Positions: | Quarterback |
| Coach Years1: | 1988–1989 |
| Coach Team1: | Boston College (GA) |
| Coach Years2: | 1990 |
| Coach Team2: | Maine (RB) |
| Coach Years3: | 1991 |
| Coach Team3: | Maine (assistant DL) |
| Coach Years4: | 1992 |
| Coach Team4: | Maine (DL) |
| Coach Years5: | 1993 |
| Coach Team5: | Maine (WR/TE) |
| Coach Years6: | 1994–1999 |
| Coach Team6: | Maine (QB) |
| Coach Years7: | 2000–2006 |
| Coach Team7: | Maine (AHC/OC/QB) |
| Coach Years8: | 2009–2019 |
| Coach Team8: | Old Dominion |
| Coach Years9: | 2024–present |
| Coach Team9: | Tennessee Tech |
| Overall Record: | 84–61 |
| Bowl Record: | 1–0 |
| Tournament Record: | 2–2 (NCAA D-I playoffs) |
| Championships: | 1 C-USA East Division (2016) 1 Big South–OVC (2024) |
| Awards: | American Football Monthly Coach of the Year (2012) Division I Independent Coach of the Year (2013) |
Robert S. Wilder (born August 1, 1964) is an American football coach who serves as the head coach for Tennessee Tech University. Before that, served as the head coach of the Old Dominion Monarchs football team. He was only the second coach all-time in the program's history and the first since football's rebirth at the school in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2009.
Old Dominion played football for eleven seasons when the university was a two-year institution known as the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary. Between 1930 and 1940, the team compiled a record of 42-36-4. The program was then discontinued due to a rule banning freshman players and a US$10,000 debt.[1]
Hired in 2007, Wilder spent the first two years recruiting and starting up the program. In 2009, in his first competitive season as head coach, the Monarchs finished 9–2. That was the best winning record ever for a first-year program in college football's modern era.[2] The Monarchs were outscored by a total of only eight points in their two losses.
Wilder's inaugural team finished the year ranked in the top ten in five FCS statistical categories, including second in sacks allowed, third in scoring offense, turnover margin and net punting. The 2009 Monarchs were ninth in rushing offense.
ODU was fifth in FCS attendance in 2009, selling out all of their home games in the 19,782-seat Foreman Field.[3]
In his first three years, Wilder led Old Dominion to a 26–7 record. In 2011, in the Monarchs first season in the Colonial Athletic Association, they earned a berth in the 2011 FCS playoffs, hosting crosstown rival Norfolk State. Also in 2011, after playing 27 games in its "modern era", ODU received its first Top 25 ranking on October 3, coming in at No. 21 in The Sports Network poll. The Monarchs were ranked among the Top Ten after competing in 33 games. [4]
In December 2023 Wilder was announced as the 13th head football coach of Tennessee Tech University.[5]
Wilder grew up in Madison, Maine and attended Madison Area Memorial High School, where he graduated in 1982. A highly recruited quarterback, Wilder opted to play his college ball close to home. Upon graduation from the University of Maine in 1987 with a degree in physical education, Wilder served as a graduate assistant coach for two seasons under Jack Bicknell at Boston College, where he earned his master's degree in educational administration in 1990. He then returned to Maine, where he was an assistant coach, assistant head coach and finally associate head coach from 1990 to 2006.
He has two sons, Derek and Drew.