LORMAN — Alcorn State graduate Leslie Frazier is no longer an interim coach — he is now the first head coach of an NFL team who graduated from the ranks of a SWAC institution.

Frazier, a Columbia native who starred as both a football and baseball player at Alcorn State, was selected by the Minnesota Vikings to lead their team. He was a former defensive back for ASU and played the position in the NFL with the 1985 Chicago Bears team, which won Super Bowl XX.

Frazier had been an assistant with the Vikings before taking over for Brad Childress in November after Childress was fired. He went on to post a 3-3 record with the Vikings.

“No one deserves it more than him. He has paid his dues and moved up through the ranks,” said Marino Casem, who coached Frazier at Alcorn State.

“He is a student of the game and will do us, the SWAC, proud.”

Casem also said Frazier was a player’s coach.

“He knows how to relate to people and how to treat people,” Casem said. He was the type of player at Alcorn State, where you didn’t have to yell at him to get him to respond. You could ask him to do his best and he would give you 200 percent.”

Casem also praised Frazier’s handling of the Brett Farve situation.

“He handled it perfectly, getting insight from both Farve and the Viking administration,” Casem said.