By Reed DeSalvo

The Natchez Democrat

JACKSON — Alcorn State has its new head coach.

Fred McNair has been promoted to head football coach after spending the last four seasons as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach.

The 47-year-old McNair is the older brother of the late Steve McNair, who played quarterback in the NFL for 13 seasons. Both brothers played quarterback at Alcorn State.

“This feels great,” McNair said. “To be able to come back and lead this football program, especially after having played and coached here … I feel really good about it. I’m humbled (President Alfred) Rankins and (Athletic Director Derek) Horne chose me to be the guy to run the program.”

McNair replaces Jay Hopson, who led the Braves to back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference titles over the past two seasons before taking the University of Southern Mississippi job on Saturday.

McNair was quickly named the interim coach and promoted on a full-time basis just a few days later. He was introduced Monday at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson.

With signing day slated for today, McNair said his immediate focus is on keeping the 2016 Alcorn recruiting class in tact

“We’re trying to make sure all the kids are good to go,” McNair said. “We’re calling all the kids that have made commitments to us to make sure we’re retaining them, and I think we will … You’re going to miss out on some, but that’s part of the recruiting process … That’s why you always tell (recruits) to come play for the university, that way they won’t get the idea of just playing for a certain coach.”

McNair said he doesn’t plan on any major changes in hopes of keeping the program running at a high level.

“We want to keep the current (coaching) staff in tact,” he said. “We want to have continuity on the staff and with the players, and hope everything pans out the way we planned.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report