Players of Color Part 5: Robin Fraser

Holding The High Line celebrates Black History Month

Hey High Liners. Red again. This is Part 5 of my Colorado Rapids Black History Month Series, looking at noteworthy Players and People of Color to wear the Rapids shirt.

Previously in this series, I wrote about Jean Harbor, Bouna Coundoul, and Omar Cummings, and Marlon Hairston.

On this, the final day of February, I’ll be taking a look back at the career of current Rapids Manager, Robin Fraser.

Players of Color Part 5: Robin Fraser

Fraser was born in Kingston, Jamaica but grew up in Miami, FL. He stayed close to home for his education, attending and playing soccer at Miami Palmetto High School and Florida International University.

As a freshman, he helped the FIU Panthers be runners up in the Division II NCAA tournament. They lost in the final to Seattle Pacific. FIU moved up to Division I in 1987, where Fraser played regularly and was an All-American in ‘87 and ‘88.

Fraser signed on with American Soccer League (ASL, the third iteration) expansion team, the Miami Sharks after college. After two years with the Sharks, 23-year-old Fraser got a phone call that would change his life.

The Colorado Story Begins:

Emilio Romero, head coach of the Colorado Foxes, wanted to sign him. Fraser spent six years with the Foxes, playing alongside his future Rapids teammate Marcello Balboa. When MLS started in 1996, Fraser was selected 4th overall in the Inaugural Player Draft by the LA Galaxy.

Fraser spent five years with the Gs, playing as a holding midfielder and center back. He won Defender of the Year in 1999 and was named to the MLS Best XI four times. The Galaxy won the Supporters’ Shield and made it to MLS Cup twice during that time.

Before the 2001 season, he was traded to the Rapids. He spent three years in Rapids Green, playing in 74 regular season games and all seven playoff games between 2002 and 2003.

As a Rapid and elsewhere, Fraser organized his team defensively and was solid in man marking. His performance level rival that of the best defenders in club and league history. If he stayed with the club as long as Balboa or Drew Moor had, he’d have an argument as the best defender in Rapids history.

Post Rapids:

Ahead of the 2004 season, Fraser was traded to the Columbus Crew. He played two seasons with them before retiring, winning a second Shield and Defender of the Year in 2004 at freaking 38-years-old. Fraser helped mentor the young center back Chad Marshall, the only player with more MLS Defender of the Year awards than him.

Last year, Fraser was named one of the 25 greatest players in MLS history.

Fraser played 27 times for the USMNT. While he still feels Jamaican, he gained U.S. citizenship while he was in college. In the past, he’s said the Jamaican National Team never expressed interest.

After retirement, started coaching as an assistant with Real Salt Lake in 2007. Under Jason Kreis, he helped anchor a stout defensive unit with a team-first mentality. He finally won an elusive MLS Cup in 2009.

He got his first head coaching gig in 2011 with Chivas USA. Like many good people in American Soccer hired by Chivas, he struggled. The less said about these two years, the better.

After that, he became an assistant at New York Red Bulls under Mike Petke. Fraser learned how navigate great expectations and a super team with lots of egos. He brought a good tactical understanding to the coaching offices.

That experienced earned him a move to Toronto FC, where he joined his former Galaxy teammate Greg Vanney from 2015 to 2019. The two turned the Reds into a super club, winning two Shields, an MLS Cup, and three Canadian Championships.

TFC nearly became the first MLS team to win CCL in 2018, were it not for penalties in Guadalajara.

Side bar: As a player and coach, Fraser’s worked with Balboa, Vanney, Marshall, Moor, Jamison Olave (coached him at RSL), and Omar Gonzalez (coached him at TFC). Name someone with a better MLS Center Back Tree. I’ll wait.

Returning Home to Colorado:

Fraser assumed his current role with the Colorado Rapids on August 25, 2019. He nearly led the Rapids to the playoffs that year. He navigated the most chaotic season in club history, making the playoffs and winning the Rocky Mountain Cup in 2020.

In his 18 months on the job, Fraser has set a tone for the Burgundy Boys: No excuses, do your job, treat others with respect and accountability, and work your ass off. He’s brought in veterans he trusts, including bringing Drew Moor back from Toronto.

I can clearly see him applying lessons from each of his previous coaching jobs to this team. For the most part, they’ve worked

He’s gradually implemented his tactical ideas. This has made the team tough to score against while being able to punch above their weight at a talent deficit (#TheRapidsWay).

The club is in the best state it has been since at least Oscar Pareja’s departure. Fraser has a lot to do with that.

BLM and an MLS Fraser Rule:

Fraser’s been open and outspoken in the last year with America still working through its race and social justice issues. Check out this and this for example.

His name is THE ONE brought up when people talk about domestic coaches of ethnic minorities getting opportunities they deserve.

In all three of his assistant coaching stints (RSL, RBNY, TFC), he was working with a white head coach with no prior MLS head coaching experience. Only at RSL was he working with a coach who had as much coaching experience as he had. For three years, he was regarded unequivocally as the most qualified assistant coach in MLS.

In that time, lots of white guys with less impressive coaching resumes got head coaching jobs in the league. Most of them have been fired by now.

I’m not going to tweet at Don Garber to tell him MLS needs a Fraser Rule like how the NFL has the Rooney Rule. Like the Don checks his mentions anyways, lol.

But in the time I’ve been covering this league, there have been exactly three black head coaches:

Patrick Vierira, Thierry Henry, and Robin Fraser.

The first two won the 1998 World Cup with France, were Arsenal Invincibles, and won a billion other awards playing for top clubs in Europe.

The other’s a first generation American who worked his ass off to earn a scholarship to a second division college soccer program, slogged for seven years as a semi-professional, is an MLS OG, is one of the best defenders in MLS history, made every team he played on better, has won everywhere he’s coached except Chivas, got unfairly scapegoated by Chivas when he got fired in a way that set his career trajectory back years, is doing so much with limited resources at Colorado, is now the only black head coach in MLS, and has achieved all of this under the conditions of being a Person of Color working in a sport and country controlled by white people.

In other words, if you’re black and want to coach in MLS, be a retired world class player with a big name OR work your way up the proverbial ladder, exceed expectations at every stop along the way, and be willing to wait years while less qualified people with lighter skin get jobs you never even get interviewed for.

I chose Robin Fraser for the last installment of this series for a reason. He represents everything good the Rapids have ever stood for and one of the many things that MLS is still getting wrong.

Photos are courtesy of Getty Images via Brian Bahr/Allsports, Christopher Ruppel /Allsport, Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire, Hyoung Chang/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post, and Omar Vega respectively.