Bryant Allen and Corey Frazier article

[Orange Julius]

Frazier builds MRH from ground up

Blue Devils coach molds team in his image

By David Kvidahl

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 4:58 PM CST

Rick Graefe photo/ MRH coach Corey Frazier (center) is flanked by key members of the Blue Devils squad.

Bryant Allen can't help but smile.

The sweet shooting lefty for the Maplewood-Richmond Heights boys basketball team didn't run the last drill in practice properly and is getting verbally undressed by his coach, Corey Frazier.

"You'll never go Division I," Frazier tells the kid who's been receiving love letters from college coaches since the end of his freshman season.Allen runs the play again and, again, manages to not impress his coach.

"What did I just tell you, son?" Frazier yells. "Run it again!"

It goes like this, on and off, throughout the night's practice. Frazier instructing his team on what he wants and, when he doesn't get it the way he wants it, stopping practice and instructing them again, only each time his voice keeps rising.

It's amazing the man can talk after a less than stellar night with his team.

"He's got a lot of fire," MRH athletic director Bob Hebrank said. "He doesn't know how to go halfway."

It's that quality that has helped Frazier guide the MRH boys basketball team to prominence. Frazier enters his seventh year with the program and posted a coaching record of 91-62. In the past four seasons, he's led the Blue Devils to two South Central Athletic Association titles, two 20-win seasons and a district title game. To make things even harder, he managed to do all of that while not playing a home game during a two-year stretch while the MRH gymnasium received a face-lift.

For his next trick, Frazier wants to do as a coach what he did as a player while at Charleston - win the state championship.

This season is the first under Frazier the Blue Devils are true contenders for a trip to Columbia. In order to reach that lofty goal (especially for a team that didn't win its conference or district last winter), MRH will have to play the way its coach did.

"He was a very good team player and very unselfish," Frazier's college skipper and former Saint Louis University men's basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "He'd been a really big scorer in high school (at Charleston), but he was an even better defensive player (at SLU)."

If you've watched the Blue Devils play, you know their focus is defense. In previous seasons, MRH hasn't had dominant height, often trotting out a lineup with nary a player over 6 feet tall. Their success comes from their man-to-man, high intensity ball pressure. MRH gets in your face and makes you uncomfortable, which, in turn, forces you to do things you might not want to do.

That's how Frazier got down on the defensive end.

"This is the first team we've had that we can do what we used to do at Charleston," Frazier says of his current crop.

In the past, the Blue Devils have picked up their man in the half court and unleashed their wicked style of defense. Now, Frazier wants his boys doing the dirty work all the way up the floor. Find your man, get down and stick to him like your life depends on it.

To play this way, your team has to be in shape and the Blue Devils are getting there. The MRH football team just completed the best postseason run in school history and several members of the basketball team were involved, including three of Frazier's starting five. It's going to take some time to get their basketball legs back, but that's not stopping Frazier from trying to jump start the process.

When you screw up bad enough at practice, you run. Miss a lay-up? Run. Miss a free throw? Run. Don't hustle from drill to drill? Run. Act like a freshman (even if you are a freshman)? You run double.

Frazier suffers no fools when it's his time on the court. To a man, he expects his players to work as hard as he did and to execute properly.

"Corey was one of the guys you didn't have to get on for anything," Spoonhour said. "He accepted responsibility. I think guys look for excuses, but that was never him. He played every play, he didn't take plays off."

Sometimes that expectation and his fire get the better of him. Frazier is often animated on the sidelines, imploring his team to keep up the intensity. When something doesn't go the way he wants or when someone doesn't do what he wants, he's not shy about letting them know about it in no uncertain terms.

Frazier's fire is balanced by his assistant coach and "road dog" John Redden. Redden, a Marquette High and fellow SLU graduate, is the soothing ying to Frazier's blistering yang.

The two have been together since their playing days overlapped at SLU and joined forces in the coaching ranks seven years ago.

If Frazier's modus operandi is to be as loud as possible to be heard, Redden offers a calm voice and an understanding that you're not always going to be perfect and that it's all right.

"John's part of the reason Corey's been successful," Hebrank said.

Even when he's off the chart mad and the veins are popping out of his neck, the players know Frazier will always be there for them. He was at every football game. He helps them with life on and off the basketball court. He's shown them that basketball is part of life, but it's not the only part. To get down on the court, you have to get down in the classroom.

"They look up to him like a big brother," Hebrank said. "It's a school district where we have to show the kids how much we care about them."

Which is why Bryant Allen can't help but smile, even while Frazier screams his head off.

[Guest BillikenReport]

In their first game this season, the Blue Devils' opponent had 55 turnovers and Maplewood scored 100 points.

The opponent was very bad. MRH scored 45 points in the first quarter.

[jimbofive]

In their first game this season, the Blue Devils' opponent had 55 turnovers and Maplewood scored 100 points.

The opponent was very bad. MRH scored 45 points in the first quarter.

