Frazier, Prairie View working on a plan
by Roscoe Nance
Special to the BCSP
Prairie View A&M coach Henry Frazier likes to say that his Panthers aren't the same football team that lost an NCAA record 80 consecutive games in the '90s and has been the doormat in the SWAC most of the last 30 years.
Exhibit A is Prairie View's 26-23 overtime
victory against perennial SWAC power
Southern two weekends ago, their first victory against the Jaguars
since 1971.
The Panthers (2-1, 1-1) can further state their case Saturday - and make amends for their lackluster performance against Langston last weekend in a game that was suspended due to thunderstorms with them trailing 28-7 in the third period -- when they play defending conference champion Grambling State in the State Fair Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
"Beating Grambling would make us a legitimate contender (for the SWAC championship),'' Frazier, in his third season at Prairie View, says.
Given the Panthers' recent history against Grambling, merely staying on the field with the G-Men should count for something. Grambling has scored at least 50 points in each of the last two games against Prairie View.
"Grambling has the best talent in SWAC,'' Frazier says. "They have the mystique and the nostalgia, if you will. If we can keep the game close, I think we have a chance of winning.''
Frazier says the Panthers' poor performance against Langston may have been a blessing in disguise. It was "a wakeup call'' that didn't cost them a defeat.
"It let us know that we're not as good as we thought we were after beating Southern,'' Frazier says. "We're still a work in progress.''
Frazier doesn't expect the same type of letdown he experienced against Langston, not in front of 50,000 fans in a game against the most storied team in black college football.
"This is what you play college football for,'' he says.
However, Frazier didn't expect a letdown going into the Langston game either. The Panthers had a good week of practice, and there were no signs of complacency after beating Southern. In fact, he said the Panthers had 100% participation at their Sunday meeting and session, which was unusual following a victory of that magnitude.
"I guess we expended more energy against Southern than I thought we did,'' Frazier says, adding that in the past the Panthers had an open date the week before playing Grambling but he wanted to keep working and sustain the team's momentum.
Despite the Panthers misstep against Langston, an NAIA team that on paper they should have beaten, Frazier is confident that the program is gaining solid footing.
During his watch, Prairie View:
- • This season defeated Southern for the first time since 1971.
- • This season had its first shutout since 1987 (37-0 vs. Edward Waters).
- • Last season had its first back to back conference wins (vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Jackson State) since 1971.
- • Last season defeated Jackson State for the first time since 1971.
- • Last season won its first conference game since 1988.
- • Last season beat cross-town rival Texas Southern in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1963-64.
In 1999, Frazier took over as head coach at his alma mater, which had had only one winning season since his last year as quarterback. He led the Bulldogs to a 5-4 record his first season even though he wasn't hired until July. He ended his tenure as the winningest coach in Bowie State history with a 26-24 record in five seasons, which included three consecutive winning campaigns.
"I see us being one of the top programs not just in SWAC, but in IAA football," he says. "That was my goal at Bowie, to have one of the top Division II programs in the nation. That's what we did, build a Top 20 program in five years. I think this can be one of those deals here at Prairie, develop a Top 20 program in five years.''
Frazier uses a three-pronged approach to building a program. He calls it what, when and why.
"The first year we're teaching our philosophy,'' he says. "This is what our offense is. This is our defense. This is how we act off the field. This is how we act in the locker room. This is how we act in the study hall, the dining hall.
"The second year we're teaching when _ when you run this play, when you lift, when you go to study hall.
"The third year is why. Now they understand why we lift, why we condition at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Why we have study hall. Why we run this play when teams are in certain techniques, why we run a certain play when teams are in this coverage. Once you get them to understand the why, your job becomes a little easier. There is definitely a plan in place.''
How well Prairie View plays against Grambling will provide some insight as to how well that plan is working and if these indeed are not the same cellar-dwelling Panthers of a decade ago.
© 2006 Azeez Communications, Inc.