Why Fred McNair Left Alcorn State, Southern is His Happy Place, How the Texas Southern Deal Fell Out

it's been quite the offseason for Fred McNair he was the alorn state head coach then we thought he was going to be the Texas Southern head coach and now he's with the Southern Jaguars as a tight ends Coach and he's very happy with how everything played out let's talk to Fred mcir himself about his journey from the end of last year to now oh yeah it's locked on HBCU play my [Music] music you are locked on HBCU your daily podcast covering HBCU Sports part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's going on family welcome back to another episode of the locked on HBCU podcast your number one daily onetop shop for everything HBCU Athletics Monday through Friday part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and I of course am Daran great aka the mouth of the South Texas Southern Alum and former TSU heral sports editor and current contributing writer at USA Today Saints wire thank you for going on this journey with me make a locked on HBCU your first listen of the day every day and remember just because the mic cuts off does not mean that the journey is over just means it's time to follow me on Twitter at South exclusives starts with an S and ends with an s today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel and sports may not be sported in the way that you want them to but FanDuel is giving every customer new and existing a daily booster bonus all summer long that's every single person every day all summer long go to fanduel.com to get started and make every moment more all right we're here with another live show every single Friday we're going to do this from today until the celebration Bowl every single Friday we will have a Live premiere at this evening time slot today we have Fred mcir to discuss his journey from all corn to and then also reflect on some of the good times at alorn he breaks down why he decided to leave the Braves his Alma moer everything that went on from his perspective with the Texas Southern Fiasco but most importantly what stood out to me is how at peace he is and how much he discuss Southern as his happy place so without further Ado let's talk to the man himself Fred a McNair okay Coach McNair there's gonna be something a little different about this year than the past previous years for you you're transitioning into being a position coach after nearly a decade of being a head coach right what is that transition like for you mentally I it's easy transition for me mentally I mean it's it's um not so much where a lot of a lot of pressures up on you um other been a head coach and and things of that nature as a head coach you you kind of familiar yourself with the position coaches anyway and things that they've been taught as a position coach so I'm familiar with everything that's been taught as a position coach you know just a transition from a head coach and until a position coach really doesn't need to change anything for me in terms of that but just being a position coach I mean just not I wouldn't say less pressure but it's a whole lot of things that um I'm not doing right now and I was doing when I was a head coach right so you now have the ability to hone in and say okay I'm just focusing on this position as opposed to I have to focus on this position and that side of the ball and this position and that side of the ball so I can see how naturally would feel like it's a little bit less on your plate right and there is a reason unfortunately that the head coaching is not going on and that is this off season it appeared as if you were going to be the new Texas Southern head coach and then that deal fell out from your point of view and from what you know what was the turning point that led to the contract not being agreed upon I don't I really don't know I think I don't think that we ever had um uh contract situation uh in terms of that uh being a Texas Southern uh but we just talked about it me coach me and Dr Granger we had conversation about it but uh other than the contract wise um haven't signed any contract up on that but you know I I don't do well on the past I'm I'm um living for the future now so um that's out the Wonder and I'm here at Southern now I'm focusing on what we have to do here to to win ball games here at Southern now so uh think under the leadership of Coach Graves uh he's doing a tremendous job of bringing in coaches that that fit the fit the mold of his uh program um try to get some wins here at Southern um try to be a champion here at Southern so that's my main focus focus right now and we will get to the Jaguars 100% because I do think it's important to view what is going on in the present in the current but I did want to ask right because as a Texas Southern Alum I I would be lying to you if I told you I wasn't personally curious about this situation and and we only know what we see from the outside looking in and there was multiple meetings about the potential of you being the Texas Southern head coach um without divulging more than you want to I just want to know what was communicated to you as they went through different meetings along the way Al ter I think that that that um this they brought me up one time for for interview and went through the interview process there and um you know hoping that you know I have a job at T but you know it's come back around and and said they they was going to re revisit the process and I think somebody in the um on the committee that want to go through Go a different direction so and that's where it was told to me so uh understanding that as a as as a coach and as a business person um those things happen so um you know just Pi it with the grain of salt and moved on it sounds like I don't know if maybe this is because it's months in advance or months afterwards but it sounds like this was a relatively smooth process for you and I can tell you from the point of view of the outside looking in this was not a smooth process it felt very Herky jerky right it felt like McNair is gonna be the coach maybe not mcir is gonna be the coach maybe not but for you it it feels like you've really taken this in stride and it's not as impactful as it is maybe months ago if at all I understand the business process of everything you know as a as a as a as a head coach and and as a as a position coach you know things happens and uh you know nothing