Scooter Hobbs column: LSU celebrates Wilson’s return
Published 11:00 am Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Sometimes these things work out.
Tuesday’s big news on the local front, surprising to some, not so much to others, might qualify.
McNeese State head coach Frank Wilson’s resignation to join Brian Kelly’s new staff at LSU might just qualify.
It just could turn out to be the best thing for both schools.
Maybe, dare we say it, it’s a win-win situation for Cowboys and Tigers alike.
That’s all the trickier when it involves two fan bases that often overlap, sometimes into full-blown dual allegiance.
Here, the big, filthy-rich Flagship up on the hill swooped down and took the leader of the McNeese program for an assistant’s role at LSU.
Yet you don’t detect even any awkwardness in the development, certainly no hard feelings.
I doubt McNeese is going to drop football over Wilson’s departure.
The feeling among Cowboys’ fans seems to be, well … meh.
No big deal. They’ll get another coach. Always do.
Yet over at LSU, which seemingly can have (or buy) anything it wants, the reaction has been champagne and confetti, scattered dancing in the streets.
Happy days are here again.
LSU social media is screaming “Welcome Home” to a New Orleans native who nevertheless made his coaching bones in Baton Rouge, mostly on the recruiting trail for the Tigers from 2010-2015.
He’s still an icon at LSU, revered like few other past assistants.
The recruiting junkies amongst LSU fans — and, brother, they’re out there in droves — worship the pavement Wilson pounds rounding up five stars.
Now the prodigal saviour is returning to lock down the state’s strongest and swiftest.
McNeese fans no doubt wish him well, in a polite sort of way, but aren’t having to be coaxed back in from the ledge over losing him.
For whatever reason, McNeese never warmed up to Wilson, never truly embraced him.
That went not just from the fans, but for an administration that always seemed to be supporting him, but from an arm’s-length distance.
You got the feeling neither Wilson nor the administration really knew what to think of each other, were still feeling each other out.
Of course, not much went right for Wilson in his short, two-year stay — nobody’s fault, really, more like acts of God.
It seemed like a perfect hire at the time, particularly because he was being paid not to coach UTSA while coaching at a school with shallow pockets.
But the deck was stacked against Wilson from the start.
The problems were well chronicled, taking over just as the COVID-19 pandemic turned all sports sideways.
But then Hurricanes Laura and Delta blew McNeese football upside down and all about the countryside.
The on-field success kind of mirrored that, yet wasn’t a fair fight.
But if the jury is still out on Wilson as a head coach, LSU knows exactly what it is getting as an assistant and a recruiter —and no doubt is ready to pay handsomely for it.
Kelly is known for putting together great staffs and this hire of Wilson qualifies as a great start, not only on quality but even more so on need.
What Kelly is not known for, at least by reputation, is an Ed Orgeron-like enthusiasm for hitting the bricks recruiting.
Plus, as an outsider who’s never even coached in the South, Kelly almost has to have an ace recruiting coordinator.
He probably didn’t have to ask around Baton Rouge much before settling on his man.
Wilson, in particular, is known as the guru of recruiting this fertile state, twice named national recruiter of the year during his first, six-year stint at LSU under Les Miles.
He should fit in fine.
With all the turmoil at McNeese lately, maybe the Cowboys need a fresh start anyway.
—
Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com