 Wilson spent eight years at head basketball coach at Wood High School in Indianapolis, then sixteen years as head coach and athletic director at Malcolm X College, compiling a 378-135 (.737) record.Afterwards, Wilson worked as an assistant coach for Anderson College and Anderson High School.Wilson was the assistant basketball coach at Lock Haven University aside his son John E. Wilson Jr. 

Wilson Sr. later moved to Virginia until the time of his death on January 11, 2019.