Frank Wilson Set to Join Ole Miss After One Final Game with LSU
HOUSTON - Frank Wilson’s next chapter is already written - but he’s not quite done with the current one. Before officially joining Ole Miss as the Rebels’ new running backs coach and associate head coach, Wilson will lead LSU into the Texas Bowl, closing out his second stint in Baton Rouge with one final game.
Wilson confirmed that there were conversations with LSU’s new head coach, Lane Kiffin, about potentially staying on in a different role. But ultimately, the two sides couldn’t find the right fit. LSU has since hired Kevin Smith - Kiffin’s longtime assistant and former Ole Miss running backs coach - to take over Wilson’s role.
“We talked about ways that it could work out,” Wilson said ahead of Saturday night’s bowl matchup against No. 21 Houston.
“Coach Kiffin was absolutely awesome the entire time and wanted to try to find a way to work it out. We didn't come to that resolution.
And so there were other opportunities out there.”
One of those opportunities came from a familiar face. Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding, recently promoted after Kiffin’s departure to LSU, reached out to Wilson with a chance to reunite.
The two go way back - Wilson gave Golding his first major defensive coordinator job at UTSA in 2016. Since then, Golding has climbed the SEC ladder, coordinating defenses at Alabama and Ole Miss before taking the reins in Oxford.
“We forged an even closer bond and mutual respect professionally for one another,” Wilson said. “So when the opportunity came, he extended himself to me, and I thought it was a great fit for myself and for my family.”
Wilson didn’t get into the specifics of what LSU offered him in terms of an off-field role, but he made it clear there were options on the table. Still, the timing and the fit with Golding at Ole Miss won out.
“We just couldn't come to a conclusion,” Wilson said. “But all those things were on the table.
Coach Kiffin was awesome. I have no qualms with Coach Kiffin.
He's going to do an outstanding job. He's assembled a great staff.
He'll be fantastic.”
Kiffin, now at LSU, didn’t waste time reshaping the offensive side of the ball. He brought over nearly his entire staff from Ole Miss, with the lone exception being offensive line coach Eric Wolford, a seasoned SEC veteran most recently at Kentucky. None of LSU’s previous offensive coaches were retained.
As for Wilson, his time at LSU has come full circle. A New Orleans native, he returned to the program in 2021 as running backs coach under Brian Kelly. When Kelly was dismissed during his fourth season, Wilson stepped in as interim head coach, guiding the Tigers to a 2-2 mark heading into the Texas Bowl.
Now, with one more game to coach, Wilson is already looking ahead to what’s next - and he sees something special brewing in Oxford.
“I just think there's a lot of optimism, a lot of opportunity to do things that have never been done in Oxford, Mississippi,” Wilson said. “And I think very highly of Pete Golding and who he is, as a person, who he is as a football coach, and the staff that he's assembled.”
Before he puts on Rebel red, though, Wilson has one last job in purple and gold. And knowing his track record, you can expect him to give it everything he’s got.