Tyler explains minority priorities> UM athletic director meets with NAACP

ORONO – Back in December when Sean Frazier was about to leave his job as a University of Maine assistant defensive line coach for the same position at Boston University, UMaine athletic director Suzanne Tyler moved quickly.

Because he is an African American and a former Division I athlete, Frazier was an invaluable asset to the university, Tyler believed. However, because he was a restricted earnings coach, the athletic department didn’t have the funds to retain him.

So, Tyler got together with Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs Shari Clarke and Clarke created a position in her department where Frazier could work until football season, when he’ll again work as an assistant football coach.

Tyler described her effort to retain Frazier at the NAACP’s meeting Sunday at the Memorial Student Union on the UM campus to show her commitment to creating a comfortable environment for minority athletes.

“[The athletic department] does work closely with the admissions office to try to recruit minority athletes,” Tyler said. “I wish there was a more diverse campus for them to come to. There’s a good number. But I’d still like to see more. It’s a diverse world, that makes it more interesting for everyone.”

Tyler said Frazier’s ability to serve as a role model, mentor and counsel to the African-American athletes made it imperative that she retain him. This spring, Frazier is working as liaison at UMaine between multicultural affairs, student affairs, the athletic department and the African-American athletes at UMaine to give the small population of minority athletes an avenue to voice their concerns.

“From my perspective, he can understand and open a dialogue with the minority athletes,” Tyler said. “He’ll say this is an issue about something that is important, but may not seem important. There is a trust level there. And he’s on call 24 hours a day.”

As a former Division I African-American athlete at Alabama, a predominantly white university, Frazier is cognizant of the frustrations and needs of minority athletes.

“I have long-term plans of coaching,” said Frazier, who is seeking his master’s in social work. “But right now my priority is opening the lines of communication. I’m probably just an extension of their [minority athletes’] voice.”

As a coach and administrator at the University of Maryland before coming to Maine, Tyler coached and counseled in a city and at a state university with a significantly higher minority population. That experience, she said, gives her a keen understanding of the importance of creating opportunities for minorities athletes – for the athletes and the entire student body.

Tyler said that since coming to Maine in October she has worked to create a community minority athletes will feel comfortable in at Maine by looking for minority applicants for the two positions she had to fill and by looking for mentors for the athletes within the African-American community.

Tyler encouraged the members of the NAACP to be pro-active in helping the athletes by serving as mentors, inviting them to meetings or inviting them to dinner, especially on the holidays when some of the athletes can’t get home.

She explained the NCAA rules which need to be followed to do this.

James Varner, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the Greater Bangor area and an instructor of Black Studies at UMaine, asked Tyler to speak at the meeting because the NAACP has urged its chapters to open up a dialogue with universities on the welfare of minority athletes.

A year ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed his concern at an NCAA meeting that universities and colleges were exploiting African-American athletes for their athletic ability while many of the minority athletes were not graduating.

Tyler pointed out that graduation rates of African-American athletes are not a problem at Maine. According to the NCAA’s six-year rating of university graduation rates, UMaine is graduating 52 percent of its students and 53 percent of its scholarship athletes, while approximately 60 of the 70 African-American students at Maine are athletes.

But Tyler said the need to recruit and retain African-American faculty and students is still important.