ROGERS -- Drew Miller said Rogers High's players stopped leaving coach Lamont Frazier a seat on the bench long ago.
He never used it anyway.
Profile
LAMONT FRAZIER
SCHOOL Rogers High
NOTABLE In his second season at Rogers High after coaching five years at Willard, Mo. … Prior to Willard, he spent five years at Poplar Bluff, Mo. as the head coach and also served as assistant coach at Central Missouri and Lincoln University. … Played high school basketball at Charleston, Mo., and helped lead his team to three state titles. … Played collegiately at Missouri and was the captain on the Tigers’ 1993-94 team, which won the Big 8 title and advanced to the Elite Eight. … Played one season on the football team at Missouri, after exhausting his eligibility in basketball and earned second-team All-Big 8 honors as a tight end, catching 34 passes for 301 yards and 2 TDs. … Spent time in NFL training camp with the Arizona Cardinals.
The 6-foot-4 Frazier cuts an imposing figure pacing the sideline. Back and forth he follows the pace of the game, rarely taking a sea. He's constantly seeking ways to direct or influence his Mounties team, and that energy has helped Rogers get off to its best start since the 2011-12 season.
The Mounties (13-4, 3-2 6A-West Conference) have already won more games than any Rogers team since the Mounties finished 18-9 in the 2011-12 season and they haven't even reached the halfway point of conference play yet.
The players agree the second-year coach's passion helps lift them at times.
"He's always on his toes," Elliot Paschal said. "His competitive nature, that definitely runs through us. He always has that extra energy. He's always up, wanting us to get better."
Miller, a junior, said the team is inspired by Frazier's intensity and fire both on the court and in the weight room.
"We know he's gonna be right there in the refs' faces. He's gonna be in our faces, trying to give us an edge to win," Miller added."He pushes us to be our best, whether we're lifting weights or watching film."
Frazier experienced success as a player. He earned the reputation as an intense, hard-nosed competitor as the captain of the 1993-94 Missouri team, which won the Big 8 conference title and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
He also decided to play one season on the Missouri football team, after exhausting his basketball eligibility and earned All-Big 8 second-team honors as a tight end. Frazier even spent a few weeks in an NFL training camp before he was cut. That's when he made the move from being coached to being the coach.
As a coach, he prefers to keep things simple, stressing hard work and character both on and off the basketball court, Frazier said.
"During timeouts, I don't talk a lot of X's and O's," Frazier said. "I talk about we need to this or that a little harder. We need to play a little faster. We need to reach down deeper, breaking that mental threshold. That, a lot of times in tough game situations, if you allow it, becomes a breaking point."
He's up and always engaged on the sideline, but not necessarily emotional. Specifically, Frazier wants to give his players immediate feedback to help them perform to the best of their ability.
"If I had a uniform and some tennis shoes, I'd probably be a sixth man on the floor," Frazier said. "I'm not an emotional rah-rah guy. But when they look on the sideline, I hope they see 'Coach is engaged in the moment, just like I am or like I should be.'
"We're trying to win. If my work can influence our team, why wouldn't I do that? If they're constantly getting feedback and information, does it help us? I think it does."
Frazier said the team has progressed faster than he expected in his second season, but it's still a work in progress.
Miller and Paschal, both juniors, are the veterans of the group since both started as sophomores. But there's not a lot of continuity after that.
Current starters Derek Hobbs and Joseph Park both moved to Rogers in the fall from out of state. Park also missed six weeks with a fractured wrist. Van Rhame, a 6-4 postman, played some at the varsity level as a freshman a year ago but battled injuries in the offseason. Freshman Will Liddell moved up to the varsity this season and the Mounties only recently added 6-4 freshman Joel Garner.
"Our top eight guys are still trying to mesh," Frazier said.
Despite all those moving parts, the Mounties are enjoying their most success in six years. They also snapped a 28-game conference losing streak that spanned two seasons.
Frazier said the team hasn't gotten caught up in focusing on any of those things.
"We joke about them not being able to see six inches beyond their nose," Frazier said. "In our case, that's probably a good thing."
Frazier wants his team to be successful, but he also wants them to enjoy the ride.
"It doesn't take a sports car that goes 120 mph to get from Rogers to Fayetteville," Frazier said. "You might get there a little faster, but you can jump in a Honda Civic and still get there and you can actually probably enjoy the scenery a little better.
"It's a rush for us to get there, but I don't want it to be so fast that we can't enjoy it."
The Mounties are just hoping their ultimate destination this season is the Class 6A state tournament.
They'll save a seat for their coach if that happens, even if he never uses it.
Sports on 01/20/2019