Football more than passing fancy for Trahan
Recruiting quarterbacks is not a science.
But Beau Trahan has a good idea of what it takes to be a successful signal caller.
“The first thing I look for is intelligence,” Trahan said. “I’ve got to have a guy who can communicate and knows what’s going on and how to read defenses. He needs to have a good football IQ and those kinds of things.
“The next thing is just can he throw it. How does the ball come off his hand and his playmaking ability. I don’t really care about stature – they don’t have to be a 6-5 guy. I’d like for them to see over the line. But if they’re athletes, they can make a play.”
Trahan speaks from experience. He started at quarterback for four seasons at Bay City before playing quarterback, safety and on special teams at the University of Texas.
Trahan is about to begin his fourth season as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Tulsa.
“I wasn’t a very tall guy,” Trahan said. “I was a 6-footer so I look for guys who can go out and make plays and find the diamonds in the rough. It’s hard to do now with social media. There are guys out there from small towns who can really spin the ball and get after it.”
Trahan was a four-time, four-sport letterman at Bay City and played in 52 games during his career with the Longhorns, winning the Frank Denius Special Teams MVP award three times.
Trahan knew he would follow in the footsteps of his father, Warren, who coached him at Bay City.
“It’s football, all day every day, and you can’t beat that,” he said. “I like working with kids. I like finding those guys who are hungry and want to get out and compete – the camaraderie with the other coaches. I’m still in the football game aspect. I absolutely love it. It’s my calling. It’s what I grew up wanting to do and don’t know what else I could do.”
Trahan began his career as a graduate assistant at Texas, spent a season as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston, and worked for three years with his father at Dickinson before coaching for eight seasons at Baylor, where he was mainly in charge of recruiting.
Trahan made the move to Tulsa in January of 2016 when Baylor offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery was named the head coach.
“I’m with the quarterbacks,” Trahan said. “I’m in on all the game planning, developing them at practice and getting them ready to go in the games.”
Trahan’s recruits in the Houston area and takes advantage of the contacts he made during his time at Bay City and Dickinson.
“Most of our staff is from Texas,” Trahan said. “We have lots of roots in Texas. There are guys who coached with my dad, against my dad, and against me. It’s a big in because those are guys I can trust. The Texas high school coaches and the Oklahoma coaches are guys I really lean on in my evaluation process.”
Warren Trahan came out of retirement to coach with Beau’s brother, Brody, at Ithaca College in New York last season. Brody Trahan recently joined the McNeese State staff as linebackers coach, meaning the family will be closer together.
Beau Trahan, who will turn 40 in March, won’t say no to someday coaching on the high school level. But at the moment, he’s enjoying where he’s at.
“I love college football,” Trahan said. “I don’t want to say I’ll never get back in high school because I absolutely love high school football. That’s where I started, got to coach with my dad and grew up in the high school game on Friday nights. That’s something that’s always intrigued me. Right now, I’m still fairly young and I like the hustle and getting out and recruiting part, the developmental part and the fast pace of college football is a fun game.”
This article was originally published in the Victoria Advocate. Mike Forman is the sports editor of the Victoria Advocate and has worked at the Advocate since 1982. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or by email at mforman@vicad.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mikeforman21