Former UTSA coach’s new job got off to stormy start
When the 150 mile per hour winds of Hurricane Laura ripped through Louisiana last August, Mcneese State football coach Frank Wilson evacuated his wife and daughters to Baton Rouge while he and his son lingered in Lake Charles to help sort through the wreckage.
The Category 4 storm was one of the strongest to make landfall in the state in recent history, causing more than $200 million in damage to Mcneese’s campus.
While some of Mcneese’s players lost their belongings or even their homes in the storm, Wilson said he was fortunate his house in Lake Charles suffered only minor blemishes, with about 20 trees knocked down.
“It’s, again, putting things in a proper perspective. Pushes you to love a little harder. To appreciate things a little more in a quality life,” Wilson said. “It’s almost embarrassing to even talk about those cosmetic things, when people lost everything. So certainly, that’s where our heart went.”
Wilson, fired at UTSA in December 2019 after a four-year tenure and hired at Mcneese the next month, marveled at his new community’s ability to pull together in the wake of the destruction. Neighbors driving by offered to assist his cleanup effort, and families gathered to cook meals by generator.
While every college football coach in the country has grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic this year, Wilson’s first season in a new gig also has been marked by a pair of natural disasters, as Laura was followed by Hurricane Delta in October.
Working through extensive damage to the football facilities and a deluge of roster turnover, Wilson and the Cowboys remain committed to playing a Southland season this spring. Mcneese hosts Incarnate Word at noon Saturday in Lake Charles, the Cowboys’ first home game under Wilson.
“It was a time that really tested us. Tested me, myself, honestly,” Wilson said. “Extremely grateful and extremely blessed have our football team back together and
training. But yeah, it certainly has been challenging.”
When Laura left the Mcneese football building unusable, the Cowboys shifted workouts to a local high school. Even now, with operations moving closer to normal, the team room remains closed, and Wilson leads Mcneese’s meetings from the club level of the stadium. Destroyed goal posts and field turf have been replaced, but the facility remains without lights or a functioning press box.
With the damage casting doubt over the season and the program under a postseason ban because of academic issues predating Wilson’s tenure, 21 players transferred or left, forcing Wilson to make the equivalent of home recruiting visits to many of his remaining players.
Still, Wilson’s excitement for the home opener hasn’t dampened. Mcneese kicked off the season with a 40-37 doubleovertime win over Tarleton State on Feb. 13, and Wilson said he expects fans to fill Cowboy Stadium to the allowed capacity of about 2,800 on Saturday. He sees Lake Charles as a “college football town” that rallies around the program.
“When I look out there and envision, I just think about that little kid with his grandparents,” Wilson said. “They grew up in this stadium, and they would roll down the hill, and the team would take the field, and the kids would be in the back of the end zone. I’m so anxious to be a part of that, so excited and fortunate to be a part of something that is so prominent and such a blessing to our university.”
Hired at UTSA in 2016 as the second coach in program history, Wilson led the Roadrunners to their first bowl appearance but was fired after the team sputtered to a combined 7-17 record in 2018 and 2019.
Wilson, who remains under contract with UTSA for more than $1 million per year until February 2022, drew the ire of some Roadrunners fans during his introductory news conference at Mcneese. He commented that the Cowboys program, “unlike the one that I just left from,” has “a rich tradition, an extreme amount of pride — things that you don’t necessarily have to invent.”
Wilson said the remark followed a question regarding the attendance challenges that became a talking point during his final year at UTSA, and he said his answer was not intended to “jab at UTSA.”
“I never meant disrespect to UTSA, to its fan base, to its administration or to its kids. Never. And I never left grudgingly,” Wilson said. “You never heard me, from the time I was released and beyond, I never said a derogatory thing to (athletic director) Lisa Campos, to (university president) Taylor Eighmy, or about any of those kids, who I love dearly.”
Wilson said he holds “no resentments” toward UTSA and is “grateful and forever thankful for that opportunity.” He said he keeps in touch with Eighmy and some of the other administrators, and while he’s tried to allow his former to players to “have their space,” he said he responds to those who still text or call around the holidays.
As UTSA went 7-5 last season under new coach Jeff Traylor, Wilson kept tabs on the scores or highlights and “may have seen a game or two,” he said.
“It was kind of what we thought could happen and would happen, and I was just ecstatic to see the success over the year, and I would bet it’ll be even better this year,” Wilson said. “It’s good to see that we were able to be a small portion of something that has come to full life, so hats off to that coaching staff and those kids.”