When Rice University football teammates Corey Frazier and Klein Kubiak first met each other, they knew there was a lot of common ground between them.
They were born two weeks apart in the summer of 1991, they both relocated during their high school careers and had an older sibling (or two) precede them as Division I football players.
But the most obvious thing they have in common is the fact that their fathers are both NFL head coaches – Gary Kubiak with the Houston Texans, and Leslie Frazier, with the Minnesota Vikings.
“Corey and I have developed a really good relationship over the past two years,” said Kubiak, a sophomore wide receiver and 2009 Strake Jesuit graduate. “We were both ballboys for the franchises that our dads were coaches. Now, we get to sit back and watch football and talk about some of the stuff we have in common with our dads.”
Kubiak transferred to Strake Jesuit as a sophomore, after his dad was named the Texans’ head coach in 2006.
Frazier, a junior safety, played football for Tomball High for two years, before transferring to Eden Prairie High, near Minneapolis for his junior and senior years. His dad was promoted from the Vikings’ defensive coordinator to interim head coach last season, and to head coach this season.
“We had a lot of the same experience being around the game,” Frazier said. “We definitely have some stories we share with each other. It’s good to have someone that grew up with the same lifestyle – (someone) you can share things with.”
Their dads have participated in a total of eight Super Bowls as players and assistant coaches, and now, they’re trying to return to lead their respective teams to the Super Bowl as head coaches for the first time.
Meanwhile, their 20-year-old sons are focused on leading Rice (1-1) to a bowl game. The Owls travel to No. 17 Baylor (2-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Both players have dealt with questions about their famous dads, and they’ve handled that remarkably well.
It’s been more prevalent for Kubiak, who would hear the chorus of his father’s critics throughout the city, the past few years.
“I don’t know if there’s added pressure for me personally,” said Kubiak, who has 14 receptions for 152 yards for the Owls. “I’ve been around it my whole life...Every time I go out and play is an opportunity to make my dad proud and represent my family name.”
“It’s always difficult to be around (the criticism of my dad). You try to brush it off your shoulder. I try to focus on being a student and an athlete at Rice. People are going to ask (me about him) because he’s a public figure. I’m Klein Kubiak. I want to make people want to know me for who I am.”
Frazier and Kubiak talk to their respective dads on the phone pretty much every day.
“He loves calling and asking how practice went, and I ask him pretty much the same questions,” Kubiak said.
Said Frazier, “(We talk) not just football, but school and life in general.”
Frazier’s dad attended the Owls’ season opener at Texas. During the Owls’ bye week, Frazier traveled to Minnesota to watch the Vikings game against Tampa Bay.
The Owls don’t practices on Sundays, so Kubiak attends Texans home games, and his dad attends most of the Rice home games on Saturdays.
Frazier and Kubiak grew up playing football, but ironically, it was baseball that introduced them to Rice.
Frazier attended a baseball camp one summer at Rice. When it was time to pick a college for football, he chose the Owls.
“Why not go back to Texas? I loved it so much. It was a great opportunity,” he said.
Kubiak’s uncle, David Pierce, was the pitching coach for the Owls baseball team and was just hired as the Sam Houston State head baseball coach. He spent a lot of time around Owl baseball after he moved from Denver to Houston.
Kubiak played three seasons of baseball at Strake Jesuit, but decided that football was a better option for him.
“I played baseball my whole life,” Kubiak said. “Football ended up being the route. Football had been my entire life growing up in a football household.”
Gary Kubiak has been involved in six Super Bowls – three as a player and three as a coach.
He was the backup quarterback to John Elway in a trio of Super Bowls in four years (1986, 1987 and 1989) before Klein was born.
Klein was just 3 years old when his dad won his first Super Bowl ring as the San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach in January 1995.
“I think I stayed home with the babysitter,” Kubiak said.
But he attended the Broncos’ Super Bowls in 1998 and 1999 when his dad was the offensive coordinator, and Denver defeated Green Bay and Atlanta, respectively.
“I was pretty young but I remember them very well,” Kubiak said. “It was fun to (be around) a championship team to see how they work and operate and to be around John Elway, Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe. They’re great football players – they’re also unbelievable people.”
When he was 13 and 14, Kubiak was a ballboy for the Broncos and got to know Smith and quarterback Jake Plummer.
“My dad takes a lot of pride in hard work and building character,” Kubiak said. “You’ve got to earn everything you want to have in life…that was something that resonated in me.”
Kubiak is studying Sports Management with a minor in Business, and he would like to enter the coaching ranks.
“I really want to stay around the game,” Kubiak said. “Right now, coaching’s looking pretty ideal.”
Frazier led the Owls with 83 tackles last season, including a career-high 12 tackles vs. Baylor last season.
Frazier’s production was impressive, considering he only registered eight tackles as a freshman.
“(Former Owls safety) Travis Bradshaw helped me become a better player my sophomore year,” Frazier said.
Frazier has 10 tackles so far this season, and he made his 100th career tackle during a 24-22 victory over Purdue on Sept. 10.
Coming from Big Ten territory, Frazier said the victory over Purdue was sweet.
“It means a lot just because I lived (up North) most of my life,” Frazier said. “The Big 10 is what the Midwest is hyped up about. It meant a lot.”
Frazier’s looking forward to playing Northwestern on Nov. 12 in Evanston, Ill. (just north of Chicago).
“It’ll be exciting,” Frazier said. “(We have) a lot of family friends in Chicago going down to the game. Playing in front of family friends.”
He was born in Chicago and lived there until he was 7. His father played on the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Championship Team and then won another Super Bowl ring in 2006, as the Indianapolis Colts defensive backs coach.
Frazier heard lots of stories about the legendary ’85 Bears, in which his father – a cornerback – led the team with six interceptions.
He’s known former 49ers head coach Mike Singletary and Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera – both members of the ’85 Bears team – his entire life.
But he actually got to attend the Colts-Bears Super Bowl in Miami when he was a sophomore in high school, and he was a ball boy for the Vikings as a junior and senior in high school.
Frazier was happy for his father when the Vikings promoted him to the head coach position.
“He went through hoops just to get where he’s at and he deserves it,” Frazier said. “Even though they’re 0-2 right now, they’ll definitely get it turned around just because of how determined he is.”
Frazier said that being the son of an NFL coach has shape his outlook on the game.
“I’ve been around football ever since I was young. It’s basically all I know. I just see all different types of technique. That just carried over into high school and college. It all fits together, and you just understand the whole picture better than most.”
Frazier, an Economics major, would like to play in the NFL. He sometimes works out with the Vikings when he’s back in Minnesota.
He’s also considered coaching.
“I’ve put some thought into it,” Frazier said. “I’m not quite sure yet if that’s the path I’d like to take.”
Right now, he’s just focused on getting Rice back to the postseason for the first time since 2008.
“That’s what we’ve been working for since last season ended,” Frazier said.
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