LSU interim coach Frank Wilson focused on ‘this moment’ in the wake of Brian Kelly’s firing

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Even as interim LSU coach Frank Wilson called his promotion “something you would dream of,” he eschewed the opportunity discuss his prospects for retaining the job beyond the rest of this season.

“I can’t,” Wilson said Tuesday following the Tigers’ first full padded practice since Brian Kelly’s firing on Sunday,

the day after a 49-25 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M.

“We have to live in this moment to allow us to take care of our business right now,” Wilson continued. “To do anything besides that is a mistake.”

LSU (5-3, 2-3 SEC), which has lost three of four games, is idle this week and next plays at No. 4 Alabama (7-1, 5-0) on Nov. 8 — quite the debut for Wilson, a New Orleans native who has a long history with the program he now leads.

Wilson is in his 10th season at LSU, including six years from 2010 to 2015 before he left to take a head coaching job at UTSA. He returned to the Tigers for Kelly’s first season in 2022.

“I’m a part of the fiber of this state,” Wilson said, adding that he is “extremely humbled, extremely honored to be given this opportunity.

“It’s something that you would dream up, something that you don’t know if it would ever come true, but something you prepare yourself for,” he added. “I recognize this moment, this opportunity, is so much bigger than me. I just happen to be the caretaker at this moment.”

Wilson, twice named college football’s national recruiter of the year, said none of LSU’s current verbally committed recruits have decommitted since Kelly’s firing. Wilson added he hoped to keep it largely that way by worrying about the players on the roster now and stabilizing the program.

Wilson said Alex Atkins, the tight ends coach and running game coordinator, will take over as offensive coordinator for Joe Sloan, who was dismissed on Monday.

As practice wound down, a siren could be heard wailing from the sound system at the football operations center. Wilson said it was meant to sound like the warning sirens during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When the sirens stopped, players could be heard from behind the wooden fence surrounding the practice field, yelling excitedly.

“As those sirens went off for the rally call, our team merged together at the 50-yard line,” Wilson said. “We held up all four of our fingers in both hands. We chanted, ‘Fourth quarter!’ We chanted, Finish!’

“Because we’re all in. We’re all in to finish what we started,” Wilson continued. “Some of that celebration, some of that noise, if you will, was simply our football team answering to the rally call, being there for one another in a tough situation.”