Q&A With Asst. Football Coach Tommie Frazier
10/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 17, 2000
Tommie Frazier:
Going back to Nebraska is going to be exciting. I get to go back and coach in the stadium where I played in not too long ago and won a couple of championships for the University of Nebraska.
Do you get the itch to go back on the field and play?
No, the only itch I get to go back on the field is when I'm walking across it to go coach my kids.
What is it like coaching the running backs at Baylor?
When I played, people always said I was a running back anyway. I try to take some of the tricks that I learned from Coach Osborne and some of the tricks that I learned from other coaches I've taught with since I started coaching and try to combine them together. I knew what running backs had to do. I knew what type of drills and skills they needed.
Contrast your situation at Baylor with that at Nebraska. It must be a lot different for you.
It is because at Nebraska I was a player and now here at Baylor, I'm a coach so that is the difference that I see.
What about the fact that Baylor has not had a lot of success on the football field?
When I came down here with Kevin (Steele) I knew what the state of the program was, and I knew what was going to have to be done to get it back to where it once was. Before I made the decision to come here, I thought about that and I want to be a part of something that builds a program to one of the nation's elite. Also, I want to have kids and help them the way that Coach Osborne helped me.
Talk a little bit about your relationship with Coach Steele and what it was like at Nebraska and how he recruited you to Nebraska.
My relationship with Coach Steele is very good. I am part of his family and he is part of my family. It is one of those things where he really didn't recruit me. He recruited my mother. He would come on home visits when I would walk in the door after basketball practice and he would look at me and say, "Hello, how are you doing?" I would say, "Fine." He would tell me that he didn't need to talk to me and he would sit and play cards with my mother.
What are your impressions of Eric Crouch?
Eric is a great athlete and a very fine quarterback. The things that he is doing for that program are excellent. He goes out there week in and week out and plays hard and that is all Frank (Solich) and Turner (Gill) ask of him. He is definitely the guy that teams need to focus on in order to beat that team.
Do you have any type of mixed emotions coming back to Nebraska?
I think of it as a business trip. I work for Baylor University and we are coming to play Nebraska so I have to approach it that way. I have fond memories of Nebraska, but I have a job to do. If I'm not dedicated to my job and don't give Baylor 100 percent of myself, then I'm not being honest and fair to Baylor.
Do you have any interest in returning to Nebraska to coach?
That is not something that I'm thinking about right now. My loyalty is here at Baylor. If down the road the opportunity was to come then that is something that I would have to sit down and evaluate.
Did Kevin Steele recruit you the same way to coach at Baylor as he recruited you as a player?
No, it was totally different. This time he actually recruited me instead of my mother. When he left Nebraska to go to the Carolina Panthers, he told me that if he ever got a head coaching job and I was not playing that he would like for me to coach on his staff. When the opportunity came, he called and me and I was in a job in Nebraska that I was happy with. I talked with my boss, Coach Osborne, Coach Gill and Coach Brown and we all agreed that it would be good for me to get back in the game.
How close did you get to playing football after college?
I was in Canada for a year and a half in Montreal. I decided to give that up and move on with my life.
How was the experience in Montreal?
I loved playing the game of football up there, but I did not like living in Canada. It is different type of lifestyle and atmosphere. When I decided to leave there is when I decided to give up football.
What are your impressions of Michael Vick?
Michael Vick is a great athlete. He is proving every week that teams can line up and try to stop him but they are not going to get the job done. He is showing a lot of colleges and NFL teams that these days with defensive linemen being as fast as they are that the typical drop-back quarterback is leaving the game. You have to have a quarterback these days that is very mobile and can escape traffic.
With as much as you know about Nebraska's offense, how much help can you be to Baylor defensive coaches this week in helping them know what to look for?
Kevin (Steele) was there and he knows a lot about Nebraska's offense. I have to worry about trying to move the ball against their defense.
What do you think about their defense?
It is one of the best defenses in the country. Nebraska has been known to have great defenses. We just have to go out there and do the things that we can do well.
Have you become personally involved with Kerry Dixon in his development as a quarterback?
I have been involved with him quite a bit. Since he is a true freshman and I started as a true freshman, I try to keep him calm. I let him know that he is going to make mistakes and feel pressure, but I try to keep him relaxed.
Who is your biggest influence as a coach?
Coach Osborne is the biggest influence. I try to model myself after him. He was calm on the sidelines which I try to be. He was well-tamed off the field. He plays an important role.
Can you explain to the players what it is like to play in the Nebraska stadium?
I can explain it to them, but me explaining it to them and them witnessing it are two different things. I can try to tell them what to prepare for, but when they get in the situation where you can't hear yourself think, it is different.
Kevin Steele:
Is it going to be a strange feeling for you to walk on that field on Saturday?
We have so many things to take care of here, internally, in building this program and to focus on these young men here. They deserve my all. I don't know how I will feel but I will tell you where my focus will be and that is on our players here.
On Tommie's development as a coach:
There are certain things about Tommie that you see instantly and those are his character and leadership ability. Tommie was a grown man when he was a junior in high school. He has a great passion for excellence both in himself and he expects it from others around him. We had a need for diversity on the staff, we needed someone very young. He brings a credibility in terms of the game of football, his character and excellence is something that is an everyday word in everything that Tommie Frazier does.
Do you coach Baylor differently than you would coach Nebraska?
Absolutely not. I will never walk on a football field that I don't walk on with the attitude to win. Obviously, we have to do everything perfect in order to have a chance. Anything can happen.
Are you trying to recreate Nebraska at Baylor?
I don't think that you could ever be around Coach Osborne and not carry a huge part of what he brings to college football and the individuals he coaches, the way he coaches them and the characteristics he deeply embeds in you.
Without Cicero, how can you get your offense going?
Offensively, we went through spring practice and two-a-days and we were in a certain sync. In a span of three weeks we lost our starting quarterback, our only senior offensive lineman, our third string wide receiver. We played our last game without our starting center. All of these have been replaced by redshirt freshmen or true freshmen. It has been difficult and an incredible learning experience that I hope that we don't ever have to go through again.
Do you fight to keep everyone's attention?
These guys are a great bunch of guys to coach. They are fun and they work hard and do everything that we ask them to do. We really are having a lot of fun. It is painful, but we are a very close-knit team and everyone has stayed on the same page.
