University of Memphis Athletics
Women's Track and Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Pole Vault)
- Email:
- tfraizer@memphis.edu
- Phone:
- 901-678-1438
Tyler Fraizer is in his 10th season on head coach Kevin Robinson’s staff in 2016-17, and his steadying presence has paid huge dividends in the Tigers track and field program’s resurgence on the regional and national scenes.
Fraizer joined the coaching ranks in 2007-08 following his collegiate career at Memphis from 2005-07, and he first mentored pole vault and javelin – his event of competition as a student-athlete – in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 campaigns and then moved solely to pole vault the following season. Fraizer’s switch has produced unbelievable results for Memphis, and the program’s pole vault numbers prove it (2009-16; men and women indoor/outdoor combined):
| 34 | All-conference honorees (C-USA/The American) |
| 14 | NCAA Preliminaries qualifiers |
| 10 | Conference individuals title holders (C-USA/The American) |
| 9 | NCAA All-Americans |
| 7 | NCAA Championships competitors |
| 4 | School record holders |
| 1 | NCAA runner-up |
| 1 | Olympian |
Fraizer hit a pinnacle in his young career this past summer when he assisted in former Tigers standout Pauls Pujats’ training for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August. Pujats qualified in the pole vault for the Latvian Olympic track and field squad, and Fraizer was named to the Latvian Olympic coaching staff in mid-July of 2016.
Of his nine years at Memphis, Frazier has guided at least one pole vaulter to an all-conference accolade at the indoor or outdoor championships eight seasons. The 2009 campaign is the lone season a Memphis pole vaulter (male or female) did not earn all-league honors. The last seven seasons (2010-16), Fraizer has had multiple all-conference honorees (men and women; indoor/outdoor), with seven in 2013 and six in 2014.
Among his most-decorated pupils are Pujats and recently-graduated Carolina Carmichael. In addition to his 2016 Olympics appearance, Pujats was the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships runner-up in the pole vault. He won two conference pole vault titles and earned four all-conference honors. Pujats also holds the program’s indoor and outdoor records in the event.
Carmichael, who competed in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials last summer, wrapped up her collegiate career with 34 top-three performances and 23 titles in the pole vault. Among her 23 first-place finishes were four American Athletic Conference crowns (2015 indoor; 2014-16 outdoor). A four-time NCAA Championships participant, Carmichael holds both school pole vault records.
In Fraizer’s first two seasons working with the javelin, he coached two all-conference performers and one NCAA Mideast Regional competitor.
What Fraizer has done with the pole vault is representative of the high level at which the entire Memphis track and field program is performing in Robinson’s tenure, especially since the Tigers' move to the American Athletic Conference in the summer of 2013. Some of the track and field program’s numbers over the last three seasons are impressive:
| 90 | All-American Athletic Conference performers |
| 42 | NCAA Preliminaries qualifiers |
| 36 | U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Academic All-Americans |
| 28 | American Athletic Conference individual titles |
| 14 | NCAA All-Americans |
Also, in the short time in The American, the Tigers squads have had steady performances at the league championships. The men’s team has two top-three finishes at the last three conference outdoor meets (2nd in 2014; 3rd in 2016), and the women’s squad posted its best performance at the league outdoor championships since 1996 (3rd) with a fifth-place finish in 2015. At the 2016 outdoor meet, the women’s team scored the most points (86) since that 1996 third-place finish (102).
Collegiate Career (Memphis/Hutchinson C.C.)
Before Fraizer joined the coaching staff, he was a member of the Tigers track and field program from 2005-07. In his two seasons wearing the Blue and Gray, he was member of the 2007 Conference USA Outdoor Championships title team. At the 2007 championships, he posted a fourth-place finish in the javelin.
Fraizer attended Hutchinson Community College before transferring to Memphis. At Hutchinson, Fraizer was a two-time National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) National Championships qualifier in the javelin and earned All-American honors in the event his sophomore season. He also was a Junior Olympic qualifier in the javelin both years at Hutchinson.
Personal
Fraizer graduated from the University of Memphis in 2007. He and his wife, Victoria, have one daughter, Leighton. Fraizer is a native of Wichita, Kan., where he attended Bishop Carroll Catholic High School.
