Cedar Grove, a five-time Class 3A football champion coming off its first losing season in 19 years, has a new football coach.
Rich Freeman, Morehouse’s head coach for 16 seasons, said Cedar Grove’s success and his roots in the area attracted him to the job. Freeman played high school ball at Crim, an Atlanta city school seven miles from Cedar Grove, which is in DeKalb County.
“I’m from Atlanta, born and raised, and most of my fondest memories came from the Atlanta and DeKalb County area, and I just know about the history and tradition over at Cedar Grove and how well they’ve done over the past 20 years,” Freeman said. “There’s some fertile ground on the east side in terms of talent.”
Freeman was the 2018 SIAC coach of the year after leading Morehouse to a 7-3 record. In 2011, he led Morehouse to its first NCAA Division II playoff berth. He stepped down after the 2022 season following a 1-9 finish. Freeman was Drew High School’s defensive coordinator last season.
Before getting the Morehouse job, Freeman was on staffs at Tennessee State, Alabama State, Miles and Lane.
While Freeman coached at Tennessee State, where he had been a star linebacker, the team’s quarterback was Jimmy Smith. Smith later became Cedar Grove’s coach and won state titles in 2016 and 2018. Freeman remains close with Smith, who now is TCU’s running backs coach.
Cedar Grove would win five state titles under Smith his successors, Miguel Patrick and John Adams, from 2016 to 2023.
Cedar Grove finished 3-7 last season, its worst record since 2005, under first-year coach Roderick Moore.
The downturn came after Adams took a job on Georgia State’s staff. Many of Cedar Grove’s best players, including Georgia signee Bo Walker and top-50 national recruit Devin Carter, transferred out.
“We have to win our home first,” Freeman said. “We have to win the community, we have to win the players and we have to win the parents. In the current state of athletics, you have to stay constantly attractive. We have to be attractive enough to keep our people right at home because our people are leaving out. They’re bringing them success but not championships. If they stay at home, they’re going to get the pinnacle of what they want. That’s been proven at Cedar Grove with three different coaches. We’ve got to get everybody back here excited.”
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