Hired more than a decade ago at tradition-rich Morehouse College, Rich Freeman found immediate success atop the Maroon Tigers’ football program.
But consecutive 4-6 campaigns in both 2019 and 2021, sandwiched around the 2020 season that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, followed up by this season’s 1-9 ledger proved too much for Freeman, who resigned from the highly regarded Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) program on Tuesday.
Morehouse had lost its first nine games of the 2022 season before it ended the regular season with a stirring 20-17 win against Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Clark.
Freeman, posting also on behalf of his wife, Kimm, announced his departure via social media, writing that “To the current and former players, you have and always will be our ‘Why.’ The very reason we chose the coaching profession is to be the inspiration to you that we always longed to have for ourselves and further to empty what the good Lord poured into us into you. We love you more than words can express.”
An Atlanta native who starred on the collegiate level at Tennessee State in Nashville, Freeman coached at both his alma mater and at Alabama state prior to taking over the Maroon Tigers’ program for a more-than-decade-long run.
Among Freeman’s notable feats at Morehouse, he led the Maroon Tigers to their first-ever NCAA Division II Playoffs berth and multiple winning seasons, including a seven-win campaign in 2018.