Dec. 12, 2013
Four days away from 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 is taking a closer look at the steps of Frye’s career.
Frye comes back to the Carolinas and bursts onto the international scene.
With NCAA cost restrictions forcing schools to cut salaries at the Olympic sport level, Curtis Frye had to leave the University of Florida after four successful seasons with the powerhouse program.
Working his connections in North Carolina, Frye was poised to go back to the high school ranks in the fall of 1992. Before assuming his new duties, the track coach was determined to finish what he started with a crop of top-rated athletes at the University of Florida and traveled with a group to the U.S. Junior Championships at Ohio State.
At the late-July event, Frye sat down with North Carolina head coach Dennis Craddock, who is also being inducted into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame this week. Craddock told Frye of an opening on his staff and persuaded him to interview despite his prior commitment.
Frye enjoyed his visit to Chapel Hill. After weighing the benefits of the two positions on the table, Frye decided he had to make the right decision for his family and joined Craddock in Chapel Hill.
His first day on the job, Frye impressed his new coworkers by getting Marion Jones’ mother on the phone. Frye had sparked a relationship with the family at the U.S. Junior Championships. The phenom from the West Coast was interested in the school’s journalism program and wanted to play basketball in addition to competing in track and field.
After a trip to watch the superstar, the basketball staff needed no additional convincing to give Jones a spot on their roster. The signing of Jones was a huge victory for Frye and made everyone aware of his presence.
The Tar Heels won 13 ACC track and field championships during Frye’s four seasons in Chapel Hill. The 1994-95 season was one for the history books, as North Carolina became the first school in history to win five ACC team titles in a single school year, failing to win only in men’s cross country. The incredible season also featured 14 new school records, 30 ACC individual championships and an astounding 21 All-Americas.
Frye’s time with North Carolina thrust him onto the national and international scene, as his athletes collected accolade after accolade.
Many saw success, but the cornerstone of the early Frye brand was a pair of hurdlers, Allen Johnson and Melissa Morrison. Johnson, a Tar Heel student-athlete, could do anything on the track and the field, but ultimately excelled in the hurdles. Over the course of his long and outstanding career, he went on to be a seven-time U.S. Outdoor champion, four-time World Champion, a three-time Olympian and the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 110-meter hurdles.
Morrison worked with Frye after attending Appalachian State and became the first two-time American medalist in the 100-meter hurdles at the Olympic Games, taking home bronze medals in 2000 and 2004.
While Frye was in Atlanta, Ga., at the 1996 Olympic Games coaching Johnson to the first gold medal of their respective careers, a call from Columbia, S.C., changed everything.
Frye’s Five: A Countdown to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Induction
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
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.