to cry about um just got the roll your sleeves up and try to find other employment and um thank God for Tex thank God that southern reached out to me and Coach grave and and coach Mark Frederick um reached out to me one one one day and and I about this job here so I was I was heads over here when they when they called me so I'm very excited about taking this job and let's look back at your former employer right because you were at alorn what went into the decision to say I'm going to transition from a place where I've been very comfortable went to school here have family Roots here I've been a coach here for nearly a decade what what went into the decision to say I'm going to look elsewhere you know the biggest thing is sometimes that that when you had a when you had a place so long and and a place that you love and your your two-time graduate of University um they gave you the opportunity to get my my BS and my masters um you tend to you tend to love the place that you graduated from your Alma M but at the same time you think that you that your Amma have to love you too you know and things that you've done and in the past and the winning traditions and that we've had and the championship that we brought in uh at the coaching staff and but I think some of the things that that that I really expected to happen didn't happen and um you know just coming from the leadership and and things that that wasn't done right um but you know I think I thought that at that time it was a great time for me to say you know cut my ties with it and uh you know just sometime you lose a lot of sleep at night of some of the things that you can't control and um you know when when that when that stuff start happening and you're not really happy anymore you know it's time to to to move on and and find you a happy place you know so um you know the biggest thing for me that that that um that it was bit sweet but you know I have to do something for myself to to kind of make myself happy and and um unstressful and and at a at a place now where you know I can sit back and kind of enjoy myself and be a position coach and and hopefully one day you know the opportunity will come again uh to be a head coach somewhere you know one thing that's probably my biggest take away from all of this before we do get into your happy place which is Southern right down there in Baton Rouge is you seem to be very peaceful and at I should say at peace not just being peaceful but you seem to be at peace with all of the things that have transpired and these are Big Time events right leaving your Alma moer the contract situation with Texas Southern and now landing at a new school how were you able to find this piece was it landing at Southern was it the time that it's been since everything has transpired because we're looking back at the end of 2023 and we're halfway through the new year so just how did you find yourself to be at peace with all of the decisions that were really big time for your life you know just think about you know throughout the whole process you know just just praying about it man and um and then just keeping faith and you know you when you walk out on faith you know something's always there for you and I think I put a lot of trust in the in in the Lord and and and for giving me an opportunity to to find new employment so uh that's one thing that um that really kept me going uh you know the family and um everybody that was talking to me the the from a positive aspect of it you know um you know people would wonder why um why was I leaving you know um just get a chance to tell my story one day and uh and get them to understand this is why you know when you when you do things right when you do do right by people uh good things happen so and I think that at this point in time I was doing the right thing uh by people and and this what happens is when you do things right you always find employment so I'm going continue to do things right I'm going layb guy you know I don't I don't um I don't fuss and gra about too much you know but I I I love the staff I have um you know the the thing is that you want to take care of the players as well I thought I did a great job of doing that while I was employed at alorn you know I took care of the staff and made sure they got what they need to be successful and make sure the kids was successful uh I always thought about the players first and uh not only that you know I always thought about the department you know when I spoke about things I spoke about the department not only just football you know I I really I really uh transparent with the other sports in terms of things that what they can do and and how how to how to get it done you know but um but you know overall you know I'm I'm happy now and you know hope opportunity to come again me and Co grave has talked many of times and uh even today on the um on the field we got ready to play Southern you know um when I walked in my middle mid Midfield I embraced him I hug him I said coach your day is coming and and it's coming soon and Lord forbid you know here it is now he the head coach of Southern University right right now and I want to get to it because on multiple times you said your happy place and to me that means with the Southern Jaguars to me that means with Coach Graves so I want to take that time to speak about what had happened in the offseason now take the time upcoming to look at the happy place in the 2024 season as we continue with locked on HBCU today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel and FanDuel is the official sports book of the locked on podcast Network now I understand that Sports may not be sporting the way that you want them to even though I can say this I was very happy watching some preseason football last night my boy Mikey Victor from Alabama State I thought he got an interception but they called it was you know incomplete but that's neither here nor there with some preseason you can still make some money it may not be the stars of the show but you can still make some money on preseason football but if you're waiting for the regular season to start don't even do that put some money down on week one right now you don't have to wait until it's Monday before the game start put money down right now you can do it with week zero of college football week one of college football you go MLB WNBA everything is on the table do not wait take advantage of