Monica demanded and got the best from his players

By Ed Daniels
Clarion Herald

This week, I was thinking about the call I got from a 2024 inductee into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. His induction happened this weekend in Natchitoches.

It was in the middle of a long week in a long football season. I was tired, but, hey, Frank Monica was on the phone. I figured we would cut up, talk a little football, I would get a nugget or two of wisdom and then feel better about the day.

It was not that kind of phone call.

Coach got after the reporter, saying his high school show on Friday night was not showing enough highlights of Comets football games. I tried to explain to Monica that for about three weeks, he hadn’t played very good competition.

And, that it was my job to pick out what I thought were the best games each week.

He wasn’t buying it.

I understood what it was like to get coached up by Frank Monica. I had seen it and heard it before.

One summer, when we were in the midst of doing high school previews for the upcoming season, I walked into the football facility at St. Charles Catholic School. 

The head coach’s office was upstairs. But, downstairs I could hear the entire conversation. Let’s just say he was trying to motivate one of his players.

“You aren’t a football player; you are an actor,” he told the young man. “You should get an Academy Award.”

I am not sure the player knew anything about something called an Oscar, but I am sure he was on notice that he had to get better, and he likely did.

Frank Monica demanded a lot of his teams and his coaches.

The current St. Charles Catholic baseball and football coach, Wayne Stein, has coached in three consecutive state finals in baseball and football. He said he didn’t understand why Monica could be so tough.

But, now he does, and he appreciates it.

Watching Monica’s Comets teams practice was a revelation. The game was just an extension of what was happening during the week. His practices were intense, and if you made a mistake, you heard about it.

But, you know what? The players thrived on the discipline and focus.

In 2011, in the class 3A finals, St. Charles beat Amite, 9-8. Amite was incredibly talented, and two of St. Charles’ best players were playing with significant injuries.

But, they and their teammates jumped out to a 9-0 lead and then toughed out a state championship. It was one of the best wins I have ever seen in a state championship game, but, it was typical of Monica’s teams. 

Frank Monica could be a tough dude, but beneath that veneer, is a softy. He once referred to his grandchildren as the “dirty dozen,” referring to the World War II movie.

One of our young reporters went to a St. Charles practice in one of her first days on the job. When she returned, she raved about coach telling jokes.

Her favorite: “They are so good (the other team), even their cheerleaders run 4.4 (40- yard dash).” I have heard the line a million times, but it never gets old.

Each summer, I would call Frank Monica, and ask the same question: “Coach, how’s it looking this year?”

“We are so bad, we can’t break the huddle,” Frank would say. “I don’t know if we will make a first down.”

That was his way of telling me his team would be really good.

Frank Monica only knew excellence. He and mediocrity were total strangers.

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