By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As Frank Harrell prepares to turn the light off in his Hooper Eblen Center office and shut the door one last time as Tennessee Tech's Associate Athletic Director for Sports and Compliance, the expectation would be a bittersweet moment.
That would be understandable – after all, Harrell, 70, has spent more than half his life in Cookeville, devoted countless hours to Tennessee Tech Athletics and worn nearly every hat, performing almost every role one can take in the department.
Yet, for the veteran coach and administrator, retirement just presents the start of a new chapter as he takes on a new role. With the transition, there also comes a sense of familiarity -- it's a situation Harrell has been in before.
"I don't think I'll hesitate walking out," he said. "I think I'll look forward to that next game in my mind, that next journey. There was a time where I was a junior college starter in basketball and three of my sophomore teammates flunked out of school at Christmas. The coach came to me and said, 'Frank, I'm going to build for the future. I need you to play a different role.'
"I actually called two people. I called my dad and I was a little angry. He said, 'Son, you don't have to play.' Then I called my high school coach and he said, 'Frankie, you're going to be a coach. React to this coach how you'd want your players to react to you.'
"I went back to the coach and asked, 'What role do you want me to play?' I ended up playing just as many minutes, but I became more of a leader because everyone said, 'Frankie's bought into this.' That's how I've looked at this."
Harrell will retire from his post on July 16, then take on the new role as the Special Assistant to the Athletic Director.
"His institutional knowledge can never be replaced," Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson said. "He has served here for so long. He has such a big heart for Tennessee Tech Athletics and for our student-athletes. That is really going to be missed.
"We are fortunate that he will be around some as the Special Assistant to the Athletic Director in a temporary role. We won't lose him completely. We need his leadership, we need his knowledge. His service to Tennessee Tech has been tremendous – he's been a head coach, an assistant coach and many important administrative roles, including the interim athletic director. He's worn so many hats here. From the bottom of my heart, I thank him. He has been really important to me in my 16 years as Director of Athletics. I will miss his counsel and I will miss the daily interactions I have with him."
For Harrell, the decision was easy. While heartbreaking, he knew it was time.
"At some time in life, you come to a time where you just realize you need to step aside because I'm not physically able to do the things other people do," he said. "At the Golden Eagle Scramble, all the physical work that goes into it – which is a tremendous amount – I did none of it. It was just a few mental things. I can recall the first one – Joe Erdeljac and I unloaded every case of beer and soft drinks to the ground and reloaded it on rented trucks. Obviously, today, I couldn't do stuff like that.
"The other side too, it made it an easier decision with the budget being cut and it's hard times. I thought about it and wondered, 'How can I help the most? Is my experience worth staying here to try to help us get through that budget cut or is taking the biggest part of my salary to save somebody's job or a team budget. It didn't make sense to me to draw that salary away from what was needed."
While the decision made a lot of sense to him, that doesn't mean it didn't hurt a bit.
"It was somewhat difficult," Harrell said. "It sounds mushy, but my heart is in this place. I've given 40 of my 70 years in my life to it. Obviously, when I was coaching, it was more about me and my program. When I became an administrator, it was all about giving every coach an opportunity to win and every student-athlete a chance to win and have a good experience.
"The hardest thing to define is winning. Football a few years back won a championship, then they won when they changed the culture, then, this past year, they really won because they exceeded all of our expectations. That helps make everything a better experience."
With the new opportunity to help shape Tennessee Tech Athletics and support its coaches, student-athletes and staff, Harrell is excited about the opportunity.
"That gives me another avenue where I can still help without being in the way," Harrell said. "I looked at it this way – when I got out of coaching to become an administrator, it was new to me even though I had been an administrator before. I started trying to help teams.
"When I started to oversee all the sports, it became a new challenge. It was like becoming a head coach again. All the coaches were my players – in a different way – because my job was to mentor, guide, offer support. I think I've been pretty good at it. There's been times where I've had to keep coaches in bounds, there's been times I've had to pull them back on budget issues and there's been times where student-athlete welfare issues just weren't handled correctly and I had to step in and be the ol' hard-nosed coach again.
"By having that avenue, it made it a lot easier too. It gave me a big part of what I still loved, which is Tennessee Tech Athletics. It was hard, but I've thought about it for some time. When I was 50, I didn't think I could work until I was 70. I hit 60, 62, 65. When I hit 65, I told Mark I would stay. I think 70 is a nice exit point – when you're 70, you are older."
