COLUMBIA, S.C. — Saturday marked the first day of July and it also marked the first day of Curtis Frye’s retirement.
The Hall of Fame coach spent the last 27 years overseeing the Gamecock track and field/cross country programs. His coaching career began in 1974 and it featured stops at his alma mater of East Carolina along with North Carolina, Florida and North Carolina.
Frye was an assistant in Chapel Hill when he was hired in 1996 to take over the South Carolina program. That marked the first African-American head coach in the history of Gamecock athletics. Six years later, Frye led the Gamecock women’s squad the NCAA Outdoor Championship, the first team national championship for the USC athletics program.
During his media session last Thursday, Frye repeated his mantra of “if it’s to be, it’s up to me”, a belief that has shaped his coaching career.
“Sitting around complaining about what you don’t have and who didn’t give you an opportunity – if it’s to be, it’s up to me,” Frye said.
Frye certainly made the most of his opportunity at South Carolina and his national championship season of 2002 came 15 years before his program received a major commitment from the athletics department.
In 2017, the Sheila and Morris Cregger Track opened for business with the SEC Outdoor Championships coming to Columbia that spring. Two years later, the Carolina Indoor Track and Field Facility came online, giving Coach Frye a pair of first class facilities to serve as cornerstones of his program.
But now, Frye is just days intro retirement which will give him plenty of family time while also continuing to mentor former athletes.