Trevecca Athletic Hall of Fame
Coach Wilson arrived at Trevecca after a successful stint at Olivet Nazarene University where he coached current Trevecca head coach Sam Harris and his brother Steve, Trevecca's Dean of Student Development.
One of coach Wilson's greatest wins came against Don Meyer's Lipscomb teams. Meyer has great memories of those battles as well. "Some of the toughest games of my career were against teams coached by Frank Wilson at Trevecca," said Hall of Famer Don Meyer. "His teams were known to play hard every night and he might be the most competitive and intense coach I've ever gone against."
Meyer continued, "He was always making adjustments and made it hard for your team to compete against his teams."
"Frank was truly a great coach and a foe I always enjoyed competing against."
Career highlights include
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Was the seventh coach in Trevecca men's basketball history, first to win 20 games when in his second season he posted a 23-12 record during the 1980-1981 season
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Posted a 17-16 record his first season, then rolled off eight more winning seasons with at least 19 wins; had a winning record in 11 of his fourteen seasons; and posted a total of eight 20-win seasons and the school's only 30-win season.
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Coached the 1987 team which finished 30-4 and reached the NAIA National Championships for the first time, reaching the Elite Eight, the only team to do so.
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Coached nine NAIA All-Americans with two (Melvin Taylor, Avery Patton) making the first team; Taylor (1982), Patton (1987) and David Suddeth (1991) were named NAIA District 24 Players of the Year; Patton the first Trojan to be selected to the NAIA All-Tournament Team
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Coached Suddeth when he was the TCAC Player of the Year in 1991
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Had thirteen players named to the NAIA All-District 24 Team
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Coached twenty all-conference players: Twelve when the Trojans were members of the Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) and eight during the Tennessee Collegiate Athletic (TCAC) years
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Joins seven of his players (Fred Harris, Calvin Holmes, Melvin Taylor, Avery Patton, Tim Bell, Mac Heaberlin, David Suddeth, Sandy McClain) in the Athletic Hall of Fame; Todd Welch (Team Manager) and Ken Stegall (Statistician), two basketball staffers who joined the program when Wilson was coaching, are also in the HOF
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Led the team to a pair of VSAC (Volunteer State Athletic Conference) Championships, a TCAC (Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference); led teams to the NAIA District 24 tournament on six occasions, winning it in 1987, and making a successful NAIA National Tournament appearance (Elite Eight).
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Was VSAC Coach of the Year twice, TCAC once, NAIA District 24 twice, and NAIA Area 5 once; is still the winningest coach in program history-overall record 285-174 and 138-85 in conference play
Additionally, prior to coming to Trevecca, Wilson produced a winning season in each of his three years (63-31 overall) at Olivet. His team MVP in two of those seasons was Steve Harris. Wilson was named the NCCAA (National Christian Colleges Athletic Association) National Coach of the Year in 1977.
Frank and Debbie, reside in McMinnville, Tenn.
