PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Prairie View A&M football associate head coach and defensive coordinator Heishma Northern has accepted the position of head coach in-waiting at Prairie View A&M University. If current Prairie View A&M head coach Henry Frazier III decides to depart the program within the next three years, Northern would automatically be elevated to head coach.
A 14-year veteran on the collegiate level, Northern has moved the Prairie View A&M defense to new heights in his six-year tenure at Prairie View as the team’s defensive coordinator. Under his watch, Prairie View’s defensive unit have produced several All-Americans in addition to ranking near the top of several statistical categories on the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). As a result of the unit’s success, Northern was named the 2008 Division I-AA Coordinator of the Year by FootballScoop.com and has participated in the NCAA Champions Forum and NCAA Expert Coaches Academy. He has also completed an NFL training camp internship with the Oakland Raiders.
Northern is a native of Baton Rouge, La. and a 1996 graduate of Southern University with a degree in mathematics. He began his coaching career in at Glen Oaks (La.) High School before moving on to the collegiate level at Morehouse College. After a stint at Morehouse, Northern moved on to Grambling State and spent seven seasons there as the team’s defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach, running backs coach and special teams coordinator. Northern has collected a total of five SWAC Championships with one coming as a player in 1993 and four as a coach (2000-2003, 2009).
“Coach Frazier and I discussed this some time ago and believe that Northern has been a big part of our success and would be a great leader for us in the future,” said Prairie View A&M Director of Athletics Fred Washington. “We wanted to find a way to express to him that we know he has had and will continue to have options but we definitely want him to remain a Panther for years to come.”
Prairie View A&M head coach Henry Frazier III echoed Washington’s sentiments.
“My hat goes off to Prairie View A&M for committing to Coach Northern because he has paid his dues,” said Frazier. “He’s ready to be a head coach on the collegiate level and the Prairie View A&M program would be in capable hands under his watch.”
Comments 0