Coach Dee Frazier: The Power of Good Communication

You can’t win with bad guys.

Coach Dee Frazier is huge on relationships and good communication, which is what brought him into coaching in the first place. Specifically, he had a great relationship with one of the assistant coaches for Valdosta State University’s Men’s Basketball Team, by the name of Jason Mays. During one of the summers while Coach Frazier was still in college, Coach Mays gave him a call. In the call, he asked if Coach Frazier would be interested in being the student assistant for the team. That is when Coach Frazier’s career TRULY started.

While he was in college, he did not know what he wanted to do professionally. The second he started to get into coaching, he knew that this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his career. So far, Coach Frazier has coached for 7 seasons on the college level at a variety of colleges including Clark Atlanta and Arkansas Little Rock.

Today’s All In Takeaways are around the importance of good communication and positive reinforcement: 

All In Takeaway #1: Good Communication is Crucial 

Good Communication is an area of great focus for Coach Frazier, especially in the recruiting process. In prior years, he feels that they could have done better in recruiting but they did not dive deep enough into getting to know the athletes before offering them. They simply recruited the best players which led to various communication problems down the road. 

Now, Coach Frazier is digging deep into the recruiting process. Ultimately, looking beyond the court. Looking at their academic records. Talking to their former coaches. Building relationships with them. Although this takes much longer than some of the previous recruiting processes that he was a part of, it more than pays off in the long run. 

At the end of the day, good communication is a critical aspect in every situation in life, but especially in college basketball. Coaches, look to bring on good communicators. If you are not comfortable about the possibility of them talking to the school’s president, then maybe they are not the right fit for your program. It will pay off through the ups and downs within every season. 

All In Takeaway #2: Positive Reinforcement Empowers Good Communication

Once the guys know that you have their best interests at heart, they are going to be ready to run through a brick wall for you. I can yell at my guys and get after them. But at the end of the day, they know that if they ever need something or something needs to get done, they know that I am going to war for them.

For Coach Frazier, the attitude of the team and positive reinforcement is critical in building a strong team culture. In prior seasons, Coach Frazier has been apart of teams that when the team is not performing well, the players start turning on each other. This is exactly what can make a bad situation worse. Coaches, if you are ever in this situation, make sure to continue to stay the course. You will never know how to best handle these types of situations until you are in it but make sure to stick with it. Even the best coaches, go through bad seasons where the team was not performing well, and the culture was not the best. 

This past season was unlike anything Coach Frazier has experienced before. It was the way that the team would handle losing that was so different than times past. For instance, they lost their first conference game. Instead of the players getting frustrated with each other, they would say things like, 

Do not even worry about this coach. I know you are mad and did not want to lose this one, but trust me, we will not lose another conference game.

From there, they went on to win 7 straight games. Coaches, aim to build a team culture where positive reinforcement is a norm when your team is not performing well. 

Currently…

Coach Frazier is getting ready to enter his second season as the Head Coach of the Men’s Basketball Team at Clinton College. In the season before he came on, they won 14 games. In his first season, they were able to get the conference title as a part of the EMAC. As Coach Frazier looks to help take his team even further in the 2022-2023 season, it will be exciting to see how the strong team culture has an influence throughout the ups and downs of the season. Go Bears!

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