Flashes’ Assistant Coach Finds Happiness After Losing NFL Career

By Lance Lysowski, Daily Kent Stater

Marcus Freeman’s football career was coming to a close.

Freeman, who is currently Kent State’s linebacker coach, was finishing his rookie season on the Houston Texans’ practice squad in Dec. 2009 and he was worn down. He didn’t know how much longer he could play.

A nagging pain in his knee prevented him from regaining the quickness which allowed him to record 298 tackles during his career as a Buckeye.

He continued to think of the men who coached him through the years. Each one had a part in shaping him into the man he is today. He wants to follow in their footsteps.

Maybe coaching is his true calling?

One person immediately came to mind when the former Ohio State linebacker needed a word of advice — current Ohio State head coach Luke Fickell.

Fickell, who was Freeman’s position coach at Ohio State, urged his former player to reconsider. Coaching was a demanding profession and he’s all-too-familiar with the long hours.

Freeman was ready to call it quits when the Indianapolis Colts called him.

They wanted to sign him immediately.

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Heacock advised Freeman that if he had a chance to play in the NFL, he should do it.

Freeman could not disagree. He had been playing football since the age of six and while he planned for life after football, he could not pass on signing with the defending AFC Champions.

On Feb. 11, 2010, Freeman arrived in Indianapolis for his routine physical. After undergoing a series of tests, the training staff told the linebacker they could not pass him.

Tests revealed that the former second team All-Big Ten linebacker had an enlarged heart valve in his left ventricle. The abnormality is not life threatening but it can become fatal at any given time. It needed to be closely monitored and undergoing an agonizing 16-game NFL season was inadvisable.

His professional football career was over.

Freeman was disappointed with the news but knew what his next step was. He called Fickell.

“The first thing I try to do when somebody tells me they want to coach is I try to talk them out of it,” Fickell said. “I give them all the horror stories and all the negative things about it. Really, really try to discourage them to see if they truly love it.”

Freeman told his former coach that he had a passion for coaching and reassured Fickell that he was making the decision for the right reasons.

That’s where it all began.

Destination: Kent.

Fickell picked up his cell phone last spring and read the text message from his former player. Freeman, who had been hired as Kent State’s linebackers coach on Jan. 6 by former Ohio State assistant Darrell Hazell, wanted to tell Fickell that he now understood how stressful the profession truly was.

“Now I know why you didn’t sleep sometimes and now I know why you acted the way you did,” Freeman said in the text message to Fickell.

But Freeman he loved every minute of it.

A native of Huber Heights, Ohio, Freeman said that being able to mentor a young player — like Fickell did to him when he arrived on Ohio State’s campus — is what made coaching so desirable.

“It’s the greatest feeling there is. It is why you coach,” Freeman said. “You love to see them become better football players. It’s even greater seeing them become better people.”

Since that cold January day last year, Freeman and the Kent State coaching staff have been working non-stop.

He arrived on campus the day after the Buckeyes competed against Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Hazell pulled Freeman into his office and handed him a list of high schools.

“Go recruit,” Hazell said.

Freeman didn’t have the slightest idea of where to begin, but it only took two visits to gain his footing.

It was his dream job. He was working under Hazell, whom he respected from the moment they met. Freeman described Hazell as being “born to be a head coach.”

That’s what made the recruiting dinner last December so memorable.

“We’ve been rolling ever since.”

Freeman arrived at a recruiting dinner last December amid practices for Ohio State’s upcoming BCS bowl game. He just spent the past season as a graduate assistant on Jim Tressel’s coaching staff.

He spotted Hazell approaching him. Hazell informed Freeman days earlier that he was in the running for Kent State’s head coaching vacancy, and that if he got the job; he wanted Freeman to join him as a linebackers coach. But he didn’t know if it would come to fruition.

“I called you earlier,” Hazell said.

Freeman reassured Hazell that the number was not recognizable and he apologized for not answering.

“Oh, so you’re ignoring my phone calls?” Hazell said jokingly.

Freeman laughed it off until Hazell told him the news. He was hired as Kent State’s 20th head football coach.

Freeman was named Kent State’s linebackers coach just days later.

Working for a role model and leader like Hazell was perfect for a growing coach like himself.

“You knew what type of leader you were getting,” Freeman said. “Being a young coach and a coach with not much experience, you want to make sure you are surrounding yourself with the right leaders. When I got that opportunity, I knew he was the right man and the guy to help me build my philosophies as a coach. He’s done nothing but help me become a better coach.”

Two weeks later, Freeman was traveling to local high schools representing Kent State. Two months after that, he was coaching his first spring football camp. He couldn’t be happier.

His dream of playing in the NFL came to an end but it’s watching the growth of players such as junior C.J. Malauulu that makes the sacrifice well worth it.

“Learning from him, he knows everything,” Malauulu. “He knows how we feel, how we see it. He understands more.”

Through the team’s 10 games this season, Kent State’s top two tacklers, Malauulu and junior Luke Batton, are linebackers. Freeman’s linebacking corps anchors a defense that ranks 24th in the nation against the run.

Now Freeman knows how his coach felt watching him succeed.

“That’s what I did with him to see what type of passion he truly had to coach,” Fickell said. “He never batted an eye at it, never balked at it. I knew he’d be one hell of a coach, but I knew he was doing it for the right reasons. It’s awesome to see a guy who maybe you had a little bit of influence on.”