MACON — While many in the college sports landscape have pushed for NCAA reform in recent years, Morehouse football coach Rich Freeman has a different perspective.
He wants colleges to financially commit to sports before he advocates for change in the NCAA.
Freeman has coached at eight schools, and at many of those colleges, he said, the administration didn’t fully invest in the football program.
“It’s hard for me to ostracize the NCAA and their faults,” Freeman said, “when that hasn’t been the problem at some of the eight schools I have worked at.”
This year, for the first time in Freeman’s nine-year tenure with the Maroon Tigers, the administration invested in the football program and gave Freeman more scholarship money.
Morehouse isn’t the only historically black college that has trouble supporting a football team, Freeman said. He graduated from a HBCU (Tennessee State) and he’s had coaching stints at others, such as Alabama State. During his career, he’s noticed a trend at those colleges.
“The enrollment is drastically dropping,” Freeman said. “Cost of tuition at schools like Kennesaw State and Georgia State are being lowered, so I think the key thing to do is athletics to further intrigue the fan base, even the incoming students.”
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