For most people, making the decision would be tough. Following the events of the last few months, athletic budgets are getting tighter – Tennessee Tech no exception. Harrell had time to reflect and make a decision he felt was best.
"When we had the tornado in March – I have a shelter in my house and my daughter's helping me down the stairs," Harrell said. "I could have walked down them – but that's her appearance: to help her dad who's elderly. When we were all working from home during the pandemic, I was calling every coach every day, sometimes twice a day to make sure they're checking in on their guys. I get a call from the church. They're asking me how I'm doing. I'm thinking, 'What in the world?' and they finally told me it was an elder check. It just makes you realize.
"It was tough, but the budget crunch made it easier. I felt like doing this could really help. Mark allowing me to be around and help without being in the way. Like when I coached, I'll move out of my role and let the people who do that role do their job. New blood creates new excitement and change is sometimes good even if you reinvent the wheel because there's enthusiasm when someone's doing something."
In his time at Tech, Harrell has worn many hats – associate basketball coach, then the head coach, compliance coordinator to interim athletics director to associate athletics director, sports supervisor, fundraiser, marketer and the list goes on.
"Most people still say, 'Oh, that's the compliance guy,'" Harrell joked. "It's been a while since I got out of coaching so not too many people remember me as a coach. When I was a coach, I did the very first poster that any team here ever did. We sold ads on the bottom for $100 apiece and had 10 different ones, a thousand posters. We put 500 up with those ads on them and the rest I cut off to use in recruiting. We did the schedule cards. It was an era where coaches were expected to promote their program. Part of my job was to get people into the stands.
"One of the things I'm really proud of is we still hold a lot of the attendance records from when I was coaching. We taught our players to invest themselves in the community – (women's basketball head coach Kim) Rosamond does a great job of that now. Her players are invested in the community, so that means the community gets invested in them. I always thought that was my job."
He continued, "When I moved into the administration, even though I started as an assistant AD over some sports and compliance, I was still a fundraiser, I was still a marketer. My goal was still to get people to the games. I am proud of it. When I look back – I didn't realize it until I started totaling things up – the realization was there that, 'Wow, I have made some difference.'"
In this past year alone, Harrell helped secure over $50,000 in gifts-in-kind and monetary donations to the department.
His efforts certainly haven't gone unnoticed from the coaches on Tech's staff.
"It's very rare in today's world of college athletics to see a coach or administrator invest over half their life in one institution but that's one of the many things that makes Coach Harrell special," Rosamond said. "For almost 40 years, he has poured into the lives of Tennessee Tech student-athletes and coaches and worked extremely hard to make their lives better every day on and off the court. It was apparent from the first day I met him how much he loved Tech, and it has been an honor to work with him the last four years. Coach Harrell will be greatly missed but his impact at Tennessee Tech will be long-lasting. I appreciate all he has done – not only for our athletic department, but also for me personally."
Pelphrey, the latest coach in charge of the Tech men's basketball program, may have only known Harrell for a relatively short time, but knows exactly what the veteran coach and administrator means to Tech.
"My family and I will be eternally grateful to Frank Harrell for his insight, leadership and support he has provided since we have been in Cookeville," Pelphrey said. "Coach Harrell has given his heart and soul to Tennessee Tech University and he will be sorely missed. Coach was not only an administrator and mentor, but also a friend. Like so many people at Tech, who do their job with love and commitment, Frank was a big part of what makes it so special to work on this campus and live in this community.
"We wish him well in his future endeavors. We will miss you, Coach!"
Before coming to Cookeville, Harrell spent three-and-a-half years at Tennessee – half a year as a graduate student and two years as a full-time assistant.
"I came to Tennessee as a graduate assistant and I realized that I had one year," Harrell said. "My wife was looking for work, we were living in married student housing. We had gone from a nice three-bedroom house to that, so I had to do everything in a year.
"I tell our young coaches today – Coach (Ray) Mears was a morning person and was in at 6. When he walked in at 6 a.m., I had coffee ready for him. Coach (Stu) Aberdeen, the assistant coach and probably more responsible for me being there, he was a late-night person. He'd come in at 10 in the morning and be there 'til 2 in the morning. I'd walk out with him at 2 because that was my one opportunity. When I worked their camps that summer, I made sure I was the first one up and the last one to bed."
