Traylor Talk: UTSA focused on infrastructure

Posted by Admin August 7, 2022 Infra

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Since Jeff Traylor took the reins at UTSA in December 2019, the 12-year-old program has continued to make incremental steps to expand its resources.

The $40.4 million Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence opened last August, and Traylor’s 10-year contract extension in October included additional money for assistant coaches and support staff.

But as UTSA prepares to jump to the American Athletic Conference in July 2023, plenty of work remains on the docket, including an effort to complete a covered pavilion for one of the RACE practice fields.

For Traylor, the conversations about finding new supporters and expanding infrastructure are constant, even amid the buildup to a challenging 2022 nonconference slate that kicks off against Houston on Sept. 3 in the Alamodome.

Q: With UTSA’s transition to the AAC officially set for next summer, how well do you feel the program is positioned to compete in terms of resources?

A: Facilitywise, I feel really good about it. We’ve got to get the indoor completed. That’s used against us in recruiting, that we don’t have the money to finish an indoor. So that’s a negative out there. It looks like a slapstick program, right? I would say our infrastructure, we’ve got to have more to be on the level of the AAC. Nutrition table, all of that kind of stuff, which is coming. We have to really expediate infrastructure, training table for our kids. Those would be our two biggest areas. Finding tutors, those kind of things. I would say we’re middle of the road for the AAC. Not having all the facts right in front of me, if I had to guess, where I looked at when I was renegotiating my contract, we were headed toward the middle of the road.

Q: What has been the impact of some of the strides the program has made in those areas during your tenure?

A: If we would’ve stayed in Conference USA, I would’ve told you we’re doing just fine. We’re toward the top of Conference USA. Since the landscape has changed so fast, it’s expediated what we have to do as a program. Then you throw NIL and transfer portal on top of all of that. Here my boosters are trying to raise enough money to build an indoor covering, but now they’re being asked to also get collectives started, and get NIL started. That’s a lot. And (athletic director) Dr. (Lisa) Campos and President (Taylor) Eighmy and our boosters, they’re doing all they can. It’s just got to expediate the sense of urgency. I would give us an A+ from what we’ve done to now, if you were grading us for Conference USA. Unfortunately, we’re now going to the AAC, and I’d say we’re about a C, if I’m just being dead honest with you.

Q: As you look for ways to grow those resources, what have you learned about the supporter base that surrounds UTSA and areas of the community you can still tap into?

A: I think it’s the word “potential,” which I use all the time. It’s all the things we’re not. We’re making new friends every day. There’s a lot of people out there really believing in us and a lot of people reaching out, in so many ways. Like I’ve said so many times, it always gets back down to money, which is unfortunate. I know we sold a ton more suites. I know we sold more tickets. I know we have a lot more people trying to figure out ways for NIL. I know we have a lot of people that may not be for NIL, but are doing more for academics as far as their scholarship donation. There are just a lot of ways you can help, and it’s growing like crazy. The more I learn, the more we can do for the East Side, the more we can do for the West Side, the more we can get out as a football team. I saw Frank (Harris) and Rashad (Wisdom) doing a free camp. The more we can do those kind of things for our community, I think the more our community is going to continue to support us and help. Nothing but the best from our city. Our media — that’s TV, that’s social media, that’s newspaper — everyone has been nothing but supportive and trying to find a way to help. Now, we have a lot of fans with strong opinions about what they are for and what they are against. When I get through listening to them vent about what all is wrong with college football and what they love about college football, there’s always some way they can help. They might be all about nutrition, and maybe they want to help toward that cause. They might be all academics, and maybe they want to help toward the academic side. There are a lot of different ways to help, and I don’t know if anybody has said “no” to anything yet. It might only be a season ticket. It might be a tweet. It might be a retweet. Everybody helps.

Q: How are those conversations with potential supporters different from a year or two ago given UTSA’s recent success and the security of your long-term contract?

A: If I have my cap on, there’s nowhere I go that people aren’t saying thank you, and they’re grateful and supportive, and they’ve said they’ve bought season tickets, or they have always had season tickets. It’s been nothing but positive. I guess the biggest difference is when we got here, everybody saw this large man that talked really fast and had all these crazy sayings, from “hotter than fish grease,” to whatever perceptions might have been out there. I think everybody was hopeful, at best. Now, that first season of operating through COVID, George Floyd and us having that shocking season, to follow it back up and then to sign the contract, I guess it’s, what would the word be? Validation, maybe, that this really is something. That’s what our big deal is this year. The bull don’t care. Nobody cares. But then I’m turning right back around and challenging everybody, are we built to last or are we a flash in the pan? I’m not even sure wins and losses is what’s going to determine that. I think our fan base and our media have enough sense to recognize good football. If we play good football and play the right way, the wins and losses usually take care of themselves, but sometimes they don’t. I would say more from hope to validation would be the way I would describe the difference from where we started together to where we are now.

Q: As you mentioned, with nonconference games against Houston, Army and Texas, your record might not be as strong this year, even if the team is improved. Do you have to address that with the players at all, so they aren’t discouraged by not matching the 11-0 of last year?

A: I think what helps is how I do it from the beginning. We don’t talk about winning and losing. We don’t discuss it here. There are people that criticize me for that. Like, “Oh yeah, really, you guys don’t talk about winning and losing?” Well, no, we really don’t. We’re going to try to do our best every single game. We feel like we have enough talent in the locker room and on our coaching staff that the wins and losses will take care of themselves. In-game decisions, all of that kind of stuff, obviously we’re trying to win the game. That’s insulting to someone’s intelligence. But we’re going to be true to the brand. We want everyone to look at our team and start with that brand. That 2-1-0. We’re going to recruit San Antonio out, the state of Texas. That’s factual. We have the most state of Texas players of everybody in the state. The 2, 1 and 0 are the single-digit players who really best exemplify that culture. All of those single-digit guys play a certain way and act a certain way. And is our culture exemplified on that field? If we do those things, we feel like the wins will come and the losses will be fewer. That is how we grade ourselves. That’s why you did not hear me rant and rave after San Diego State (in the Frisco Bowl). I was very upset after North Texas. We did not play to our brand. That was not the brand. We’re going to lose games. We lost to BYU. We were true to the brand. We lost to UAB. We were true to the brand. There’s only been one time in my opinion that we were not true to the brand. It didn’t mean we won the game. It didn’t mean we were pretty. There were a lot of games we were ugly as hell, and we won some of them and lost some of them, but we were true to the brand.

greg.luca@express-news.net

Twitter: @GregLuca