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Once a laughingstock, Panthers are beginning to put fear into SWAC opponents

                                                                                                         

 

When Henry Frazier accepted the head coaching job at Prairie View A&M in 2004, some might have thought he was committing career suicide.

Coming off of five solid seasons at Bowie State, Frazier took the job that no one wanted – or at least, a gig where no one had enjoyed success in decades – at Prairie View. The Panthers were not only the dregs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, they were pretty much the laughing stock of college football – all of college football.

“It was what I thought it was. I didn’t come in here naïve. I knew I wasn’t walking into a great situation. We were rebuilding,” Frazier said. “This program was five years removed from an 80-game losing streak. So we had to get special individuals, special players and special coaches to come here and commit themselves to turning this thing around.”

Now entering his sixth season, Frazier has his Panthers on the prowl. Not only has Prairie View turned it around, some might consider this team a contender for a SWAC title and Black College national championship.

This is not your dad’s Prairie View A&M.

“The Prairie View of old? They’re far from that. They’re outstanding,” said Alabama State head coach Reggie Barlow. “Coach Frazier is doing a great job.”

Barlow has seen the Panthers at their worst. In his five seasons as a player in the ASU program (1991-95), the Hornets never beat to Prairie View by less than 31 points. As a redshirt, he got an up close and personal look at a 92-0 shellacking that, for a time, set several national records for margin of victory and points in a quarter.

“Playing against Prairie View back from ‘91-‘95, we knew they didn’t have as many scholarship players and didn’t have as much talent as other teams,” Barlow said. “But they always competed.”

Prairie View used the word compete lightly, as a record 80-game losing streak wasn’t followed by much more success. In fact, the Panthers had consecutive one-win campaigns in the two seasons prior to Frazier’s arrival.

But the new coach, who had never finished lower than fourth in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference at Bowie State and has the most wins in program history, was determined to change that right away. Prairie View won three games in his first season and five in year two. Teams that could not wait to get the Panthers on the field had to reevaluate that concept.

“Things change. When I first got here, everyone was scheduling us for homecoming. We had a bunch of them,” said junior running back Donald Babers.  “But once we were successful, people started looking at us like, ‘we really have to prepare for Prairie View.’”

After a 3-7 mark in year three, Frazier has had the Panthers firing on all cylinders. In 2007, Prairie View posted its first winning season since 1976. Last year 9-1 record gave the program consecutive winning campaigns for the first time since 1966-67.

While humble, Frazier knows exactly what is happening with his program.

“We’ve done a lot of good things the last few years. We understand we haven’t done some things in a long time,” said Frazier, whose 27 wins at Prairie View is more than the school’s last 11 coaches combined. “We’re aware of the accomplishments that we’ve achieved in the last five years.”

Simply for the job he has done over the last five seasons, Frazier has achieved a legendary gridiron status at Prairie View. But he’s not ready to see his statue erected on campus just yet.

“I don’t think about (legacy) right now. But as my wife tells me, you have to enjoy the journey,” Frazier said. “Sometimes you have to reflect and it’s good to reflect. But it’s not time to pat yourself on the back because it’s still a work in progress.”

The one big task left is winning a conference title. Despite losing just once last season, the Panthers were left watching the Bayou Classic at the end of the year, hoping Southern could knock off Grambling and find a way to get Prairie View in the SWAC championship game.

“I watched that game. I had never actually watched it from the beginning to the end,” said Babers, who led the SWAC in rushing with 1,085 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2008. “It was disappointed to see Grambling win because we wanted the 3-way tie.”

Instead, it left Prairie View with its sights set on finishing the journey it began under Frazier.

“Our culture is one of excitement. We’re gonna work hard. The players are up…but what did we win last year? We didn’t reach our goal and that goal is to win championship,” said Frazier, who has won Coach of the Year awards in each of the last two seasons. “We’re committed to winning a championship.”

The Panthers certainly have the goods to pull off the feat. Sixty letterwinners are back from last year’s squad, including Babers, strong safety Anthony Beck, defensive lineman Quinton Spears and punter Pedro Ventura – each All-SWAC performers last season. They also will get an early opportunity to avenge the one loss on the schedule – an Oct. 3 showdown against defending league champion Grambling State.

But just as teams no longer look ahead to playing Prairie View, the Panthers are just as focused on playing the opponents on the schedule as they come. So Texas Southern is the team that occupies their time right now.

“I really don’t like to skip ahead. We could lose games in the beginning if we don’t focus on what we have to do every week,” Babers said. “Grambling’s an important game, but not any more important than any other game we play.”