Frank Wilson reveals how much he has spoken with LSU about landing full-time head coaching job

Coming into the season, nobody expected the LSU Tigers to fire Brian Kelly. Now that it’s happened, however, it appears to be one of the most attractive jobs in the country. Certainly, it’s going to be one of the most interesting coaching searches in the country.

It’s, of course, not unheard of to promote an interim head coach if a team goes on a run. In this case, that interim head coach is Frank Wilson, who recently shared that it isn’t his focus as of now. In fact, he’s not yet discussed the possibility with athletic director Scott Woodward.

“We didn’t indulge too much into it Sunday night when the decision was made,” Frank Wilson said. “I was asked at that time would I lead us through this remainder of the season. Certainly, I was extremely honored to do so, humbled to do so. We talked about that portion of it for this moment. When that happens, you answer the bell. When Mother University calls for you, you answer. You pull up your bootstraps and you do what’s required and asked of you to represent our university extremely well.”

The last time LSU hired its interim head coach was Ed Orgeron. He’d win a national championship in Baton Rouge. At the same time, he also ended up getting fired from the job too.

Frank Wilson is a New Orleans native who played his own college ball at Nicholls State before becoming a high school coach within the state. He’d later make the jump to coaching in college, which included stints as the head coach at UTSA and McNeese State. In 2022, he’d make his way to LSU as the assistant head coach and running backs coach.

Notably, Wilson does have that experience as a head coach. However, in that time as a head coach, Wilson’s teams did struggle in terms of wins and losses. He has an overall record of 26-40 as a head coach. That includes just one bowl trip at UTSA and one season where they finished with a winning record.

Since the LSU job opened up, there’s been an expectation that the Tigers go big-game hunting. After all, that’s what Scott Woodward has done in the past. As the AD at Texas A&M, he hired Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State. At LSU, he’s already hired Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame. So, big names are littered on the LSU head coaching hot board, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. That includes Lane Kiffin, Marcus Freeman, and Eli Drinkwitz, among others.

For now, the focus is on the task at hand at LSU for Wilson. That means rallying the team going into the bye week to try and play spoiler against Alabama on November 8th. That’s one of three SEC games remaining and four total games to play.