Look out local golf courses, `Coach' is on the way
By Cathy Krafve

COACH CHRIS FREDERICK

Known throughout the community simply as "Coach," Chris Frederick says the thing he will miss most now that he is retired is the camaraderie with teachers, coaches, and, yes, even administrators. On the other hand, he is looking forward to more golf.

Married to Linda, who is a teacher at Chandler Intermediate School, they have three daughters, Marla, 28, Melody, 23, and Megan, 19. All three girls have been good athletes, according to their dad, and "we always do everything as a family; our daughters always watched each other play."

With thirty-three years in the education field, Frederick has learned a few things along the way. According to Frederick, the first thing he learned as a young teacher, fresh out of Angelo State College in his first job at Robert Lee near San Angelo was that "I did not know anything."

Along with coaching basketball, his titles in that first job also included "Debate Coach," a far cry from the coaching he was used to on the field and in the gym.

He had agreed to teach a World History class even though it was a subject he felt ill-prepared to teach. The first day of class, it became clear that he would be the one getting an education since one of his new students managed to correct him throughout the class.

After class, he pulled the bright young student aside and explained the situation to her in terms she could understand. "You know more than I do about everything," as he tells the story now with a grin, "but, if you are going to make me look bad, we got a problem. " Not that he minded the help with his history facts, but at only 21 years-old, he knew that respect was going to be crucial to managing his classroom. With the lines drawn for proper interaction after their discussion, Frederick was in a position to enjoy all her academic successes from then on.

The same young lady was on his debate team. She graduated Valedictorian and went on to complete her premed degree at Baylor in only three years; all of which made Frederick feel better about her corrections on the first day of history class.

When a job came available at Brownsboro High School, Linda was enthusiastic about the idea of moving to East Texas because her mother and much of her family live in the area.

At that time Tom Talley was looking to hire someone with head-coaching experience to serve as his defensive football coordinator and to coach a variety of other sports. Because Frederick's titles included Athletic Director and Head Football Coach in Central Texas where he moved after his job at Robert Lee, he was ready to step into a new Brownsboro spot.

The decision to make Brownsboro home, paid off in many ways, including having the advantage of working with a fine team of fellow-coaches, including Fred Griffin, Kent Bradley, and Wayne Randolph, all of whom were there that first season.

Talley became the biggest influence on Frederick's coaching career because of his knowledge of football, the way he treated people and "because he just had a way of doing things," according to Frederick.

Usually, schools the same size as Brownsboro had 25 to 40 varsity players, 20 to 30 on the JV, and another 30 to 50 kids coming in as freshmen, for minimum totals exceeding 100 players in a normal football program. Talley and his team of coaches started the season with only fifty or so kids in the football program in a community that hadn't seen a winning season in awhile.

Their team finished that first season with five wins and five losses. The coaches were disappointed, but the community was thrilled.

With so many seasons and so many semesters, it is hard to pick the most memorable moment. However, only one moment had an unusual effect on Frederick.

"I hyperventilated," laughs Frederick remembering when Megan played with the team of girls in the Regional Basketball Tournament her senior year.

They were playing a team that had "already drilled us" earlier in the season, he recalls, and the Brownsboro team had to beat that same team to go on to the finals in order to play for the state title.

Watching from the stands when the girls won the game, "I hyperventilated," Frederick says, meaning it literally, "I had to go sit in the stands and calm down. I was just so fired up for the girls. I was fired up for Fred (Griffin, the coach)."

To be in the stands for moments like that in the lives of his daughters was one of the reasons that Frederick switched to strictly classroom responsibilities in recent years. He loved being in the classroom, especially teaching speech, and decided early on that he would not be "the typical stereotype of a coach in the classroom just reading the newspaper." Since being a coach means inspiring students to perform at their top level, Frederick was determined to translate that philosophy to the classroom. He always tried to establish "a laid back atmosphere with discipline mixed in."

"Say what you mean and mean what you say," Frederick says about following through on the parameters set in the classroom, "If it is important enough for you to say it, then do it." It is a philosophy that he thinks works well for teachers, coaches, administrators, and parents.

He became known among his students for his philosophy about background music, too. Every day of the week had a different sound in the background of his classroom. There were Motown Mondays, Twangy Tuesdays, and Gospel Wednesdays. On Thursdays, Elvis was King. On Fridays, Frederick told his students they "might even get to hear some modern music," meaning something from the 70's. The other thing his students are sure to remember is that "I didn't believe in homework, " says Frederick.

Never afraid to say what he believes about homework or anything else, Frederick is looking forward to taking his own advice about family. "Better keep your family first in what you're doing," is the advice he would offer to young people going into the education. "Don't be afraid to say what you think," he adds.

The "Coach" is retiring, but since he and Linda are expecting their first grandbaby in September, it could be that a whole new field of education is opening up to him. That, and a whole lot of golf.