Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame 2024: Frank Monica was the right fit as a coach

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of stories on the 2024 inductees into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Induction festivities are June 20-22 in Natchitoches.

Had Frank Monica been just a little bit taller, the history of sports in Louisiana — especially in the River Parishes — might be significantly altered.

As an all-state third baseman at the long-gone Leon Godchaux High School in Reserve, then at Nicholls State, it was Monica’s dream to be a professional baseball player. But at 5-foot-8, he was too short.

Instead, he became a coach — and a really good one — at both the high school and collegiate levels for more than 50 years. He accumulated 284 wins and three state championships at three different schools in football, 114 wins as a baseball coach and even a couple of wins coaching junior varsity basketball.

Had Monica achieved his original dream, hundreds of boys in Louisiana would not have become men under the tutelage of this stern taskmaster who believed in using sports to teach life lessons. He also believed in discipline and work ethic, and he compelled generations of athletes to give more than they thought they had to give.

It all has led to his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame set for June 22 in Natchitoches.

“My first reaction was, my God. I’m very humble,” the 71-year-old Monica said. “I didn’t feel like I belonged with that cast of people. It’s quite an honor. It’s the ultimate honor to cap off a career.”

Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Ray Didier recruited Monica to play baseball for Nicholls, which did not have a football team yet.

Monica went there as a shortstop but played all four years as the starting third baseman. He played 172 games as a Colonel, including in the 1970 College Division World Series.

After his professional dreams were dashed, Monica spent the 1971 season as a graduate assistant before returning to the River Parishes as an assistant under Lutcher coach Lou St. Amant.

In 1975, the Bulldogs won a football state championship, then St. Amant left for what was then Northeast Louisiana University. A 26-year-old Monica got a knock on his door in the middle of the night.

“It was two school board members,” Monica recalled. “They said, ‘Congratulations! You’re the new head football coach!’ I said, ‘Get out of here. I don’t want it.’ One thing led to another, and I guess they talked me into it.”

Monica spent eight years as the head football and baseball coach at Lutcher, winning the school’s second state football title in 1978 against Haughton.

One of his players was a young football and baseball player named Tim Detillier, who later returned to Lutcher as an assistant under his former coach and now is a St. James Parish School Board member.

Detillier would go on to a successful coaching career of his own at Lutcher and Riverside, becoming the winningest coach in the River Parishes until he was surpassed in 2019 by Monica.

“He’s a great coach,” Detillier said. “Coaches, we all steal and borrow from each other — a little here, a little there. But I probably took more from Frank Monica than anyone else. I think he was a better baseball coach than football coach.

“He taught me so much. It wasn’t the actual coaching thing — what plays you run — it was that he demanded discipline.”

Monica left Lutcher for a chance to coach at the college level. He was an assistant at Tulane from 1979-82.

When Tulane head coach Vince Gibson was let go in 1982, Monica went back to the River Parishes and high school. He spent one year at Riverside Academy and promptly won the 1983 state title.

The following spring, Jesuit came calling and Monica went there for five years, helping the Blue Jays to four playoff appearances. Then Greg Davis was hired at Tulane and Monica returned to college for six seasons.

In 1997, Tulane shuffled coaches again and Monica found himself in need of another job. He again returned to the River Parishes, this time to St. Charles Catholic.

Monica spent three seasons as the Comets baseball coach before taking over the football team in 2000.

Over the next 21 years, Monica built St. Charles into a powerhouse, earning 12 state semifinal appearances and six state final appearances. His Comets won a state title in 2011.

In 2021, after 51 years of coaching, Monica decided it was time to retire.

“My energy level wasn’t there,” he said. “It was hard to keep up with them. It was a grind. I wanted a little more time to spend with my grandkids.”

Although retired, Monica is not sitting still. He enjoys trips to the Fair Grounds Race Track, has a nice crop of vegetables growing in his backyard and a hunting lease in Mississippi.

Monica continues to work at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux every summer and, when he does go inside, hosts a regular podcast called “Let’s Be Frank.”

“I guess I was born for this,” Monica said. “Even in little league, I just love the sports aspect.

“If I’m driving and I see a kid doing something wrong, holding a bat wrong, I’ve got to stop. It drives my wife crazy. I guess coaching is just in me.”