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Vicksburg Daily News Mississippi College Coach of the Year: Alcorn’s Fred McNair

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Alcorn's head football coach Fred McNair. (Photo from Alcorn State University website)

After leading the Alcorn State University football team to a 9-4 season and a SWAC Championship, Vicksburg Daily News has selected head coach Fred McNair as the Mississippi College Coach of the Year out of the list of every head coach at every college and university in the state.

The 2019 football season was McNair’s fourth year as head coach at Alcorn and the second year in a row that he led his team to a SWAC Championship title. With the graduation of 2018 quarterback Noah Johnson, McNair was forced to play a new quarterback this season, and he chose quarterback Felix Harper to fill the vacant spot. McNair whipped Harper into a leader and won another championship.

Before he began his coaching career, McNair was a star football player at Alcorn playing wide receiver until he switched to quarterback in his junior year. He went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990 season and played for many Arena Football League teams where he finished his career with 340 touchdowns.

Prior to his coaching tenure with Alcorn, McNair had four years of collegiate experience at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., where he helped the team win two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships between 2005  and 2008.

He then moved to coaching high-school teams. McNair won two state championships while he was an offensive coordinator at Mount Olive High School in 2009 and 2010. After a couple of years at Mount Olive, McNair became the head coach of Collins High School where he took the team to a second round playoff appearance.

In 2013, Alcorn’s then-head coach Jay Hopson hired McNair as quarterbacks coach. While serving under Hopson as an assistant coach, the braves won two SWAC Championships. Hopson left Alcorn to become the head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi at the end of the 2015 season, and Alcorn named McNair head coach in 2016. Since he began coaching at Alcorn, McNair helped Alcorn to become the SWAC East Champions six years in a row, four of them as head coach.

Alcorn ended its 2019 season with a loss in the Celebration Bowl to North Carolina A&T, but the Braves remain the defending SWAC Champions as they prepare for next season.

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