For most football coaches, going from running your own program to becoming an assistant or position coach might be considered a step backward.
For Southern tight ends coach – and former Alcorn State head coach – Fred McNair, there’s more to the story than a simple change of scenery.
“It’s been an easy transition for me mentally,” McNair told the LockedOn HBCU Sports podcast earlier this week. “There’s not as much pressure on you. There’s a lot of things that I’m not doing that I was doing when I was a head coach.”
McNair doesn’t dwell on Texas Southern near-miss
McNair was thought to be the leading candidate for the then-vacant head coaching position at Texas Southern after resigning from his alma mater, Alcorn State, where he won two SWAC championships and five East Division titles in eight seasons.
However, the Texas Southern Board of Regents refused to approve McNair’s hire, and the Tigers pivoted to naming former NFL defensive back Cris Dishman as head coach.
“Me and [TSU athletic director] Dr. [Kevin] Granger talked about it, but I don’t think we ever had a situation with a contract,” McNair said. “I don’t dwell on the past. I’m looking to the future and what we have to do to win ball games here at Southern.”
McNair did say he went through an interview process with TSU when the Board of Regents put the brakes on any potential forward movement.
“They said they wanted to revisit the process, and someone on the committee wanted to go in a different direction,” he said. “That’s what was told to me, and I understand that as a coach and a businessperson, those things happen. I just took it with a grain of salt and moved on.”
McNair’s time at Alcorn winding down was a matter of looking for something different.
“Sometimes when you’re at a place so long – the place that you love, the place you’re a two-time graduate of – you tend to love the place, but at the same time, your Alma mater has to love you too,” he explained. “The winning tradition we had, the championships we’ve brought in as a coaching staff, things that I expected to happen didn’t happen coming from leadership, and things weren’t done right.”
It was a tough decision for McNair, who also was the quarterback for the Braves, preceding his brother, the late, great Steve “Air” McNair, in that position, but eventually, he felt it was the right decision to make.
McNair finding happiness at Southern
“Sometimes you lose a lot of sleep at night about things you can’t control,” McNair said. “When that starts happening, and you’re not happy anymore, it’s time to move on and find a happy place. It was bittersweet, but it was time for me to do something for myself.”
That something was accepting the tight ends’ coach job at Southern, who is moving into a new era under first-year head coach Terrence Graves.
“Coach Mark Frederick [Southern’s offensive coordinator] called me and told me Coach Graves was going to call me,” he said. “I got the phone call, and I was delighted. I always admired Southern’s program, even when I played against them in college. I always felt they had a great tradition, fanbase and support. Now I’m here with Coach Graves and Coach Frederick, and I have an opportunity to find happiness here.”
