It’s not easy to find good coordinators in 2025.
The high school game has evolved to the point where coaching requires a near year-round commitment, and finding a person willing to make that kind of sacrifice or put in that kind of work is a challenge.
That’s just one of the reasons Tyrone coach John Franco felt he hit the lottery when he was able to convince Jason Wilson to come back to his staff this season as the defensive coordinator.
Wilson, who won a District 6 championship coaching at Tyrone in 2014, had been coaching at Philipsburg-Osceola since 2020. He resigned from that position in January and was approved by the Tyrone Area School Board as the Golden Eagles’ defensive coordinator in April.
I told him, ‘You’re a Tyrone guy, and you should be coaching at Tyrone.
Coach John Franco
“I told him, ‘You’re a Tyrone guy, and you should be coaching at Tyrone,'” Franco said. “He seems pretty happy in the job again, and we’re really happy to have him back.
For Wilson, the decision was made easier by the ascent of his twin sons Colton and Jaryn to the varsity ranks at Tyrone. Both will be freshmen this season.
“One of the biggest things is my kids moving into ninth grade,” said Wilson. “With them moving into varsity, I’ve never coached them. The opportunity came open, and for that reason I just couldn’t pass it up.”
Tyrone was in need of a new defensive coordinator because both Johnny Franco and Pat McNelis, who had handled the duty for the past several seasons, couldn’t devote the same amount of time they once had to the job due to family commitments and new jobs. Coach Franco said they would remain on the staff as volunteers, but he needed someone who could dig into the position full time.
In Wilson, Franco knows, he’s getting more than just a coach. Wilson is a seasoned veteran who had a hand in orchestrating some of the Golden Eagles’ top defenses of the 2000s.
He began as a volunteer coach in 2005, a little more than a year after he had graduated from Tyrone. Wilson was a solid high school player, even starting on a District 6 championship team in 2003, but what made him better than most was his uncanny grasp of the game plan and his role in it.
With a mind like that, it didn’t take long before Wilson rose through the ranks to become the Eagles’ defensive coordinator in 2009. His first three teams all advanced to the District 6 2A title game, recording 9 shutouts along the way. By 2011, Wilson was devising a defensive strategy for Tyrone’s third PIAA championship game appearance.
Wilson remained on staff to run the defense for Steve Guthoff in 2012 and 2013 after Coach Franco had resigned and taken the head coach job at Altoona, but when Guthoff stepped down in 2014, Wilson felt the time was right to move up the coaching ladder.
His first team went 12-2 and won the program’s 10th District championship, making Wilson, who was then just 29, the second coach in Tyrone history to win a District crown in his rookie season.
Wilson stepped down after going 4-6 and missing the playoffs in 2018, but that didn’t take away form his meteoric rise to the top of the area coaching ranks.
It was that level of success, along with his experience working on Franco’s staff, that gave the current coach the confidence to propose Wilson rejoin the team.
“He played for me, and he worked several years for me,” Coach Franco said. “We worked really well together, and we had a lot of success together. It’s been an easy transition. It’s like it’s 2011 all over again.”
It wasn’t a decision that came without conflict for Wilson, who working for Jeff Vroman in Philipsburg had helped build a team that is ready to compete for a District title in 2025. But, he said, the timing couldn’t have been better.
“I’m excited to see what we can do and get things rolling,” Wilson said.
Wilson at Tyrone
- 2009 10-3 (DC)
- 2010 12-1 (DC)
- 2011 14-2 (SC)
- 2012 7-4 (DC)
- 2013 8-3 (DC)
- 2014 12-2 (HC)
- 2015 9-3 (HC)
- 2016 5-6 (HC)
- 2017 3-8 (HC)
- 2018 4-6 (HC)
Wilson said he is anxious to work with a talented group of returning starters from a Tyrone defense that played in the District finals in 2024. He’s already gotten familiar with the Eagles’ secondary through 7-on-7 games, and he’s been impressed.
“I think there’s a lot of things we can do,” said Wilson. “It seems like the defensive backs can pick back up into a lot of the things we did a few years ago. Really, the defense isn’t extremely different from what Johnny has been doing. It’s a lot of the same concepts/ The kids have picked up quickly because of that.”
From last year’s team, the Eagles return Eli Woomer and Ashton Emigh, who led the defense in takeaways (Emigh was also second on the team in tackles for loss), along with Marshall Martin, Owen Oakes, Mason Emigh, Kolsen Moore, Alex Star, and Kyler Suhoney.
ORANGE AND BLACK 