Coach Frank Wilson: From Baton Rouge to Oxford and back again

By Selika Sweet, M.D., FAAFP

JA Guest Writer

This season’s game between LSU and the University of Mississippi was more than another chapter in a storied rivalry. Lane Kiffin was returning to Oxford as LSU’s head coach, and the excitement seemed to reach every corner of town. Even hotel rooms were priced as though they were in Dubai.

Football has never been quite my cup of tea, but I found myself drawn into the excitement. So were friends who would not ordinarily spend a Saturday watching the University of Mississippi play. One told me, “I’m not an Ole Miss fan, never watched a game even when they played U of Memphis. But Saturday night … I was Ole Miss all the way.”

My attention kept returning to someone on the University of Mississippi sideline: Coach Frank Wilson.

Years ago, I did time at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. I was moonlighting as a physician in the infirmary, that is! During my years in southern Louisiana, I followed St. Augustine High School, the Catholic school for boys in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward that I had admired since my freshman year at Dillard University. I remembered hearing about Wilson, a running back from Algiers who played for the Purple Knights.

That young running back went on to make his mark as a coach in New Orleans. At O. Perry Walker High School, Wilson led the football team to two district championships and the 2002 Louisiana Class 4A championship game. That year, the NFL named him its Louisiana Coach of the Year. He later served as director of athletics for the New Orleans Public School System.

Then came his first trip to Oxford. From 2005 to 2007, Wilson coached running backs and assisted with special teams at the University of Mississippi. He helped develop BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who rushed for 1,000 yards in 2006 and earned first team All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches. Oxford was part of Wilson’s story long before this season.

His career took him to Southern Mississippi, then to Tennessee, where he coached on Kiffin’s staff in 2009. At LSU, Wilson spent a total of 10 seasons developing running backs and recruiting talent. He led the University of Texas at San Antonio to a bowl game in his first year as head coach. When LSU needed an interim head coach in 2025, it turned to Wilson. This season brought him back to Oxford as the University of Mississippi’s senior associate head coach and running backs coach.

Think about those connections. Kiffin left the University of Mississippi for LSU. Wilson left LSU to return to the University of Mississippi. They had once worked together at Tennessee. Now they faced each other from opposite sidelines.

Wilson knows Louisiana football. He knows LSU. He knows Oxford, too. I wondered what his experience brought to the University of Mississippi as it prepared for his former team. Only the coaches know exactly what part he played in the 32 to 24 victory.

One friend put into words what I had been thinking: “Frank Wilson is a fine man and literally a recruiting and coaching legend in the Deep South. Ole Miss is so blessed to have this gentleman on staff!”

As much attention followed Kiffin’s return, my thoughts kept going to the St. Augustine Purple Knight on the other sideline. From Algiers to New Orleans’ public schools, from Oxford to Baton Rouge and back again, Wilson has built a career worthy of its own headline.

Somewhere, I imagine, a fellow Purple Knight is saying, “Hotty Toddy!”

Congratulations to the University of Mississippi. May the St. Augustine Purple Knights be with you!