Frank Wilson
Frank Wilson went 28–43 as a head coach, 2016–2025, at UTSA, McNeese State and LSU. Share
Two seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2020–21 at McNeese State. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 28–43 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Nov 5, 1973
- Alma mater
- Nicholls 1997
- Best season
- 2017 6–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | UTSA | 6–7 | 2nd (West) | New Mexico Bowl L | ||
| 2017 | UTSA | 6–5 | 5th (West) | |||
| 2018 | UTSA | 3–9 | 5th (West) | |||
| 2019 | UTSA | 4–8 | T–4th (West) | |||
| 2020 | McNeese State * | 3–4 | T–5th | |||
| 2021 | McNeese State * | 4–7 | T–4th | |||
| 2022–24: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2025 | LSU interim, remainder of season | 2–3 | 10th | Texas Bowl L | ||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
Players he coached
Mansoor DelaneConsensus All‑American, 2025
Marcus DavenportNo. 14 pick, 2018
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 3 | 0–3 | 0% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 8 | 4–4 | 50% |
| Conference games | 35 | 14–21 | 40% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 18 | 8–10 | 44% |
| At home | 25 | 13–12 | 52% |
| On the road | 26 | 8–18 | 31% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 25 | 18–7 | 72% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 28 | 3–25 | 11% |
His own 53 games on file, 2016–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Hopson 2016–2019 | 1–3 | Southern Miss | 4 | |
| Seth Littrell 2016–2019 | 1–3 | North Texas | 4 | |
| Skip Holtz 2016–2019 | 0–4 | Louisiana Tech | 4 | |
| Matt Rhule 2017–2019 | 1–2 | Baylor | 3 | |
| Bill Clark 2017–2019 | 0–3 | UAB | 3 |
Frank Wilson’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Riceseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| UTEPseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| North Texasseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Southern Missseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Louisiana Techseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Baylorseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| UABseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Texas Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Nicholls State | Student assistant | |
| 1997–99 | Edna Karr HS (LA) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 2000–03 | O. P. Walker HS (LA) high school | Head coach | |
| 2005–07 | Ole Miss | Running backs and special teams coach | |
| 2008 | Southern Miss | Running backs coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2009 | Tennessee | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2010–15 | LSU | Assistant head coach, running backs coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| 2016–19 | UTSA | Head coach | |
| 2020–21 | McNeese State | Head coach | |
| 2022–25 | LSU | Assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| 2025 | LSU | Interim head coach | |
| 2026–present | Ole Miss | Senior associate head coach and running backs coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Ed OrgeronOle Miss
- Larry FedoraSouthern Miss
- Lane KiffinTennessee
- Les MilesLSU
- Brian KellyLSU
- Pete GoldingOle Miss
Assistants who became head coaches
- Frank ScelfoSE Louisiana
- Pete GoldingOle Miss
- Brad DavisLSU
- Lance GuidryMiami (OH), Western Kentucky, McNeese
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Orgeron | Ole Miss | 2005–07 | Running backs and special teams coach | |
| Larry Fedora | Southern Miss | 2008 | Running backs coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Lane Kiffin | Tennessee | 2009 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Les Miles | LSU | 2010–15 | Assistant head coach, running backs coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Brian Kelly | LSU | 2022–25 | Assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| Pete Golding | Ole Miss | 2026 | Senior associate head coach and running backs coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (4)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Scelfo | UTSA, 2016–17: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | SE Louisiana | |
| Pete Golding | UTSA, 2016–17: defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach | Ole Miss | |
| Brad Davis | LSU, 2025: offensive line coach | LSU | |
| Lance Guidry | LSU, 2025: defensive assistant | Miami (OH), Western Kentucky, McNeese |
Other assistants under him (11)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Eric Henderson | UTSA, 2016: defensive line coach | |
| Jason Rollins | UTSA, 2016–17: associate head coach and linebackers coach; 2018–19: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Patrick Toney | UTSA, 2016–17: safeties coach | |
| Ryan Pugh | UTSA, 2016–17: offensive line coach | |
| Al Borges | UTSA, 2018: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jeff Kastl | UTSA, 2019: offensive coordinator | |
| Alex Atkins | LSU, 2025: interim offensive coordinator, running game coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Blake Baker | LSU, 2025: defensive coordinator | |
| Chuck Bullough | LSU, 2025: senior defensive analyst | |
| Cortez Hankton | LSU, 2025: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Joe Sloan | LSU, 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | UTSA | head coachbonuses up to $185,000; $17,500 in bonuses paid; buyout $4,675,000 | $1,137,500 USA Today | |
| 2016 | UTSA | head coachbonuses up to $185,000 | $835,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Wilson’s teams went for it on 23% of fourth downs and on 36% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 53% of plays and took 25.4 seconds a play, 2018–2019.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 12 g | 20 of 113 18% | 28% | 58% | 25.4 | −0.18 | |
| 2019 12 g | 31 of 107 29% | 44% | 49% | 25.5 | −0.04 | |
| All 24 g | 51 of 220 23% | 36% | 53% | 25.4 | −0.11 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.