John Frazier Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 3rd season

John Frazier is in his third season as throws coach for the Lady Volunteers. He joined the Tennessee staff in August 2006 after serving six years as an assistant men's and women's track & field coach at the University of Arizona.

Frazier's reputation in his profession earned him the honor of coaching on the international stage for the United States. In August 2007, he traveled to Osaka, Japan, and worked with the U.S. women's throws contingent as it competed at the IAAF World Track & Field Championships.

Demonstrating how he earned that reputation and awards such as 2005 USTCA National and West Region Assistant Coach of the Year for Throws, Frazier has produced impressive results in his first two seasons with the Lady Vol program. Among the accolades his charges have earned in his brief time at Rocky Top include All-American, NCAA Regional champion, SEC champion and school record-holder.

Annie Alexander had a sensational freshman campaign in 2008, sweeping SEC Indoor and Outdoor shot put titles and snapping 26-year-old school records indoors and out. She also added a league discus title, and became the first SEC freshman female to win all three of those events in a single season.

Other UT standouts for Frazier include two-time All-American Shanna Dickenson, the 2007 third-place NCAA discus finisher, a 10-time scorer at the SEC level and school record-holder in the hammer throw; Amara McKell, an SEC scorer in the shot and discus; and Nia Ali, who learned the shot under Frazier and went on to win the 2007 SEC heptathlon title in her first career attempt at the event.

Frazier joined the Big Orange from an Arizona program where he produced 11 All-Americans and two U.S. Junior champions. In his final year in Tucson in 2006, he had seven athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships. His pupils collectively accumulated five All-America certificates in the discus and shot put.

Before joining the Arizona staff, Frazier spent two seasons at the University of Florida, where he worked alongside J.J. Clark. During his tenure in Gainesville, Frazier helped Emily Carlsten earn a runner-up finish in the javelin at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships and a third-place showing at the U.S. Olympic Trials that season. His athletes at UF also set school records in the javelin, hammer throw and 20-pound weight throw under his tutelage.

Frazier's coaching career dates back to 1988, when he joined the staff at UC Irvine. He also spent some of his formative professional years at Humboldt (Calif.) State, Cal State Northridge and Cal State Los Angeles before making the jump to the Pac-10 and SEC level.

During his 20 years in the track & field coaching community, Frazier's athletes have attained 34 All-America awards, including 13 at the NCAA Division II level. Additionally, he coached four NCAA Division II national champions and has tutored several athletes in the professional ranks.

Post-collegiates who have trained with Frazier include Dawn Dumble (59-2 in the shot and 201-6 in the discus); Shaun Pickering, a 1996 British Olympian who owns the No. 3 shot put mark in his country's history; Matt Pentecost, the 1995 U.S Junior National shot put champion; and Steve Albert, who finished seventh in the shot put at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.

As a collegiate performer from 1982-86, Frazier was a three-time All-American at UCLA in the shot put and also competed in the hammer throw. He is the second Bruin track & field standout to grace the UT staff, as former sprint/jumps coach Caryl Smith Gilbert (2002-06) graduated from UCLA in 1991 after a successful career on the oval.

Frazier earned a bachelor's degree in political science from UCLA in 1986, and he has a master's in kinesiology from his time at Cal State Northridge.

A product of Lancaster, Calif., Frazier is married to the former Julia Barnes. They have two daughters, Lana (11) and Courtney (8), and one son, John Jr. (6).

• During his career, athletes Frazier has coached have achieved a total of 34 All-America honors and won four NCAA championships
• Tennessee's Annie Alexander became the first rookie in SEC history to win the discus and indoor and outdoor shot titles in the same season, doing so in 2008
• Alexander broke two 26-year-old school records in the shot, tossing the ball 57-2 indoors and 57-3 outdoors
• Alexander twice toppled the Trinidad & Tobago national record in the discus, settling at 189-3 during her rookie season
• Lady Vol Shanna Dickenson earned All-America kudos in the discus and hammer in 2007, setting a UT record in the hammer
• Named 2005 USTCA National and West Region Assistant Coach of the Year for Throws
• Prepared seven athletes for NCAA appearances in 2006 while coaching at the University of Arizona
• Directed Arizona's Rachel Varner to Pac-10 discus titles in 2004 and 2006, an NCAA West Regional title in 2004 and a placing of eighth at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships
• Helped UA's Adam Kuehl chart runner-up efforts in the discus at the Pac-10 and NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2006
• Tutored Wildcat Sean Shields to third-place NCAA Indoor and Outdoor finishes in the shot and a sixth-place effort outdoors in the discus in 2006
• Guided Shields (shot put, '02) and Kuehl (discus, '03) to U.S. Junior Championships and Shields to an American junior record (and world junior record for a time) in the shot
• While at University of Florida, Frazier led Emily Carlsten to a runner-up finish in the javelin at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor meet and to a third-place effort at the U.S. Olympic Trials
• His athletes at UF set school records in the javelin, hammer and weight throws