With the firing of Frank Wilson the process of finding his successor could impact the program for many years to come
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For some of the UTSA fanbase Christmas came early on Sunday. For others there was shock and surprise. The yearlong argument among the fanbase over whether Frank Wilson should be given another year or shown the door was settled by Athletic Director Lisa Campos. Her decision was to show Frank Wilson the door after four years and a 19-29 record.
"I want to thank Coach Wilson for his efforts on behalf of the football program and the university, and for his commitment to his student-athletes,” Campos said in a statement on Sunday. "As only the second head coach in our history, Coach Wilson continued to build on the foundation of a young football program and we are grateful for his contributions to UTSA.”
Whether or not you sided with those who wanted to see him go or with those who wanted to give him another year what's done is done. Before we look ahead to what the future holds we should remember that Frank Wilson might not have gotten enough wins in the final two years of his tenure but his influence on the program went beyond the record on the field.
While Frank Wilson was head coach there weren't many, if any, stories coming out of UTSA players getting in trouble with academics or the law. In four years of covering Wilson's program we at Birds Up interviewed a lot of players. Whenever they were asked about what Wilson expected from them the vast majority answered with some form of "do what is best for the team, not for yourself."
That is something that the next head coach will have to try and keep going. The next coach will need to instill in every player the importance of the team, not individual accomplishments.
Those of us who have followed the program from its infancy can remember the state of the program at the end of 2015. It was similar to where it is in 2019. In the two previous seasons (2014 and 2015, 2018 and 2019) the program had won seven games and lost 17 games. Those two seasons of seven combined wins had come following two successful seasons. In 2012 and 2013 the Roadrunners had gone 8-4 and 7-5 but were still transitioning to FBS so couldn't make a bowl.
In 2016 the Roadrunners went 6-7 and lost in their first ever bowl game. They entered 2017 with the belief they could make another bowl game. The 2017 season opener will remain one of the great unknowns or what ifs of UTSA football. The originally scheduled opener with Houston was cancelled because of Hurricane Harvey. UTSA only played 11 games that season and went 6-5 but all five of those losses were in conference play and when the musical chairs of bowl invites ended UTSA was without an invite. If they play Houston that year, do they win that game, if they win the game at the end of the season they are 7-5 and would have made two bowls in a row.
Alas it wasn't meant to be. 2018 and 2019 followed and now here the Roadrunners are, having finished nine seasons in program history, eight seasons at the FBS level and searching for their third head coach.
At some point the Roadrunners might have to let a coach work through the slumps, otherwise they could become a revolving door of coaches and that leads to lack of consistency that then builds upon itself until before long a program with promise falls into a repetition of mediocrity.
Now I'm not going to argue one way or the other about Wilson. The die has been cast. The box has been open. It can't be closed. What fans of UTSA need to understand is that whoever the next coach is will have to go through the same situation Wilson did at the start of 2016.
There is no doubt that the departure of Wilson will lead to transfers of players out of the program and loss of recruits. That is a given anytime there is a coaching change whether it happens in the power five or the group of five. The new guy in charge of the Roadrunners will have to hit the ground running on day one and try to rebuild from the pieces that remain.
It remains to be seen what pieces might remain at UTSA. I imagine some or most of the players from San Antonio might stick around but a lot of the players from out of state that were sold on UTSA by Wilson might decide to enter the transfer portal and beam themselves to other locales.
The next head coach will also have the unenviable task of trying to bring together a fanbase that divides over anything on social media at the drop of a hat. He will also have to get the city talking about the Roadrunners again and get people to come back to the Alamodome. It won't matter if they are students, alumnae or just citizens off the street, the new coach will need to become a man of the people, not just in San Antonio but everywhere from Seguin to Kerrville, Boerne to Jourdanton.
The easiest way to bring the crowds back will be to win and how quickly those wins appear could depend on who stays and who goes from the current squad of underclassmen and potential recruits. Thanks to the Spurs the people of San Antonio have been spoiled by wins. They would quickly embrace a successful Roadrunner team.
In their last hire the Roadrunners went with a coach who hadn't had any head coaching experience. It worked for awhile. Now UTSA should swing to the other side of the spectrum and try and find a coach who has led a team to wins before.
It might not matter whether that is a coach from the FCS level or an FBS coordinator or a former FBS head coach. All that matters is finding the right guy for UTSA that will carry the Roadrunners forward long enough that we're not having to enter the coaching carousel in four years time.
If the third head coach of the Roadrunners is still here for his fifth season then we will know that Campos and the athletic department made the right choice back in December 2019.
FORUMS: UTSA Boulevard | Roadrunner Way
