WOOSTER, Ohio — Mike Frazier is the man in charge of all things analytics in Kansas City.
“It’s fun math,” said Frazier, the statistical analysis coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. “There’s definitely math, but it’s a lot more fun than, to put it in terms of football.”
This is his 11th year as the statistical analysis coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs and his 21st year working with Andy Reid, the head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. Frazier began working in Kansas City in 2013 after spending 10 seasons in the same role with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“There’s hundreds of decisions that need to be made during the course of a day, whether it’s an off-season day, whether it’s an in-season day, practice, during the game,” Frazier said. “Helping to provide the coaches who are already highly intelligent and experts in their field, but provide a little bit more information to help them make more informed decisions.”
Frazier said data analytics is a growing industry within sports and a position he likely wouldn’t be in if not for his ties to Ohio. Frazier, a native of Illinois, moved to Ohio when he was 3 years old. He eventually attended The College of Wooster.
“I lived there for 20 years,” Frazier said. “I grew up there. I consider that home.”
While at The College of Wooster, Frazier completed an independent study. The program is a requirement for all students and frequently ranks top five in the nation as the best senior capstone by U.S. News and World Report.
“It is certainly a hallmark of what we’re able to do here, and it is a unique program that is not really replicated anywhere else,” said Phillip Mellizo, the chair of the Department of Economics at The College of Wooster. “They’re able to kind of garner skills that are really desirable, that are transferable to a number of different sectors.”
The College of Wooster is a private, liberal arts college in northeast Ohio and is home to about 2,000 students. Frazier, a 2003 graduate, majored in business economics and said he was preparing for a career in finance, but had an interest in sports.
“Wooster has an incredible program called Independent Study, which is a total of three semesters, one semester your junior year, and two semesters your senior year,” Frazier said. “And each student gets to work on several projects, and I chose to do one on baseball and one on football.”
Part of his Independent Study focused on studying the determinants of salaries for quarterbacks in the NFL. He also had a few internships while attending The College of Wooster, including one with the Philadelphia Center that connected him with Joe Banner, then-president of the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I was definitely very fortunate at the College of Wooster to get an internship with the Eagles and part of that was due to Ohio,” Frazier said. “When I was interviewing for a position with the Eagles, I was able to talk about some of the research that I had done at an undergraduate level.”
Frazier said he has never played football a day in his life, but is an example of how to get to the NFL in a different way.
“He’s a good example, but also a representative example of where we see the careers of many of our graduates going. I’m continuously impressed, will always be impressed with every crop of new alumni that leave the college in learning their stories because they really end up in some really fantastic careers,” Mellizo said. “We’re extremely proud of what he’s been able to accomplish and we’ll all be cheering for him and his success on Sunday.”
Frazier encourages any young student who wants to be in his position someday to take advantage of every opportunity and learn as much as they can.
“That’s one of the benefits of a college like Wooster, a liberal arts education,” Frazier said. “I got an opportunity to study a lot of different fields and didn’t necessarily end up in the one that I thought I would.”
Frazier is an example of how attending a smaller college can still provide opportunities to eventually perform on the big stage.
“I appreciate everybody watching and appreciate the support,” Frazier said. “I’m absolutely looking forward to it. Very honored for the opportunity and very humbled to have the opportunity to be there.”
For more information on Frazier and The College of Wooster visit here.