Accustomed to the Grind: Frank Daggs brings plan to restore West Jefferson
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Three months after parting ways with McDonogh #35, a school he spent six of his 23 years as head coach, Frank Daggs was adamant about continuing his coaching career and impacting the lives of young people.
Daggs left to become defensive coordinator for head coach Brandon Brown at East St. John, where after a month on the job. He was subsequently contacted by West Jefferson who was looking for a replacement for Marcel Andry following a 2-7 season and extended the school’s playoff drought to four years.
West Jefferson played a big part in Daggs’ childhood. He became a fixture on the team’s sideline as a ball boy, a school where his mother, Ernestine, spent 30 years as an employee.
“I grew up around there as a kid, and I always had love for the school,” Daggs said of West Jefferson, where he experienced some of the school’s more memorable games and players. “I knew of the history of the school and where it used to be the 80s and 90s and how they used to win things and run (Class) 4A.”
Respect for Daggs ran deep, and West Jefferson turned to the graduate of St. Augustine High and Nicholls State to help restore its program to the level he witnessed during his adolescence.
Half of the Buccaneers’ 40 postseason appearances took place between the 1980s and 2000s until a decline this decade. Their last trip to the playoffs, a 48-14 loss to Destrehan in 2021, is the last for the once-proud program that counts former LSU and Detroit Lions running back Garry James amongst its top players.
The school’s pep band literally trumpeted Daggs’ arrival on April 27 into the school’s gym, where he was announced as West Jefferson’s head coach, a challenge he immediately embraced and has steadily made strides throughout the summer in preparation for the start of the team’s fall camp July 27.
“Kids are going to have to adapt, and right now I think they’re doing an okay job with that,” Daggs said. “We still have some kinks to work out. As a whole, they’re learning and trying to get better each day.”
West Jefferson faces Terrebonne in its fall scrimmage on Aug. 19, meets the Willow School in its jamboree at Joe Brown Stadium at 5 p.m. Aug. 27 before traveling to Central Lafourche to open the season on Sept. 5. The Buccaneers also travel the following week to Archbishop Shaw before hosting Riverdale in Week 5 at Hoss Memtsas Stadium in Harvey.
“We haven’t strapped up a helmet or shoulder pads yet,” Daggs said. “Everybody looks good in 7-on-7. People look good when contact is not involved.”
Daggs attended an alumni picnic for West Jefferson several weeks ago where an assortment of former football players, including James, were in attendance.
They shared their thoughts and offered support for this year’s football team.
“They said they were going to have our backs in whatever we do or whatever we need,” Daggs said. “I loved the support from everybody that was out there.”
It was a full-circle moment for Daggs, who witnessed some of the Buccaneers’ greatness as a ball boy.
“I was about four or five years old,” he recalled. “I remembered them scoring a lot of touchdowns. When I was at the game, I wanted to be like them.”
Daggs grew to be an offensive lineman and played for legendary coach Tony Biagas at St. Augustine between 1992-96. One of the highlights of his career for the Purple Knights was a trip to the state semifinals to face Neville.
West Jeff’s coach Henry Crosby was someone who caught Daggs’ attention during his time around the team, and Biagas also greatly impacted him before signing with Nicholls State.
“I talked to him a lot after he retired,” Daggs said of Biagas. “Until four years ago, he ran City Park fields like Pan American and Tad Gormley Stadiums. He was a real good influence on me in high school.”
A year after graduating from Nicholls, Daggs’ coaching career began in the spring of 2003 at McMain before switching to McDonogh 35 in June to coach with legendary Wayne Reese, an association that endured until Reese’s passing in 2020 from the coronavirus.
“There were so many laughs; we laughed every day,” Daggs said of Reese, whom he shared an office with beginning in 2004. “He was always joking. There was something going on every day.
“He taught me a lot about kids,” Daggs said. “I was strict, and he taught me not to throw away a kid. Just work with them and work with them, and one day they’re either going to catch on and do it the right way, or they’re going to cut themselves. I wasn’t the type of person to cut somebody. They would cut themselves by not coming or not wanting to be disciplined or taught.”
Before Reese’s death, the two coaches had to devise a way to bring back McDonogh #35 football after being torn apart by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005.
The school lost 300 to 400 students once it became a charter school, dropping from Class 4A to 3A, Daggs said.
Daggs served as Mac #35’s defensive line coach after Katrina and was elevated to co-defensive coordinator in 2010, assistant head coach from 2014-20, and head coach following Reese’s death.
Daggs put together a 34-20 record and three straight district championships. The Roneagles finished 7-4 with a first-round loss to Jesuit in the Division I select playoff bracket last season, but school officials felt a coaching change was in order.
“Everybody in our building saw that,” Daggs said of the program’s success. “There were other people that said different. I’m not going to get into that right now. I wish everybody over there the best.”
Once news of Daggs’ departure spread, his phone began to ring with support and job offers – both in and out of state.
Because of his investment into the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana, he felt compelled to remain within the state’s public school system, thus accepting Brown’s offer at East St. John.
“I know a lot of people know my work and the work I’ve put into the game, and how much passion I’ve coached with,” he said. “They’ve learned that I never miss a day. I plan a calendar six months in advance. I got this job in April and started my calendar through December, what we’re going to do each day. Every day’s already written out. I’m organized.”
Daggs’ reputation grew tremendously outside of his home in New Orleans. He joined the Louisiana High School Coaches Association, was a member of the executive council in 2015, a board member, and served a two-year term as its president (2021-23).
Coaching, though, remained his burning desire, and like the men who touched him along the way, Daggs’ selfless attitude has also served him well when it comes to impacting young men.
He’ll now get the opportunity to leave his mark at West Jefferson, where his mother remains a cornerstone.
“It’s going to be one day at a time,” Daggs said. “There are a lot of new kids at West Jeff. A lot of them have bought in, but there’s still a lot on the fence. There’s a couple I met in May that I hadn’t seen yet. That’s the ones that are cutting themselves.
“I’ve dealt with my share of rebuilds,” Daggs said. “This by far will be the toughest one because the proof is in the pudding. We were able to grab athletes at Mac 35 and attract the right kind of kid. Now we’ve got to do the same thing here. We have to make sure they’re ready to rock and roll and pour in every day and grind every day.”
West Jefferson competes in seven-team District 8-5A with Bonnabel, East Jefferson, Higgins, John Ehret, Riverdale and Warren Easton.
What Daggs has noticed, while the school has Class 5A enrollment, the Buccaneers don’t have the requisite numbers for quality depth to compete in their division.
“We’ve got 5A numbers in the hallway,” he said. “But in athletics, it’s not really 5A numbers. I look at other schools in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish, and the 5A numbers are at private and Catholic schools. Everybody else is in the same situation. The ratio between the regular students and athletes are kind of slim on all fronts.”
The offseason has provided the opportunity for the team to build in the weight room and on the field through 7-on-7 competition.
One of the mantras Daggs introduced during his initial press conference was his emphasis on the word grind, which he turned into an acronym: G – Greatness, R – Requires, I – Intense, N – Nonstop, D – Dedication.
“You grind every day, and they’ll know what it is,” Daggs said. “I’ve seen them get a little stronger. The attention to doing the little things helps you become great. If they keep on doing the little things correctly, I think it will carry over on the field. Everybody’s got to buy in and pull their own weight on offense, defense and special teams.
“The kids are going to have to believe,” Daggs said. “They’re going to have to be disciplined and play with a lot of consistency. One thing we’re trying to mold right now is if you come every day and do what you’ve got to do, you will be successful on the field no matter what’s going on.”