Leslie Frazier is expected to soon have the “interim” removed from his title, according to multiple media reports today. The announcement that Frazier will become the Vikings 2011 head coach is speculated to come tomorrow or later this week, and it’s expected to receive applause from the players.
Wide receiver Greg Camarillo was asked late last week by Sports Headliners how a secret locker room ballot about Frazier would turn out. “Everybody likes him,” Camarillo answered. “Obviously personnel decisions, coaching decisions are made from up top. But I don’t know a person in this locker room that wouldn’t want to play for coach Frazier. He’s definitely got the future as a head coach.”
Frazier was the Vikings defensive coordinator before taking over as the interim boss when head coach Brad Childress was fired following an embarrassing home game loss to the Packers, leaving the team with a 3-7 record, reports of a divisive locker room, and a long way from looking like a Super Bowl contender. In the past Frazier was considered for head coaching jobs in the NFL but had always been rejected so the interim tag moved him closer to his career ambition.
“I think we all want him to get the job,” Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell said last week. “Bigger than that we all want him to get a job. We feel that he deserves to be a head coach in this league. You hope it’s here but it’s not our decision to make. We just know that he deserves to be a head coach.”
The Vikings were 3-3 under Frazier, including a 20-13 loss to the Lions today that left the Vikings with a 6-10 record and a last place finish in the NFC North. The previous six games were impacted by difficult challenges including too many injuries to key personnel and weather driven decisions that impacted where and when games would be played.
“He’s had more curve balls thrown at him and he’s kept everybody going in the right direction…and going the same way,” Longwell said. “And not enough has been said about what an amazing job that has been, just keeping guys going in the right direction. You name it. We’ve seen it and then some this last month. I think a lot of the credit of the direction of the team goes to him.”
Camarillo said Frazier respects the players and they’ve returned that respect to him. Frazier’s calm, steady and positive approach has been well received by a veteran group that Camarillo said wouldn’t react favorably to a yelling and screaming leader.
“He sets a level of expectations and then puts it on the veterans to achieve those expectations,” Camarillo said. “In the NFL you can yell and scream all you want, but we’re all professionals.”
What has Frazier meant to the team the last six weeks? “A lot,” Camarillo said. “He brought a new energy. Kind of a new start to a season. A new mentality. After that rough first part of the season, we needed that to refocus and play the rest of the season as hard as we have, as dedicated as we have.”
In 2011 we may see what Frazier can do with 16 weeks.