He then went to Clinch Valley College (now Virginia-Wise) as both the head men's basketball coach and athletic director.
"I got an offer after Coach Mears retired and I wanted to be a head coach again," Harrell said, referencing his tenure at Ware County (Ga.) and Cedar Grove (Ga.) high schools, earning a Georgia High School Coach of the Year honor. "I wanted to try. Clinch Valley came along and had nothing, so I had to raise money for scholarships there. It helped me, because the first person who helped me wrote a check for $50,000. I was only going to ask for $5,000. That certainly gave me some confidence.
"My record at Clinch Valley is deceiving because we played freshman teams, varsities – our freshman team never won a game, but it all counts because the NAIA had no limit there. We had a lot of games where our freshmen played against other freshman teams or junior colleges. Clinch Valley was a really fun place because I got to know everybody. I was treated as faculty – I did end up teaching a class. People appreciated that the program was being developed. The chancellor was so happy when I handed him that $50,000 check."
He joined the staff at Tech as former Tennessee assistant Tom Deaton became the Golden Eagles' eighth men's basketball head coach in 1980, joining future Belmont legend Rick Byrd and volunteer assistant Tony Royster on the court at the Hooper Eblen Center.
"At Clinch Valley, we were kind of in the coal-mine mountains," Harrell said. "My wife wasn't happy that far away from everything. I felt it was unfair. Tom Deaton took the job here. I shared an office with him at Tennessee and Rick Byrd, who I knew really well, was coming. I thought, 'Well, it's Division I, I've been a head coach, I need to go and build up so I can get a Division I opportunity somewhere.' You rarely get that Division I opportunity from smaller schools. That was a tougher place because I had to leave all those players I brought in, so it made it easier not to leave Lonnie (Boone) and those guys. I was the one who brought them all in. I hurt those guys in Clinch Valley – I wasn't going to do it again. Part of the reason they came here was because they believed in me, even as an assistant coach.
Harrell was on the Tech staff as an assistant for eight years – including a regular-season Ohio Valley Conference title in 1984-85 – and the start of a ninth, then became the Golden Eagles' ninth head coach on Dec. 10, 1988, following Deaton's resignation in the middle of a tournament in Hawaii.
His first season ended with an 8-17 overall record, 3-9 in the league, but it went uphill from there. The 1989-90 team finished 19-9, 9-3 in the OVC for a second-place finish. In his 10 seasons at the helm, six of them saw the Golden Eagles win 13 or more games as well as finish with a winning record in the OVC. He had four seasons where he won nine or more league games – not an easy task in one of the most competitive eras in the conference. He earned Coach of the Year honors from the Tennessee Sports Writers Association in 1991.
As a coach, Harrell was able to push his players to reach new heights. A 1993 Hoopscoop ratings index noted the Golden Eagles' projected talent on the lower end of its scale, but its power index wound up much higher, the top increase in the conference. The Golden Eagles also finished consistently in the top half of the league during that time.
The number of players among Tech's top all-time scorers that played during Harrell's tenure is staggering as three of the top five and 14 of the top 36 Tech scorers were on the roster. All-time leading scorer Earl Wise (1986-90) played under Harrell's guidance.
Many of the players that were under Harrell's guidance are still among the leaders in the Tennessee Tech record book – Wise, Lorenzo Coleman, Stephen Kite, John Best, Boone, Marc Burnett, Anthony Avery, Steve Taylor, Jimmy Elliott, Rob West, Carlos Floyd, Mitch Cupples, Jason Embry, Bobby McWilliams, Van Usher, Greg Bibb, Wade Wester, Wesley Whitehorn, Milos Babic, Carlton Clarington, Maurice Houston, Alex Franco, Charles Edmonson – and not even mentioning the team records still held to this day, of which there are numerous.
Teams Harrell coached or helped coach had nine of the top 12 seasons against OVC competition in program history, five of the 10 OVC tournament wins to that point and seven of the top 14 regular-season finishes. He ended his coaching career with a 128-154 record and, in conference play alone, his teams trailed just Murray State in OVC wins in that span.
Each season, Harrell's teams played at least five guarantee games and the Golden Eagles collected wins over Tennessee, Northwestern, Auburn, Vanderbilt as well as Top 25-ranked Southern Mississippi and Western Kentucky teams.