the daily boost and bonus that FanDuel is giving all customers new and existing All Summer Long take advantage right now do not wait do not say we'll get get to it one day because you're missing multiple days of daily boost and bonus go to fanduel.com that is fanduel.com to make every moment more and get started today as we continue rolling on today's episode of lock on HBCU I appreciate you for making this your first listen of the day every day for your second listen make sure you checking out locked on college football you want to make sure that you checking them out because this is everything that you need to know from the locked on podcast Network about the upcoming Collegiate football season and I have Fred McNair with me former all corn head coach and now Southern tight ends coach I appreciate you sincerely because I know this took a lot right people don't get to see everything that happened before we get the microphone on they don't see all of that they don't get to see all of that but we know what it took in the in the the pre-production to get here so I genuinely appreciate you and I want to now focus on this happy place that is Southern I love the peace that you have I love the calm that you have in the situation and I was listening to an interview from coach Graves and he was talking about how you told him hey I don't know what's going on but don't forget about me what made you reach out to coach grav before you knew you were gonna be going this direction to tell them don't forget about me because y'all probably had that relationship but you say hey man you never know yeah you know and that's the biggest thing when I got the phone call uh coach Mark Fred called me at first and uh he's talked to me for for a little while and uh and he said coach gra is going to call me and talk to me about it um you know I was at home uh like I said I was at peace and uh when I got the phone call from from old guys and and I was delighted man and uh smile on my face came and you know I always admir this football program Southern had uh for a long time even when I played against Southern uh in college and I always thought that they always had a a great tradition man fan base uh the support uh everything that they've been that's been going on here at Southern um and then uh you know as a as a as a coach when I was coaching against them you know I always wonder how do they get all those big recruits man and those big lineman and those big guys the skill guys and I always admired the program uh that they had here at Southern and uh now that when I got the phone call and I said man I'm I'm going to Southern uh um that's a team I always admired you know and I always thought uh great things about you know even when I played them and I coached against them so you know now I'm here and with Coach Graves and and uh coach Frederick offensive coordinator you know these guys are showed me bum of respect man you know just give me the opportunity to come here and and uh find happiness here and you know a lot a lot of people ask me how I'm doing I said I'm good man I'm doing fine a lot of people ask me how how Southern treated me Southern treated me great you know um you know the fans you know fans were fans you know when we played against Southern uh when I was at all corn they rooted against me you know and right now they all for me so I'm here at Southern so I was on elevator a minute ago and um come up to a meeting and one of the guys asked me said coach we're glad you're here man I'm happy to be here at Southern Man so you guys gave me an opportunity to land a coaching position here and uh and I'm going to do my best to that I can do to coach these tight ends up and and get them prepared for for a game along with this coaching staff and uh with the leadership of uh coach Terence Graves and you talked about how much you admired Southern right so I would assume that on a potential job list they were probably high on there was there ever a point where you thought about leaving the swag because I look at alorn coach there Texas Southern thought about coaching there Southern you're now here all three of these schools of swack we know that your background is in the swack was it important for you to remain in the conference when looking at different opportunities in the coaching world no I looked I looked I looked at opportunities I I I had and I did some interviews um outside the conference um you know at the time I think that um the time I did interviews I think of they had already had AOS himself to hard another guy at that time but you know I had interviews outside the conference I think I did pretty good on interviews you know just to just to say the most and um being able to just to carry sell myself around to from the coaching standpoint to where you know I can land other jobs outside the conference but you know the swack has been great to me um you know since I've been here man even playing and and as a head coach and as a position coach it's been it's been tremendous man I think that uh Dr mlen is doing a great job of of doing the things that he need to get done to to improve this conference um and he's done a phenomenal job so uh right now I'm here in the conference so this where I'm at you spoke about the interviewing process right and it's clear that you still have desires to be a head coach is this something that you're looking for in the immediate is this something that you're concerning yourself with or is this just a it happens if it happens type of situation for you you know I I had a conversation with Coach grave about about things and I told him you know that I will be still looking for or uh seing a head coach position um just soon as something come up you know I I will inform him that you know I will be looking for all the opportunity which we had talked about it already he knows that I still want to become a head football coach so we got that understood but right now um pretty much focused on what we have here at Southern coaching the tight ends up and um and if something happen to pop open um I I will let him know that you know I'm pursuing other things was there ever a time when you thought about just sitting out a year and then just going back to the well next year for the head coaching because it does sound like your your mind is set on being a head coach again yeah it is always always I always want to try and be be a head coach and I think