Entering the 2011 track season in his 15th year as head track & field and cross country coach at South Carolina, Curtis Frye has established a program that is regarded as one of the nation's elite. Frye has coached or overseen over 60 NCAA champions, 114 SEC champions and more than 415 NCAA All Americans.
In October 2008, Frye was bestowed the Order of Ikkos Medallion, presented by the United States Olympic Committee. A special order reserved for the coach of an Olympic or Paralympic medalist, Frye received the honor after coaching Jerome Singleton Jr. to a silver medal in the men's 100-meter dash at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. He also currently serves as President of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Frye has coached an NCAA champion in all but one year since taking over the program in 1996, including coaching Johnny Dutch to the 400m hurdle title last season. In addition, Frye has coached an SEC champion every year he has been at South Carolina.
One of the most well-respected coaches in the country, Frye brought South Carolina its first team NCAA championship in any sport when his women's team captured the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championship crown. Frye is a three-time United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) National Coach of the Year, taking home the 1999 and 2002 women¹s outdoor honors and the 1999 men's indoor honors. In taking home the men's indoor and women's outdoor coach of the year honors in 1999, he became the first person in the history of the USTCA to win the award indoors and outdoors in the same year. In 2001, he earned the prestigious Nike Coach of the Year award and was also named the 1997 USOC Track & Field Coach of the Year. Frye is also a three-time SEC Coach of the Year with the honor coinciding with his three women's outdoor conference championships in 1999, 2002 and 2005.
During his tenure at South Carolina, Frye has coached 11 SEC Athletes of the Year, the most recent being Nadonnia Rodrigues, who was named the 2009 SEC Freshman Runner of the Year (indoor). He has also coached five national athletes of the year in Hastings (2007-overall), Demetria Washington (2002-indoor), Lashinda Demus (2002-overall), Terrence Trammell (2000-outdoor) and Miki Barber (2000-outdoor). Demus was acknowledged by Track & Field News while the United States Track & Field & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) honored the other four recipients.
On the women's side, Frye's teams have placed in the top 10 nationally outdoors in all but three of his seasons at Carolina. In addition to the team title in 2002, his teams earned the silver medal in 2005 and took home the bronze in 2003 and 2006. On the men's side, Frye's team placed in the top 25 nationally indoors in all but three of his seasons.
Along with continued success on the track, Frye has produced winners in the classroom on a consistent basis. Frye's athletes have earned four USTFCCCA National Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in addition to an SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. Richardson swept the indoor and outdoor national honors in 2008, following awards earned by 2006 National Indoor Scholar Athlete of the Year Shalonda Solomon and 2002 National Scholar Athlete of the Year Otukile Lekote. In 2009, the men's team was named Scholar Team of the Year.
In his career, Frye has coached 25 Olympians who have won 11 medals at the Olympic Games. Nine of his former student-athletes competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, six of them as first-time Olympians. At the Games, Natasha Hastings earned a gold medal as a member of the USA 4x400m relay team. Frye served as an assistant coach for the 2004 USA Olympic women's track team with responsibilities that included working with the sprinters and the relays. He also accompanied his former athletes to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Frye's athletes won three gold medals in 2004 by Tonique Williams-Darling (Bahamas-400m), Otis Harris (USA-4x400m relay) and Aleen Bailey (Jamaica-4x100m relay).
Hired at South Carolina on July 29, 1996, Frye came to Columbia after serving as assistant head coach at North Carolina for four years. During his tenure at UNC, he was a part of 13 ACC championship teams.
Prior to his stint with the Tar Heels, Frye was an assistant coach at Florida from 1988 to 1992. While with the Gator program, he coached three NCAA individual champions and one relay champion team.In total, 29 All-America certificates were earned while Frye was in Gainesville.
From 1984 to 1988, Frye was an assistant coach for N.C. State, aiding the Wolfpack to four conference championships. He was instrumental in leading State to 27 All-America honors, four individual NCAA second-place finishes and 37 conference champions.
Frye began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, East Carolina, in 1974. He also served as head coach for the men's soccer team and was director of facilities. Frye took a break from the collegiate ranks from 1979 to 1984 when he was head track and field coach for Douglas Byrd High School in Fayetteville, N.C.
Frye and his wife, Wilma, have three children: Crystal, C.J. and Curtrell.
