Dec. 13, 2013
Throughout the week before the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame (USTFCCCA) induction ceremony for South Carolina track & field head coach Curtis Frye, GamecocksOnline.com has been a closer look at the steps of Frye’s career. In the final edition of the series, Frye takes the reigns of the Gamecock program.
Frye becomes a Gamecock and wins the University’s first NCAA Championship.
A warm night in Atlanta, Ga., was arguably the most important night in Curtis Frye’s life. The coach’s pupil Allen Johnson turned in a golden performance in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1996 Olympics, becoming the first individual gold medalist of Frye’s career. South Carolina athletics director Mike McGee also offered Frye his first collegiate head coaching job the same day.
Frye began his 18-year-and-counting career as a Gamecock following the Olympics and has since established a program that is regarded as one of the nation’s elite. Overall, Frye has coached or overseen over 40 NCAA champions, 115 SEC champions and more than 435 NCAA All-Americans at South Carolina.
Since taking over the program, Frye has coached an NCAA champion in all but four years. In addition, Frye has produced an SEC champion in 16 of the 17 seasons. Twelve SEC Athletes of the Year have been Gamecocks and five national athletes of the year have come from the program as well.
As one of the most well respected coaches in the country at any level, Frye brought South Carolina its first team NCAA championship in any sport when his women’s team dominated the field to capture the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championship crown. Once in awe of the caliber of SEC athletes at his first league meet with the Gators’ coaching staff, Frye now had a formidable crop of his own.
Athletes from the 2002 men’s and women’s squads won seven NCAA titles along with four gold and one silver medal at the World Junior Championships. Over the course of the careers of the “Gamecock Divas” from 2002, there were 128 All-America certificates, 27 NCAA titles, nine Olympic appearances, three two-time Olympians (Aleen Bailey, Lashinda Demus, Shevon Stoddart), an Olympic gold medal (Aleen Bailey) and an Olympic silver medal (Lashinda Demus).
The accolades go on and on. Frye has coached three teams to SEC championships, earning SEC Coach of the Year in each of the seasons. Just three seasons into his stint with South Carolina, he became the first coach to sweep USTCA National Coach of the Year honors in 1999 and added another in 2002, making him a three-time national coach of the year.
The quartet of Clint Crenshaw, Terrence Trammell, Shah Mays and Jamie Price delivered the 1999 NCAA 4×100-meter relay championship, giving Frye a 4×1 title at four schools (NC State, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Trammell would become a two-time Olympic silver medalist.
The Gamecocks have not just been successful on the track. The program has produced three National Scholar Athletes of the Year, including a two-time winner in Olympic medalist and World Champion Jason Richardson. Teams regularly lead the league in SEC Academic Honor Roll members and numerous former student-athletes have gone on to continue their education to become doctors, lawyers, nurses and many other professional careers.
Frye has been a mainstay as a coach with USA Track and Field. In 2001, he was a Team USA head coach for the first time when he led the men’s contingent to the Goodwill Games. He has been an assistant coach at several other Team USA events and has traveled with athletes he has trained as well.
Most recently, he spent most of his summer in Russia serving as the Team USA men’s head coach for the World University Games as well as the sprint and hurdle coach for the men at the IAAF World Championships. The Team USA men that Frye oversaw at the IAAF Championships claimed nine medals, including three golds, medaling in every one of their events.
Never one to sit on the sidelines, Frye established the Frye Foundation after his family was devastated by diabetes. The foundation is dedicated to assisting those dealing with diabetes and mental illness. Each year, they host a 5K run/walk as well as a golf tournament and silent auction.
Despite accomplishing more than most could dream of, Frye still isn’t finished. The coach continues to work tirelessly to put the Gamecocks back on the mountaintop. On Monday, his dedication to and accomplishments in the sport he has given his life to will be recognized. While he will take a night to savor the moment, he’ll return to work and continue to do what he has always done, produce winners both on and off the track.
Frye’s Five: A Countdown to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Induction
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Frye is one of six coaches who will be inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame (USTFCCCA) on Mon., Dec. 16, in Orlando, Fla. Started in 1995, the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame exists to recognize coaches who have brought great distinction to themselves, to their institutions and to the sports of cross country & track & field. Each of the honorees exemplifies the qualities of dedication to the sport, leadership and passion for their profession that serve as an inspiration to coaches everywhere in the sport.
Frye joins Weemie “Weems” Baskin as one of two Gamecocks included in the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame. Baskin was the track & field head coach at the University of South Carolina from 1948-69 and the University’s outdoor track is named in his honor.
For more information on the USTFCCCA’s Hall of Fame and the Class of 2013, click here.