"One of the biggest things that I'm proud of – Coach (John) Pelphrey, when he came, we had a lot of former student-athletes come back," Harrell said. "Most of them were mine. Coach Pelphrey told me, 'The kids that played for you loved it at Tennessee Tech. They loved their experience.' All of those guys, they're the ones that are coming back to play in the Scramble, they're the ones coming back on Legends Night. I'm proud that they're proud to have played at Tennessee Tech."
Without any doubt, Harrell found the way to get the most out of his players. With the pride he had for the school and the university, it certainly wasn't a surprise.
"Tennessee Tech means so much," Harrell said. "I had coached eight years previous to this and I had been in four jobs. Every step was a move up. When I got to Tech, I really thought I'd be here three or four years and I'll move on. After three or four years, I could see that we were developing a good program and I thought we were going to win a championship. I got offered a job with Sonny Smith at Auburn, but I wanted to stay to see Boone and Clarington and Kite and all those guys win that championship. That was important to me.
"After we won that championship, my role had expanded, so I was coaching more. I just thought I was better off here. Then I reached the stage where I thought I had made a mistake because our program dropped down, so my opportunities to move on lessened. Coach Deaton left in Hawaii and Dr. Larimore and Dr. Volpe gave me the opportunity to be the coach. We turned it around pretty quick and won 19 games in the second year. They had enough confidence in me and it worked out well.
"I coached to the point where I felt like I was doing the same thing all the time. I'm building a team. I never had a program like Murray State that's there every year. I brought in a bunch of guys over two or three years and we'd go from sixth to fourth to competing for a championship. I reached a point where I asked myself, 'Do I really want to do this over and over and over?' Luckily, I had an opportunity to go into administration."
As his role changed, there was one aspect that remained – the importance of being a teacher. His title may say Coach or Director, but, at the end of the day, he knows what his biggest role is.
"I do think coaching is a higher profession," Harrell said. "I don't call any of our coaches anything other than Coach. I don't call (head football coach) Dewayne (Alexander) by his first name. I call him Coach Alexander, because, to me, he's earned that title of Coach."
"I have argued with some people in the past that I'm an educator. I'm a teacher. It doesn't matter that I'm a basketball coach, I was a teacher. That was my No. 1 job – teaching not just the game of basketball, but, even in administration, I've been a teacher. My job is to teach coaches, mentor them and help them."
Even after he stepped down and Jeff Lebo took over with Mike Sutton, Steve Payne and now Pelphrey leading the program onward, Harrell took a lot of pride still in the Tech men's basketball program but directed his gaze over the department as a whole.
Following the end of Dr. David Larimore's tenure as athletic director, Harrell was named the interim athletics director in early 2004, a position that he held for six months. Even as he filled the post, Harrell had a vision for what he felt Tennessee Tech Athletics needed – a full-time athletics director who could focus on fundraising, improvements and enhancing the student-athlete experience. He helped sell that vision to University president Dr. Bob Bell.
In July 2004, he got his wish as Mark Wilson was named Tech's Director of Athletics.
"When Mark came in – and I'm really proud of Mark as an AD – I felt like I mentored him the first year or two," Harrell said. "He reached a quick stage where he didn't need mentoring. He had all those qualities. I remember telling (University president) Dr. (Bob) Bell that we've done really good. We've hired a really good person. We've really hit a home run here. Mark's done all of that.
"Mark has always been good about this and he came in with the same philosophy – we're all fundraisers, we're all compliance, we're all marketers, we're all teachers, we're all administrators and we're all helping coaches."
Wilson noted that Harrell was the first person he worked hand-in-hand with as he began his role as Tech's Director of Athletics.
"My first meeting of my first day on July 4, 2004, was with Frank Harrell and Dianne Smith. He has been extremely loyal to me and loyal to our coaches and student-athletes. We really wanted to improve every aspect of athletics at Tennessee Tech. Our culture of compliance, of which I am extremely proud of, has really been fostered under his leadership in how we educate and how we hold ourselves accountable to the NCAA rules and regulations."
Under Harrell's watchful eye as sports supervisor, the Tennessee Tech teams have won 38 regular-season championships and 20 tournament championships.
In his compliance role, Harrell worked long days and nights making sure all 14 programs were in strict compliance in the ever-changing structure of NCAA rules. He has also played a role in making sure Tech's teams achieve high Academic Progress Report and Graduation Success Rate marks. He has helped oversee the transition of Mandy Thatcher into the Director of Compliance.