every position coach want to be a head coach so you know I'm not not not no stranger to the position um with the knowledge I have to being a head coach so um I know I had that winning pedigree uh but I always want to be a head coach and um that's something I always um have in my mind and and still want to be so um in the old terms like I said you know uh coaching here at Southern goingon to be something something new to me something good for me uh keep me alled up and and tuned up as a coach uh not really want to sit out a year um I didn't want to but if I had to I would have right um but um be glad to have the opportunity to be here at Southern uh the coaches tight ends here so uh coach grave gave me the opportunity to do that so and I think that you have a really interesting thing I I want to talk about this one day on my show I'm not sure when I will but I think that having you in the room as a tight ends coach not even being a quarterback's coach that could really grow the passing game of Southern right because we know what your your history history is with quarterbacks and now you get to work with a pass catcher how excited are you for the opportunity to shift from uh um I kind of look at you kind of the quarterback quarterback Guru of since when you were at all how does it feel shifting over to the tight ends it's it's not it's not it's not it's not bad at all I'm really enjoying it and I got told I told the uh the four guys I got in my room uh I'm excited about the situation and I think I got four guys that that that's very capable of uh catching a lot of balls this year and that's why I told them um becoming All Conference players and that's what we that's what we embedded in them you know to be that be those guys that when they step on the field it looks apart you know and in the past Southern always had had great tight ends uh to play that position so um it's not unfamiliar territory for for Southern and they have guys that that I have in my room now uh that's pretty good and um just to grow those guys and and see those guys come up and and be excited about about playing in games and and and old Personnel package that we have you know I'm EXC about it good teaching U the guys are very respectful you know as a coach you you give respect you get it so these guys are good and we talk a lot and uh just communication wise is the part that that really they understand you know we have to be able to communicate now I want to push more back to reflecting not as far as Texas Southern and allor what kind of aorn because you went to school there um but I just want to reflect on your on your football journey and what it's been for you since you started playing the game as we continue with locked on HBCU today's episode of lock on HBCU is brought to you by game time and game time is the best place for tickets not sporting events not theater not concerts not comedy shows but tickets to all of them it doesn't matter we're not selective uh game time has the best deals for everything you have Zone deals where you can just pick a Zone in the stadium or wherever you are and they'll pick the right seat for you at the best price it's so much easier than all of these other places I'm telling you right now download the game time app create an account use the code locked on College you get $20 off your first purchase and you'll never stop using game time after that I just use game time about to go to the Universal Circus and I had to go ahead and get me some tickets get one from me and the lady we went to game time so I could get the best deals I didn't want to go to fill in the blank or fill in the blank because we don't do free promotion but I did want to make sure I got the best deal and looked everywhere else game time is the place to be you can take it from a personal user go to game time download the app create an account and use the code locked on college to get $20 off your first purchase as wrapping up today's episode of lock on HBCU I appreciate you for making this your first listen of the day every day making it all the way to segment three and I thank you two times for that thank you thank you we have Southern Jaguars tight ends coach Fred McNair here with me and you've gone through different walks of life you've been a player you've been a coach what do you feel like has been your biggest challenge in the game football regardless of when it was then have to be right now but what has been your biggest challenge and how have you overcome it in this in this game of of football you know I guess the journey that took for me to get here you know um that's where I started at uh it was back in 1984 when all corn played Mississippi Valley Pet memori stadium in Jackson you know always had my friend guys that were with me to go to games and and I always wanted to be a a football coach and and U I respected Marino the late Marino Castle when he was coaching the game at alorn and and I think that's who I wanted to be you know um growing up I want to be a a Marino Castle coach you know and and um alorn gave an opportunity um in 2012 to come back and and Coach that bada to coach the quarterback position and um you know in 2016 gave me the opportunity to become a head football coach there and and I embraced it you know I loved it you know being at my Armada a place that I've watched uh the team play and um and everything so you know I always wanted to be a hit football coach and that's in my pedigree and that's what I that's what I believe that I'm I'm still capable being so uh just a long journey I think that I can reflect back that took me uh even I interviewed three three times at all corn for the head coaching position um denied twice and actually denied all three of them uh up until Dr ranking um really um when they when the previous coach decide to leave and and go other places and I was Nam interim coach and and Dr Ranken um he's the IHL commissioner right now in the state of Mississippi gave me an opportunity to become a head football coach as the president of alorn so um you know and I spent several years as a head coach up until 23 and I kind of felt the things that wasn't getting done um for our programs uh that need to get done so I knew right then that uh it was time for me to part ways and do something different and um and that's what I did and um like I said walked out on faith and um the tech s came open and had a talk with Dr Grange about