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UTSA's Jeff Traylor offers frank assessment of football program's needs amid conference switch

The future of Roadrunner football, the head coach says, is dependent on fundraising efforts.

SAN ANTONIO — A few weeks ago KENS 5 sat down with UTSA football Head coach Jeff Traylor to talk through several topics, including the impending transition from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference. 

He said UTSA had a real opportunity in its hands as it prepares to debut in a new conference, but that there are still some things on the program's to-do list. This week Traylor elaborated more on what those things are, including an indoor practice facility. 

"Obviously that indoor (facility) is not over our heads, but looming over our heads," he said. "It is college football. You need it. We are an up-and-coming program going to a league where no one is gonna care. No one is gonna stand up in the stands and hold up a sign that says, 'Poor Jeff, they don't have an indoor (facility).'"

But the program's current outdoor practice field might be in need of some upgrades too, including lights. Little improvements like that are necessary for a UTSA program that calls the AAC home, Traylor says, and he was frank about what's needed to make it happen. 

"Do we just wanna be the stepping stone? Do we just wanna be the minor league? I just don't see this city (San Antonio) that way. I don't see this university that way," he said. "At the end of the day, it is about fundraising. I've never made any bones about it: It is about money. A lot of people talk around it. I just come right out and say it."

UTSA's reputation has grown in the last couple years as the program has notched consecutive conference championships, propelling conversation over whether San Antonio is home to a major new football powerhouse. But Traylor says doing more with less "is not a sustainable recipe."

"We did add a nutritionist, but that hire is for the entire (athletic) department, not just for football. So we are getting closer, but we're still not there," he added. "We have chipped away and chipped away, but it has just got to go faster or we are gonna get passed. When you go play Memphis, SMU, East Carolina and Tulane, they have all that stuff."

The Roadrunners kick off the season at Houston on Sep. 2. 

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