FIFTY-FIVE. holy crap that poor team.

[brianstl]

FIFTY-FIVE. holy crap that poor team.

Didn't we have that many in our conference tourney game against GW.

[Billikan]

Frazier builds MRH from ground up

Blue Devils coach molds team in his image

By David Kvidahl

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 4:58 PM CST

Rick Graefe photo/ MRH coach Corey Frazier (center) is flanked by key members of the Blue Devils squad.

Bryant Allen can't help but smile.

The sweet shooting lefty for the Maplewood-Richmond Heights boys basketball team didn't run the last drill in practice properly and is getting verbally undressed by his coach, Corey Frazier.

"You'll never go Division I," Frazier tells the kid who's been receiving love letters from college coaches since the end of his freshman season.Allen runs the play again and, again, manages to not impress his coach.

"What did I just tell you, son?" Frazier yells. "Run it again!"

It goes like this, on and off, throughout the night's practice. Frazier instructing his team on what he wants and, when he doesn't get it the way he wants it, stopping practice and instructing them again, only each time his voice keeps rising.

It's amazing the man can talk after a less than stellar night with his team.

"He's got a lot of fire," MRH athletic director Bob Hebrank said. "He doesn't know how to go halfway."

It's that quality that has helped Frazier guide the MRH boys basketball team to prominence. Frazier enters his seventh year with the program and posted a coaching record of 91-62. In the past four seasons, he's led the Blue Devils to two South Central Athletic Association titles, two 20-win seasons and a district title game. To make things even harder, he managed to do all of that while not playing a home game during a two-year stretch while the MRH gymnasium received a face-lift.

For his next trick, Frazier wants to do as a coach what he did as a player while at Charleston - win the state championship.

This season is the first under Frazier the Blue Devils are true contenders for a trip to Columbia. In order to reach that lofty goal (especially for a team that didn't win its conference or district last winter), MRH will have to play the way its coach did.

"He was a very good team player and very unselfish," Frazier's college skipper and former Saint Louis University men's basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "He'd been a really big scorer in high school (at Charleston), but he was an even better defensive player (at SLU)."

If you've watched the Blue Devils play, you know their focus is defense. In previous seasons, MRH hasn't had dominant height, often trotting out a lineup with nary a player over 6 feet tall. Their success comes from their man-to-man, high intensity ball pressure. MRH gets in your face and makes you uncomfortable, which, in turn, forces you to do things you might not want to do.

That's how Frazier got down on the defensive end.

"This is the first team we've had that we can do what we used to do at Charleston," Frazier says of his current crop.

In the past, the Blue Devils have picked up their man in the half court and unleashed their wicked style of defense. Now, Frazier wants his boys doing the dirty work all the way up the floor. Find your man, get down and stick to him like your life depends on it.

To play this way, your team has to be in shape and the Blue Devils are getting there. The MRH football team just completed the best postseason run in school history and several members of the basketball team were involved, including three of Frazier's starting five. It's going to take some time to get their basketball legs back, but that's not stopping Frazier from trying to jump start the process.

When you screw up bad enough at practice, you run. Miss a lay-up? Run. Miss a free throw? Run. Don't hustle from drill to drill? Run. Act like a freshman (even if you are a freshman)? You run double.

Frazier suffers no fools when it's his time on the court. To a man, he expects his players to work as hard as he did and to execute properly.

"Corey was one of the guys you didn't have to get on for anything," Spoonhour said. "He accepted responsibility. I think guys look for excuses, but that was never him. He played every play, he didn't take plays off."

Sometimes that expectation and his fire get the better of him. Frazier is often animated on the sidelines, imploring his team to keep up the intensity. When something doesn't go the way he wants or when someone doesn't do what he wants, he's not shy about letting them know about it in no uncertain terms.

Frazier's fire is balanced by his assistant coach and "road dog" John Redden. Redden, a Marquette High and fellow SLU graduate, is the soothing ying to Frazier's blistering yang.

The two have been together since their playing days overlapped at SLU and joined forces in the coaching ranks seven years ago.

If Frazier's modus operandi is to be as loud as possible to be heard, Redden offers a calm voice and an understanding that you're not always going to be perfect and that it's all right.

"John's part of the reason Corey's been successful," Hebrank said.

Even when he's off the chart mad and the veins are popping out of his neck, the players know Frazier will always be there for them. He was at every football game. He helps them with life on and off the basketball court. He's shown them that basketball is part of life, but it's not the only part. To get down on the court, you have to get down in the classroom.

"They look up to him like a big brother," Hebrank said. "It's a school district where we have to show the kids how much we care about them."

Which is why Bryant Allen can't help but smile, even while Frazier screams his head off.

Nice article. I did not know that John Redden was an assistant coach at Maplewood. He and Cory will really teach the team how to defend like lions. If John had not been injured I think he could have been a terrific player on offense but he never quite got over the hump. On defense he had hands of iron and incredible toughness and tenacity. We could use him now!