For years now Prairie View has been looking for a resurrection to its once unstoppable football program. Several different coaches have come to Prairie View in search of a winning record since Coach Hoover J. Wright’s 5-4 season in 1967 but only two, Theopolis Danzy in 1972 and Haney Catchings in 1988, have come close, each finished with 5-5 records.
Enter current head football coach Henry Frazier III. “My personal goal when arriving here was to build this into a winning football program,” said Frazier. “I wanted to turn it around and return it to its prominence.”
Immediately Coach Frazier began opening eyes in 2004 by leading the Panthers to their first 1-0 record and defeat of archrival Texas Southern in 15 years with a 25-7 victory over the Tigers in the 20th annual Labor Day Classic. But it didn’t stop there. The very next game the Panthers made history by defeating Paul Quinn and posting the first 2-0 start since 1964, ending a 40 year drought.
Later in the 2004 season, a homecoming win over Lincoln College gave the Panthers their first 3 win season since Charles Dorsey coached as many in 2001.
The following year in 2005 success came knocking as the Panthers again started 1-0 and Frazier added more accomplishments to his resume.
In the rescheduled 21st annual Labor Day Classic, the final game of the season, Frazier mounted multiple accolades with a thrilling 30-27defeat over TSU. With thatvictory Frazier posted the most wins by a Prairie View coach (5 wins) since 1988 and moved his name next to the immortal head coach Billy J. Nicks as the only coach in history to defeat TSU in back-to-back seasons. “My maximum goal,” says Frazier, “is of course to win a Black College National Championship.”
Frazier has succeeded greatly in thehistory books of Panther football with his handful of broken streaks in such a short amount of time. However, his opinion of personalsuccess isn’t just limited to football. When asked how he would like to be viewed after leaving Prairie View, Frazier replied, “I want people to say ‘that man really cared about his players’ development on and off the field.’ I want to develop men. We have Bible study every week and have a social development program implemented in our program. I believe that if you help someone, they’ll eventually be able to help themself.