Bethune-Cookman University Athletics

Robert Wimberly, a defensive coach with extensive experience and seven conference championships seasons joined the Northern Illinois University football coaching staff in January 2019 as executive assistant coach, and linebackers coach and serves as the Huskies’ co-special teams coordinator. Wimberly arrived at NIU after spending seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at Liberty.
 
A native of Miami, Fla., Wimberly was tested early in his tenure at NIU when all three starting linebackers went down through the first six games, two before the season started, in 2019. He tutored Kyle Pugh and Nick Rattin to All-MAC accolades in 2020. Pugh was third on the team in tackles with 36 stops, while Rattin was fourth with 33.
 During the 2021 MAC Championship season, Wimberly guided senior Lance Deveaux Jr. to third team All-MAC honors after he finished second on the team in tackles with 75 and added six tackles for loss. Rattin led the team with 6.5 tackles for loss and was third on the squad with 73 stops.
 
Wimberly’s time at Liberty saw the Flames transition from the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision), to FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision), and he added associate head coach duties in 2018. Like NIU Head Coach Thomas Hammock, he began his career as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin, where the two coached together in 2003.
Wimberly’s defenses at Liberty, where he also coached the safeties, ranked among the best in the FCS with 30 players named all-conference during his seven seasons. Two of his Liberty players went on to NFL careers, including 2014 fourth round selection Walt Aikins (Miami Dolphins). Wimberly was named the 2014 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Assistant Coach of the Year for the FCS.
 
Liberty won four Big South Conference titles (2012-14, 2016) and made the school’s first appearance in the FCS Playoffs in 2014 during Wimberly’s tenure. The Flames finished the 2014 season ranked 17th in the country in the FCS Coaches Poll. During Liberty’s transition to the FBS in 2017 and its inaugural FBS season in 2018, the Flames won six games each year with notable wins over Baylor, New Mexico and Troy.
 
Wimberly’s latest stint at Liberty was his second at the school as he also served as linebacker coach for the Flames from 2004-08. During his career at Liberty, he coached five All-Big South Team linebackers, while a pair of his Flames players, including two-time All-American Jacob Hagen and Vince Redd, went on to play in the NFL. In his time at Buffalo, he recruited fifth overall draft pick, Khalil Mack and coached linebackers. He spent the 2010 and 2011 seasons at Kansas as passing game coordinator and safeties coach.
 
He earned his bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Alabama A&M in 2002 and graduated with a master’s degree in educational policy from Wisconsin in 2005.
A native of Miami, Fla., Wimberly played collegiately at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama, where he was a four-year letterwinner.
Wimberly and his wife, Tracie, have two children; daughter Bianca and son Josiah