John Frazier - Track & Field Coach

John Frazier

Title:
Men's Head Coach - Throws
Email:
jfrazier@athletics.ucla.edu

John Frazier enters his sixth season on staff at UCLA, serving as throws coach for the men and women.

In 2018, UCLA saw four Bruins collect USTFCCCA All-America honors during the outdoor season - Alyssa Wilson, first team (shot put, hammer); Simon Litzell, second team (javelin); and Marian Spannowsky, second team (javelin). Justin Stafford (hammer) and WIlson (discus) earned honorable mention plaudits, as well.

Indoor, the Frazier helped produce four All-Americans - Ashlie Blake (first team, shot put), Nate Esparza (second team, shot put), Dotun Ogundeji (second team, shot put) and Alyssa Wilson (second team, shot put).

At the 2018 Pac-12 Championships, Litzell took home title in the javelin, as he threw a collegiate-best 74.46m (244-3).

Frazier helped coach the Bruin men to a third-place finish at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships. Two of his throwers - Dotun Ogundeji and Ashlie Blake - earned All-America honors.

In 2016, Frazier was named the USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year. The UCLA men placed third at the Pac-12 Championships and finished 18th at the NCAA Championships. The throws program continued to thrive under his watch. Nicholas Scarvelis, Braheme Days and Ogundeji qualified for the both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Championships. Scarvelis won his third straight Pac-12 shot put title and then later went on to win the NCAA West Prelim title and also qualified in the discus. Days was third in the region in the shot put while Ogundeji competed in the shot put and discus at the national meet.

Earlier in 2016, Scarvelis uncorked the fourth longest throw in school history at 67-7.50 and in doing so also hit the Olympic qualifying mark. Days closely followed with the sixth best throw at 66-3.75. Ogundeji launched a personal best 62-11.50 at the NCAA Prelims. On the women's side, junior Torie Owers recorded the seventh-best throw in school history at 57-5.

Scarvelis earned first-team All-America honors in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Days also joined Scarvelis on the podium during the outdoor season. Ogundeji was an indoor second team All-American and was honorable mention in both the discus and shot in Eugene.

In his second season, the men’s team finished fourth at the Pac-12 championships and had four earn All-American honors and two more earn honorable mention accolades. During the indoor campaign the Bruins had two All-Americans and another named honorable mention.

Individually the throws were one of the top units for UCLA in 2015. Nicholas Scarvelis put together another stellar campaign, this time earning NCAA Championship berths in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Scarvelis broke into the UCLA top-10 with a personal best throw of 65-0.50 and won the MPSF and Pac-12 titles in the shot put. He earned All-American honors in both seasons. Torie Owers made an impact in her first competitive season with the Bruins, tossing the eighth best shot put mark in school history at 55-2.75 and was also a NCAA qualifier in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor seasons. Braheme Days was a NCAA qualifier during the outdoor season and was the runner-up at the Pac-12 Championships.

In his first season at the helm of the men’s program, Coach Frazier helped lead the Bruins to a dual meet win over rival USC and some impressive individual performances on the national stage. Five Bruins earned USTFCCCA All-American honors. At the Pac-12 Championships sophomore Nicholas Scarvelis won the shot put title with a throw of 63-10.25, to win the event by over three feet. Senior Julian Wruck defended his Pac-12 discus title with a mark of 210-9. En route to earning All-American accolades, Wruck placed second at the NCAA meet in the discus, Scarvelis finished 10^th in the shot put, Matthew Kosecki was 12^th in the discus, Cody Danielson was 14^th in the javelin and Nick Hartle was 16^th in the 800m. During the indoor season, Marcus Nilsson and Mike Woepse earned USTFCCCA All-American honors after Nilsson placed eighth in the heptathlon and Woepse was 13^th in the pole vault.

Frazier was instrumental in the development of Pac-12 champion Nicholas Scarvelis, who went on to place 10^th at the NCAA championship in the shot put. He also developed Braheme Days into one of the top shot putters in the world at the junior level. Days won the USATF Junior Track and Field Championship in the shot put and was followed by newcomer Amir Patterson. Days set the American junior record in the shot put with a throw of 69-5.25 at the 2014 Imperial Section of USATF Championship a couple weeks prior. Days capped off his summer with a bronze medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships.

Frazier returned to his alma mater ('82-'86) as men's head coach after most recently spending seven seasons on the coaching staff at the University of Tennessee, where he was an associate head coach and coach for men's and women's throws.

With over 25 years of experience in the track and field coaching community specializing in coaching throwers, Frazier brings with him experience from stops at the University of Florida, the University of Arizona and Tennessee, among others. Throughout his career at the collegiate level, Frazier has produced 43 All-American athletes as well as four NCAA champions. Most recently, Volunteer javelin thrower Kyle Quinn earned second team All-America honors for his tenth place finish in Eugene at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Frazier's return to Westwood is a well-deserved homecoming for one of the great Bruin throwers ever to compete at Drake Stadium. Under legendary coaches Jim Bush, Bob Larsen, and Art Venegas, Frazier was a three-time All-American in the shot put during his UCLA career, earning first team honors at both NCAA Indoors and Outdoors in 1985 as well as at the 1986 Outdoor Championships.

In his four years of Bruin collegiate competition (1982/1983/1985/1986), UCLA was 38-1 in dual meet contests, including an unbeaten 3-0 mark vs. USC (the 1982 UCLA-USC dual meet was non-scoring). As a freshman in 1982 and a senior in 1986, the Bruins were the top-ranked dual meet team in the nation. He currently holds two all-time UCLA records--first, the No. 9 mark all-time in Bruins shot put history (65-2.75) and second, the No. 10 mark all-time in the men's hammer throw (208-6).

Frazier graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1986.