SAN ANTONIO -- Just a week after firing head coach Frank Wilson after four seasons, UTSA is bringing a storied high school football coach back to Texas to take over the program.
- UTSA has been working on football program for nearly a decade
- Traylor coming from University of Arkansas and SMU
On Monday afternoon, the Roadrunners announced in a press release that Jeff Traylor will become just the third head football coach in UTSA history.
Traylor is confident he will bring UTSA the football success it's been chasing for almost a decade. Now, he has to convince his players, guys he didn't recruit, to believe in him.
"I chose them, they didn't choose me, and I mean those words. It's my job to win them over," Traylor said.
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Traylor is coming to San Antonio from the University of Arkansas, where he was the assistant head coach and running backs coach under Chad Morris. Prior to that gig, he also coached under Morris at SMU.
This is Traylor's first coaching position in San Antonio, but he does have several ties to Austin. He spent two seasons as an assistant for the Horns and his former boss, Morris, coached Lake Travis to back-to-back state championships.
"I am more prepared for this job than I've been for any other job," he said.
Traylor has a few state titles of his own, which he won during the 15 seasons he spent leading his alma mater, Gilmer High School. He took the 4A program to five state finals game, winning three.
The UTSA job is Traylor’s first collegiate head coaching job, which some fans have already expressed concerns about. Coming off a 3-9 season followed by a 4-8 season, the Roadrunners have a lot of room for improvement.
“It's so important to recruit the players who are going to win championships, it's so important to create the culture and it's important to be a leader, and he's demonstrated that he's a true leader," said Lisa Campis, UTSA athletic director.
“I'm going to listen; I don't have all the answers. That's one thing I do know. I know where I'm weak, I know where I'm strong,” Traylor said.
