N.C. Central football coach: Building something special

DURHAM, North Carolina -- Henry Frazier III is still on his honeymoon. “We are building something special, something that will stand for years to come, and we are doing it the right way,” Frazier, into his second year as head coach at N.C. Central, told the Durham Sports Club on Wednesday.

“Our student-athletes are going to represent N.C. Central, Durham and the state of North Carolina very well, but it’s going to take time.” Frazier arrived in Durham 16 months ago with a trunk-load of coaching awards and something of a reputation as a miracle worker after reviving a moribund football program at Prairie View A&M, which had the nation’s longest losing streak (80) before he turned it into a conference champion.

After a 2-9 record in Frazier’s first year at N.C. Central, the Eagles will return their entire coaching staff, 57 lettermen and 16 starters, convinced they can do better in their second year as a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team, Frazier said.

READ MORE

Frazier: Eagles are building football program for future

DURHAM, North Carolina — N.C. Central football will be better this season, Eagles coach Henry Frazier III told the Durham Sports Club on Wednesday afternoon at Croasdaile Country Club. Of course, after NCCU’s fourth losing season in a row, there’s hardly anywhere for the Eagles to go except up.

Frazier said the 2011 season was so bad for NCCU that he figured the Durham Sports Club wouldn’t let him return as a guest speaker for their luncheons. “I didn’t think I was getting another invitation after going 2-9,” Frazier said. But things are going according to plan, Frazier said.

This will be NCCU’s second season in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, which Frazier said has some good teams. But NCCU can run with every single one of them, Frazier said. NCCU lost four games after surrendering leads in the fourth quarter. Frazier said part of that had to do with his decision to redshirt 25 players, which cost the Eagles some lumps.

But that’s how a program establishes a foundation, said Frazier, whose most recent recruiting class added 30 more players to the program.

READ MORE