By Jonathan Simmons

 

Down 21-10 going into the fourth quarter, the Maroon Tigers of Morehouse College found themselves trying to dig out of a hole against the Miles College Golden Bears during the Chicago Classic last September. After the Tigers scored to begin the quarter and cut the deficit to 21-17, Morehouse and Miles went back and forth punting and turning the ball over.

 

Down four points with just nine seconds on the clock, Morehouse needed to score a touchdown.

 

“We struggled with finishing games last year,” sophomore quarterback Michael Sims said of the 2017 season. “Our main focus was to finish.”

 

Sims received the snap and scanned the field. He stepped to the right and threw a 39-yard bomb. The ball soared through the air, looking as if it about to fly out of the back of the end zone, when wide receiver Tremell Gooden snagged it out of the air for the touchdown and a walk-off victory for the Maroon Tigers.

 

Results like these, against teams that Morehouse has struggled to best in recent years, were directly tied to the new perspective Morehouse head coach Rich Freeman brought to the 2018 season. The Tigers’ 6-0 start, including beating arch rival Tuskegee in triple overtime, was their best since 1919, and their 7-3 record was their best since 2010. The Maroon Tigers received a number of accolades, during the regular as well as the postseason, including Freeman being honored as the SIAC Coach of the Year.

 

During the training camp of 2018, Freeman participated in a coaching workshop with the Atlanta Falcons as a part of the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship. Freeman said he was somewhat skeptical of the program at first but talking with Falcons Assistant General Manager Scott Pioli gave him a different perspective.

Freeman believes that when most teams participate in the fellowship, they “just do this just to satisfy, let people know we tried it.” But he encountered a much more sincere attitude from the Pioli.

 

“But with Scott Pioli, he had a true zeal for that type of program,” Freeman says. “He even had a sit down with me and talked about how even he, as an Italian, experienced racism growing up in New York, and he experienced it firsthand with a teacher that he really took a liking to in middle school.”

 

Freeman also appreciated a long conversation in which Pioli explained that merely hosting minority coaches wasn’t the Falcons’ end goal. Instead, Freeman recalled Pioli telling him “we actually are putting you here to train you to possibly hire you in a few years.”

 

“He’s a sincere guy,” Freeman says.

 

Freeman was among 161 coaches participating in the Bill Walsh NFL Diversity Coaching Fellowship. The program has introduced more than 2,000 college and high school football coaches and former players to NFL coaching philosophies and practices.

 

Nearly 60 previous diversity fellows coached in the NFL this season, including four head coaches: Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers), Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals) and Hue Jackson (Cleveland Browns).

 

Bill Walsh, a Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach, started the program in 1987 when he invited a group of minority coaches to his San Francisco 49ers training camp. Today, the program is considered a major pathway to land coaching opportunities in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons had 10 participants in 2018, more than any other team.

 

Freeman said he was interested in the NFL coaching experience with the Atlanta Falcons because he wanted to explore ways to strengthen his team’s offensive performance. Like himself, Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is a defensive coach.

 

“I wanted to find out from a defensive coach how to manage an offense,” says Freeman, noting that Morehouse had struggled offensively in recent years.

 

Freeman says he easily made the transition from being the head coach to intern, noting that coaches experiences range from high school football assistants to head coaching in the National Football League.

 

“That’s just the nature of the job,” Freeman says.

 

He returned from the NFL experience a changed man. While still considering himself “stoic,” Freeman says “to some degree I recreated my coaching style.

 

“I created a more loose environment with our guys. I could be a somewhat stoic guy, sometimes unapproachable. I have a militant, no-nonsense coaching style.”

 

Quinn’s laidback coaching style was a teachable moment for Freeman.

 

“I’m still a hard-nosed guy,” he said. “But I’m more open-minded with the athletes.”

 

Freeman explained that players have changed over the years, so he needed to change, too, to be able to “capture” their attention. For instance, before interning with the Falcons, Freeman says he would say to a player, “Hey man, I need you on the field right now, not a second later. And they’d say, ‘Yes, sir.’ But today, players will ask, “Why, for what reason?” So now Freeman will explain beforehand why the player needs to be on the field.

 

“I have kids myself,” he said. “It’s not (only in) football. This is all walks of life.”

 

When Freeman meets with a player to explain something to him or discipline him, he now will end the meeting by asking, “Do you understand exactly what I’m trying to communicate to you?” With his staff, they have created more situations in which players can ask questions and just be themselves.

 

“They played loud music two hours during practice,” Freeman says. “That  was unheard of with me: “Man, turn that music off. Focus and pay attention.” Well, my son, he can’t get his homework without having some music playing, so we realize things like that.”

 

Morehouse football players say they felt the change right away.

 

“He’s given us more freedom to look and dress more creatively on and off the field than in years past,” junior linebacker Julien Turner said. “This has shown us his trust in us. But he also made it known that he expects that same trust in him. I think this was part of the reason this past season was successful.”

 

On top of what he learned about creating an environment, Freeman learned a great deal about how to be successful from a coaching standpoint. With the Falcons, there was an emphasis on clock management and situational football, which included two-minute drill situations, converting on third down, and the performance of special teams. He was able to work closely with Falcons players, including kicker Matt Bryant and running back Devonta Freeman.

Looking back at last season’s success, coach Freeman says, “I attribute a lot of that to some of the development I was able to get with the Falcons. We were able to win some of the games we were losing the last three or four years.”

Miss Maroon and White Anta Njie and SGA President Quintin Paschall celebrate the Maroon Tigers becoming 6-0 after beating Tuskegee in triple overtime. By Philip McCollum

 

Just as important as the team’s performance, Freeman points to the relationship he has developed with Pioli as one of the best outcomes of his experience. The front office executive took time to send Freeman a text message after the Maroon Tigers’ strong start during the 2018 season, a testament, Freeman says, to Pioli’s sincerity and investment in his success.