that job and the president Dr cias and uh now and that fell through and Southern gave me opportunity to come here and I'm I'm happy Over Heels right now man and having a great time and and um with Coach grave and his offensive staff and even the defens staff man he got these some great coaches here man he got a he got a he got a Bonafide coaching staff man it's going going do great things so I'm excited about that uh let me ask you this because I don't know how often that you think about Legacy but you've been an all corn player you've been an all corn coach you know let's not even just you've been a player right you you played outside of just uh y moer played professionally had a solid career in the AFL had a couple records right like solid don't even feel like I'm doing you enough Justice if you if you had to be the the uh the judge do you feel like you have been a better Coach or you've been a better player I don't know I think I've been a better Coach because the things love to do uh to Mentor these young mens that we have uh in this world today and try to bring them up the right way uh get them opportunities um give them give them give them roads to travel um that's going to be tough for him you know make try to make it easy for them try to get them to understand but I think as a as a coach just being able to Mentor the young men um in the walks of life I think that goes a long way with me uh because I have a son and and I want the coach to be feel the same way about them too so and um so that that's one of my biggest things are you about to have to get out of here Coach side yeah okay we'll get you a couple of questions wrap up I want to ask you about week three 2019 Noah Johnson goes down with an injury you have to replace him with Felix Harper right what are the expectations we know what happened Felix Harper went out of this world and won a swag play player of the year right after Noah Johnson won a swack Player of the Year you guys win a swack again but when Johnson goes down with injury what is the thought process what is the expectations in the room could I have to imagine that that felt like a huge blow when it happened you know the biggest thing is was the air didn't go out the balloon uh the air did not go out the balloon because I'm I always I always been a quarterback coach that that always um wants the number two guy to be better than number one uh so always focus on number two quarterback more than I focus on number one because number one go down number two have to be ready so the ER didn't go after balloon so I think Felix was ready to play and it showed when he got in and play so um I'm always focused on that number two guy that's an interesting strategy because most times when your Star Quarterback guy just won the swack offensive player of the year when he goes down you aren't supposed to replace him with the swack offensive player of the year you are aware of this right coach that that's not supposed to happen yeah I'm aware of all that that's why that's why I'm I'm a different kind of guy that that coaches the position in a quarterback you know um number one supposed to be right right but that number two guy have to be he have to be ready and so I'm always focused on that number two guy all the time uh I tell the coaches that too you know it's that number two guy that we need to be ready because number one gonna go down at some point just one play away and I'll ask you this because I did hear people saying your name to the side and I appreciate you what do you want how do you want to be remembered when it's all said and done whether that's a player as a man as a coach uh in the community in the the uh in the school whatever how do you want Fred McNair to be remembered when it's all said and done personally as as individual leader um you know I think I've been that way since I've I've come out of high school as a player um coached high school before and as was a mentor to the young men that we're raising today you know in terms of football uh but I want to be known as a a great mentor and a leader um of All Phases of it and you know what I I I forgot one more question on my list that I can't walk out without asking all right you have said you are the original air McNair you and your brother share the name I have to know what is the the Genesis of this nickname and also were you Eric McNair before you became a quarterback cuz I know that's not where you started your collegiate career no I was U ER mnao probably my junior year in college when uh turn small CC Tillman Fernando Evans uh at a practice one day they gave me that name I was throwing the ball so well in two minute drill um and I was just cutting it loose and and uh they just start calling me air air then they put on magnair to it so it stuck with me it stuck with me so that's one of the things that that we really embraced and I think the Legacy went on when Steve came out of even when he was in high school they was calling him air2 air2 is divine so um you know so that one of the things that that stuck with him so it's been that way for a while and they still call me air you know so um for a long long time ago now I appreci because I had to know the Genesis of that especially knowing the position change I wanted to know was it just hey air rhymes with McNair you know some people stumble on cool nicknames but no that was a great backstory on how it came to be in the legacy of it coach Fred McNair I genuinely appreciate you sitting down with me talking about everything that happened this offseason the things that have happened in the past at alorn and then also the future that you're looking forward to at the sou with the Southern Jaguars um good luck on the season every week that you don't face t you because I wish you were the coach but you know I still got a rock with my own my M Pride there you go man but good luck on every other game out of the Season no but in all seriousness thank you for coming on thank you everybody for checking this out and making this your first listen of the day every day we'll be back next week as you know I always record these interviews ahead of time so no I don't know what we'll be talking about on Monday but it'll probably be something along the lines I don't know I can't even predict guys it's Monday right now so until the next time hear each other family whatever we do talk about take care stay blessed peace all right go Jag