{"id":153283,"date":"2025-10-21T07:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hbcugameday.com\/?p=153283"},"modified":"2025-10-22T02:59:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T06:59:47","slug":"hbcu-legend-gets-shot-as-interim-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbcugameday.com\/2025\/10\/21\/hbcu-legend-gets-shot-as-interim-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"HBCU legend gets a shot as interim head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BATON ROUGE, La. \u2014<\/strong> Few names carry more respect in HBCU football circles than Fred McNair<\/em>, and now the longtime Alcorn State leader finds himself back in the spotlight \u2014 this time in Baton Rouge. Southern University announced Monday that McNair will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2025 season following the dismissal of Terrence Graves.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNair, who joined the Southern University coaching staff in the fall of 2024, brings both stability and championship pedigree to a program searching for direction. The older brother of the late NFL quarterback Steve McNair, Fred McNair spent seven seasons as head coach at Alcorn State, where he guided the Braves to multiple SWAC East Division titles and a conference championship in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After stepping down from Alcorn State following the 2023 season, <\/a>McNair arrived in Baton Rouge as the Jaguars\u2019 tight ends coach. He was promoted to quarterbacks coach prior to the 2025 season and then to co-offensive coordinator. He shared duties with Mark Frederick \u2014 as Southern tried to spark an offense that had grown stagnant. Now, in a matter of days, he\u2019s gone from co-coordinator to caretaker of one of the most tradition-rich programs in HBCU football.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Fred McNair led Alcorn State to four consecutive SWAC East titles and two conference titles from 2016 through 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

McNair will lead Southern against his HBCU<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At Alcorn, McNair\u2019s teams played with discipline and clarity. They didn\u2019t waste possessions, didn\u2019t flinch late in games, and often made the routine look surgical. That\u2019s what Southern is hoping to rediscover after a 1\u20136 start that has seen it average just 17.5 points per game while surrendering nearly twice that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road ahead offers no favors. Southern still has Florida A&M at home, back-to-back road trips to Arkansas\u2013Pine Bluff and his beloved Alcorn State, then closes with Texas Southern and the Bayou Classic against Grambling. McNair’s challenge isn’t so much about running the table as much as giving a team that\u2019s been searching for rhythm a sense of direction again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNair has long emphasized the basics \u2014 execution, confidence, and consistency \u2014 as the difference between good teams and great ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Work in Front of McNair<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This Southern University<\/strong> team hasn\u2019t lacked effort. It\u2019s been details \u2014 missed red-zone chances, penalties, and turnovers at the wrong time \u2014 that have undone its progress. The Jaguars have reached the red zone 19 times this season but scored touchdowns on less than half those trips. McNair\u2019s job now is less about installing a new system and more about restoring belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He inherits a few bright spots: Trey Holly\u2019s 513 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Ckelby Givens\u2019 7.5 sacks up front, and a defense that, despite its inconsistencies, plays hard through every possession. But numbers won\u2019t tell the story of how McNair\u2019s steady presence lands in a locker room that\u2019s been through change, frustration, and noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where his strength lies \u2014 not in slogans or flash, but in calm. McNair doesn\u2019t raise his voice to be heard; he coaches until he\u2019s understood. And that\u2019s exactly what Southern University needs right now: a steady hand in a season that\u2019s lost its rhythm, but maybe not its soul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fred McNair is back in the head coach’s seat less than two years after leaving Alcorn State. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":108502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ml_titleColor":"#000000","_ml_titleFont":"Roboto","_ml_titleFontSize":1.136,"_ml_titleFontWeight":"400","_ml_titleLineHeight":1.3,"_ml_metaColor":"#708090","_ml_metaFont":"Montserrat","_ml_metaFontSize":0.6785,"_ml_metaFontWeight":"400","_ml_metaLineHeight":0.92,"_ml_bodyColor":"#a9a9a9","_ml_bodyFont":"Open Sans","_ml_bodyFontSize":0.85,"_ml_bodyFontWeight":"400","_ml_bodyLineHeight":1.2,"_ml_wooPriceColor":"#666","_ml_wooPriceFont":"Open Sans","_ml_wooPriceFontSize":0.9,"_ml_wooPriceFontWeight":"400","_ml_wooPriceLineHeight":1.27,"_ml_headingColor":"#000","_ml_headingFont":"Merriweather","_ml_headingFontSize":2.02,"_ml_headingFontWeight":"700","_ml_headingLineHeight":1.47,"_mlglobal_userfontcolors":{"headingColorUser":[],"titleColorUser":[],"metaColorUser":[],"bodyColorUser":[],"wooPriceColorUser":[]},"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[573627948,573627848,573627543,573628746],"tags":[573627544,39247854,1648686,468618],"class_list":["post-153283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-southern","category-swac","category-latest-hbcu-news","tag-featured","tag-hbcu-sports","tag-southern-university","tag-swac"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHBCU legend gets a shot as interim head coach - HBCU Gameday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fred McNair returns to HBCU football as interim head coach at Southern University, bringing experience and championship success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hbcugameday.com\/2025\/10\/21\/hbcu-legend-gets-shot-as-interim-head-coach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HBCU legend gets a shot as interim head coach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fred McNair returns to HBCU football as interim head coach at Southern University, bringing experience and championship success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hbcugameday.com\/2025\/10\/21\/hbcu-legend-gets-shot-as-interim-head-coach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HBCU Gameday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hbcugameday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-21T11:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-22T06:59:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hbcugameday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/MCNAIR-HBCU-Gameday-Featured-Image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"965\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steven J. 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