June 22, 2006

Indianapolis, Ind. – USC Head Coach Curtis Frye is entering his 11th year at the Gamecock track and field helm. With Olympic medals and NCAA and SEC titles both individually and team-wise, Frye’s trophy case is packed, but he is ready to add to that stockpile of awards this weekend at the USA Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. He sat down Thursday, in the 90 degree Midwest heat, to talk about the championship and many other topics.

USC: Before coming to this meet, did you set goals for your athletes and the program? If so, what kinds of things do you look to accomplish?

Frye: Basically we’d like to advance through the rounds. Every kid that gets one step past the first day has advanced higher than the NCAA Championship. Advancing to the finals is the final step, the highest step. It is a reward for our program to be here and we have to continue having a top 10 program on both sides. Programs that are consistently in the top 10 have the highest number of kids that compete on the junior level and the USATF level. We only have one current athlete here as a junior (Brittney James) so we have some work to do next year in recruiting so we have move kids here on that level.

USC: Why is it important for people like Shalonda Solomon, Natasha Hastings and Jason Richardson to run at the USA Championships as rising juniors?

Frye: They are aspiring Olympians. They have been at every level from juniors to under 23 and under and this is a progression to next summer (making the World Championship team). You have to go through phases and we have to be known as a program that can take kids through phases. It’s going to be a challenging experience for them. Everyone has to go through this stage because very few people have gone through from the NCAA level to the World Championship level without going through the USATF meets.

USC: While they aren’t training in Columbia anymore, you have had quite a few collegiate who were successful here as collegiate, including Terrence Trammell (110m hurdles), Otis Harris (400m), Lisa and Miki Barber (100m) and Lashinda Demus (400m hurdles). All have gone on to Olympic or World Championship medals. Did this meet help them develop to the professionals they are now by running here?

Frye: I would like to think so because all of them came through this program. They came through this system and it was good for them. We wish them luck.

USC: What events do you enjoy watching at the USA Championships?

Frye: I enjoy watching the events that Carolina has vested energies in. I love track and field, but the biggest thing I love is watching our kid’s progress through the system.

USC: Why is this year important as the USA attempts to build its team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

Frye: It’s important because it’s attempt to make the team for 2008.

USC: Will the USAs team have a different look in 2008?

Frye: There are always some different people, but there is such a young group of athletes in the USA. I don’t think it will have a younger group than the last world championship because there are so many young people. But in an Olympic year there will be change and someone has to be prepared for that change and ready. This experience here will help you get prepared for it. Shalonda, Natasha and Jason should position themselves to take advantage of those changes. Somebody here today in this championship will take advantage of an opportunity two years from now because of the experience gained here. And it will help our program because of all the great juniors are here.

The stars of track are present. The kids who are high school juniors and seniors don’t think they are going to be the next Marion Jones, they think they are going to be the next Shalonda Solomon. So that helps us because they just competed against them in high school. It’s important that Jason Richardson progresses to the finals in the 110m hurdles and the next great recruits can say I want to go there because that’s where he went.

Then we can tell them the great stories about what a great university we have. We are the No. 1 land grant institution in America for black student enrollment. They find out we have the 10th most minority facility in any institution. The juniors get to know those stories about those that are doing well at USC in an great environment for diversity. So that if they have the choice and they do, they can choose South Carolina. Our GPA is high (3.1 for the total program), graduation rate is 70 percent or higher. It’s important for us to be here with our athletes. If we weren’t here then someone else would be telling his or her story and not ours.

USC: You were a coach in Athens, any plans to coach again in 2008?

Frye: I would like to, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen in 2008. The junior team is going to China and it appears that it is the right thing to do to get that experience. I was an assistant in 2004 and the only slot now can be a head coach. I can be a World Championship coach next summer and then go to the 2009 World Juniors as the head coach and then go in 2012 as that head coach of the Olympic team. That is my goal to get into the position. I will make every effort to align position and myself myself. That goes along with having kids make teams and progress in the system. If you have kids progressing, you are part of the systems and keeps your name up there making the selections. You have to be a player. We also have to host junior Olympic meets, be on delegations at conventions, chair different areas in our field, getting my assistant coaches involved on the USATF level.

At this point I have a shot, you can’t rest on what you have done. You have to continue to recruit good athletes, win the NCAA championships – you have to stay dedicated and keep your staff motivated. We have to have more than one female in the junior meet. This does not help me a great deal and so next year’s recruiting class has to have more kids here. We have two signees that are competing in this meet, which will help us next year.

USC: You also have a chance to watch so many talented juniors. Is this is a big recruiting meet for you?

Frye: This is a huge recruiting meet for me. This is the best junior class moving into next year’s signing in years. This is one of the best ever. We have ourselves in a good position. Amberly Nesbitt and Shalonda Solomon winning individual events at the NCAA meet sends a good message to recruits, including how well they are doing academically. They are so happy and loyal and have fine Christian backgrounds with very supportive parents. We are doing everything we can to keep that rolling on. Our administration is doing a good job. Charles Waddell is easy to work with and enhancing our chances in recruiting.

USC: What does it take to recruit well? Why have you been able to recruit so many top classes?

Frye: Reputation! Staff reputation! Coach Dee Quarles, Coach Sergent, Kevin Brown who use to be with us. They were instrumental in making those things happen. When you don’t’ have the facilities, you have to have a great staff. Harold White in academics and their support – we’ve graduated people. You can’t say academies are important and not graduate kids – we’ve graduated people. We have kids that struggle at times, but we don’t’ give up on them. We are developers of academic talent. Lots of schools don’t develop academic talent. When you take a person that has a 980 and a 2.8 GPA coming out of high school and then they come to USC and go on to medical school and graduate from Emory University – that says something. We’ve taken good students and developed them. South Carolina is a great institution at developing. We have given chances to people and they have succeeded through their hard work coupled with ours. That is the beauty of it.

I am proud of doing things the right way.

Go Gamecocks!