Jackson State's head football coach T.C. Taylor spoke glowingly about Alcorn State's head coach, Fred McNair. Reporter David Edelstein posted a clip on X where Taylor talked about his friendship and overall relationship with McNair.

“Fred McNair is a great coach, great friend of mine,” he said. “He's going to have that team ready to play, so I'm looking forward to it.”

McNair has had unprecedented success at Alcorn State. Since he took over in 2016, the Braves have won four SWAC East championships (2016-19), two SWAC championships (2018-19), and clinched two Celebration Bowl births. The Braves are currently 6-4 and sit atop the SWAC West.

Taylor went into further detail about McNair's character:

“I look up to him,” he said. “He's a guy that's been around and done it the right way for a long time down at Alcorn. They've had a lot of success and developed some great players and coaches. If you talk about a blueprint of doing it the right way, that's Fred McNair: an alum that went to Alcorn too. It's kind of similar to the path I'm going on right now, so anytime I can try to bounce some ideas off of him when I'm around him I do that, and we're just good friends.”

The video ended with Taylor recounting some advice McNair had previously given him.

“He said, ‘Be you. Don't listen to the outside noise, and be concerned by the things that matter: your team, your coaches, and the people in that building.'”

Jackson State plays at home versus Alcorn State for their last regular season game in the Soul Bowl on Nov. 18.