"I am eternally grateful for the opportunity and the guidance Frank has given me in this role," Thatcher said. "He has such a wealth of knowledge from his years of experience and if I have a question, he is there to help figure it out and make sure we're on the right page."
In that task, he also worked hand-in-hand with the Academic Advising staff from Dolores Wheatley to Leveda Dexter. Wheatley still has fond memories of working with Harrell.
"He meant everything to the University," Wheatley said. "He made sure we followed all of the NCAA rules. He was our expert. He was always available – it didn't matter what he was in the middle of. He helped me so much whenever I had to check eligibility. Frank always had the answers.
"It really leaves a legacy. I had been there for a long time and I really enjoyed it. There were headaches every now and then, but if there was something I didn't know or I had a question about something, he could answer it. The most important thing was that he was always available, no matter what long hours he put in. He was just super good. I don't know how we got by without him. I hate to see him retire, but he's been there a long time."
As the Director of the Athletics Foundation, he helped guide the fund to its first year over the $1 million mark, then to its peak over $3 million in 2013-14 as it built on the interest invested. He personally solicited and established 13 endowments that are worth $413,700 and growing. As he transitioned it from a non-investment to an investment-based foundation, it has brought in nearly $1.5 million in interest.
Harrell established partnerships with local radio stations and the Cookeville Herald-Citizen for coverage, advertising and rights in coverage.
He led Tech through an NCAA Certification process in 2004 and served two terms on the NCAA Legislative and Interpretations Committee, while also implementing a review and rewrite on Tech's Drug Testing Protocols and oversaw the development of Tech's Mental Health Protocols and Best Practices for Student-Athletes.
In addition to those roles, he also served as the chairman of the University's Conflict of Interest Committee for 14 years, overlooking outside employment and business interests to prevent any conflicts of interest by university employees.
Harrell has also been a part of the True To Tech program for 38 of his 40 years at the University.
After taking over direction of the annual Pepsi Bobby Nichols Golden Eagle Scramble presented by Michelob Ultra from Jim Ragland and Randy Smith, Harrell helped grow the event from its humble beginnings all the way to one of the largest golf tournaments in the Southeast with nearly 520 golfers on 260 teams at its peak. Already built on a solid foundation, Harrell helped cultivate it by paying out more money back to the winners and by adding more major prizes and contests.
"What my past experience, having been at Tennessee where money was no object, then being at Clinch Valley where you needed to stretch every dollar," Harrell said, "I saw both sides of the equation when I got to Tennessee Tech. I've been able to see it the whole time I've been here. What can you do with the money you have to make it work without wasting anything? Now, Tennessee, we wasted money. Clinch Valley, we didn't waste a dime. I've tried to realize that you need the big-time atmosphere, you need to create the image that you're just as good as they are and do things like travel right, stay in the right hotels, but at the best possible rates."
He certainly hasn't strayed away from the right opportunities to help the other coaches at Tech make the connections needed to try to help out.
"At the Golden Eagle Scramble the other day, I helped (softball head coach Michelle) DePolo as I was constantly introducing her to people and let them know she needed money for her program as a new coach. That's just what I do. I never passed up an opportunity when there was someone there who could help us. I'd ask them, 'Do you know Coach DePolo? (Tennis) Coach (Kenny) Doyle has won a million championships and could use your support. I'd get them engaged with each other. To me, that's all part of what you do."
Over the years, Harrell has been able to balance that equation and it has come out ahead in the long run for Tech Athletics and himself personally.
"I've been lucky outside of coaching. I've got some businesses that other people run for me and they've done well. I was told one day, 'You're the most generous person with your money to be so tight on Tech's money,'" Harrell said, with a smile. "I think that was as good of a compliment as I've ever gotten in my position."
While finances are still the leading factor, the pursuit of excellence in the department is still an important quest for Harrell.
"One of the things I learned from Coach Mears and I've tried to teach other coaches is that everything affects everything," he said. "There's not one thing you can do well and ignore something. If you ignore something, it's going to affect what you do well. Everything in Athletics, from sports information to academics to marketing, all of that affects that big picture that we want. We have to be excellent in all of it.
"I do think we have the best collection of coaches that we've ever had – and we've had good coaches in the past – but we've got some really good coaches here that, in spite of the budget cuts, will find a creative way to be successful. If it gets to a point where I think coaches don't have a chance to win, then all it's going to do is get me to redouble my efforts and spend more time trying to help fundraising efforts."
