Makara Frazier is making a rather unique jump into the coaching ranks.
After finishing her career at the College of the Ozarks earlier this year, Frazier is returning to her alma mater as Smackover’s girls basketball coach after Tripper Rowton departed.
“It feels really good,” Frazier said. “Just to be able to come back to my alma mater and the community I grew up in and give back what I can to the girls over there now and be a part of the school district. I’m excited to be able to add in what I can and what I know.”
As a senior at Smackover during the 2014-15 season, Frazier was tabbed as a second-team selection on the News-Times All-Area Team after averaging 13.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
Now she is entrusted with trying to turn the Lady Bucks around after an 11-17 season that saw Smackover fail to qualify for the regional tournament.
“Becoming a head coach or a coach in general isn’t easy, I think it’s more of a better comfort level, because I do know basically what the school district and what the school is about,” Frazier said of the transition from player to coach.
“I know what they’re looking for. I feel like coming in as a new coach and coming back to the community, I have more of a better foundation to build off of coming back and doing what I do.”
Frazier added that she will lean on several coaches as she adjusts to the job.
“Definitely coach (Mike) Poff right out of the gate,” Frazier said. “He’s been in the game for a long time. He knows how to make stuff work out with scheduling. Coach (Dennis) Steele, I talked to him about just getting out there and meeting a lot of different coaches that are already at the school.”
Frazier said she is in the process of meeting the players.
“I haven’t met with all of the girls,” Frazier said. “I’ve met with some of them just in passing or at different events they’ve been at around town. I haven’t really got a chance to be able to get in contact with all of them yet, but the ones I have, they’re excited and they’re ready to go. They’re ready to get into the gym.”
If there is one area Frazier wants to focus on, it’s defense.
“Very defensive-oriented,” Frazier said of her style of play.
“We’re going to be a team that can put a lot of pressure on people, get out in the passing lanes and push the ball up the floor. I know from what I’ve seen and from some of the girls I’ve seen play together, they play really good defense. That’s going to be our strong suit.
“Going into the season now is getting that mindset instilled into the girls that we have to focus on playing good defense and getting stops and hopefully just being able to push the ball and make layups because transition defense is hard for someone else to guard. It helps us to put as much pressure as we can.”
Now that she is back home, Frazier is excited to get started.
“I wanted to continue on in the sport and come back home,” Frazier said. “I’m very excited to do great things with the team and the program. It’s headed in the right direction overall. I just want to help and give what I know and what I can now.”