Keith Jenkins|Cincinnati Enquirer
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The Cincinnati Bearcats football program's 2020 recruiting class is the best in team history. That's saying a lot for a program that's had 132 seasons.
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Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell credits a lot of that success on the recruiting trail to defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.
"He's been huge, one of the best recruiters in the country," Fickell said. "I'd say there's nobody that's done a better job than whathe's done in four years."
Fickell, 46, and Freeman, 34, have a bond. It's special. It's different. It's "real," Freeman said.
It's even turbulentat times, they both admitted. It's one that has helped lead the Bearcats to back-to-back 11-win seasons, something that has only happened one other time in the program's history (2008-09).It's also one that hastaken nearly two decades to build.
The Beginning
It started in 2002, when Freeman was a standout linebacker atWayne High School in Huber Heights andFickell was the special teams coordinator at Ohio State. Though then-Buckeyes defensive line coach Jim Heaco*ck was responsible for recruiting Freeman's area, it was Fickell who relentlessly called Freeman to convince him to play for Ohio State.
"He called me all the time," said Freeman, while laughing.
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In January 2004, Freeman joined the Buckeyes as a freshman after graduating from high school early. That same month, Fickell became Ohio State's linebackers coach.
"We kind of grew together," Freeman said. "I learned a lot from him. It wasn't always easy. Man, it wasn't. I'm sure there were days when he went home and told his wife, 'Man, I can't stand coaching that Marcus Freeman guy.'"
The two exchanged words often. Fickell recalled one time when he threw Freeman off the field before a game.
"He got lippy," Fickell said. "He was an 18-year-old."
Freeman said Fickell was hard on him. Not only when he was scrapping for reps as an underclassman behind future first-round NFL draft picks A.J. Hawk and Bobby Carpenter, but also when he was the big-name starter alongside JamesLaurinaitis.
"But as you mature, you realize that you really appreciatethe tough coaching," Freeman said."I've learned so many lessons from Coach Fickell. The things that he's taught me have been more about the things he hasn't said. Just watching him. Watching him being a husband. Watching him being a father. Watching him being a football coach and a leader, and I'm like, 'That's the way to do it.'"
Marcus Freeman talks about practicing in the world of Covid-19
Marcus Freeman, UC defensive coordinator, talks with reporter, Keith Jenkins, about life during quarantine and what's like to practice now with new restrictions in play.
Amanda Rossmann and Keith Jenkins, Cincinnati Enquirer
Freeman to the NFL
After Freeman entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2009, he again turned to Fickellwhen times got tough.
The Bears waived Freemanin September 2009, just five months after joining the team. He then joined the Buffalo Bills' practice squad, only to be cut a couple weeks later. Freeman then signed with the Houston Texans.
"I'll never forget calling Coach Fickell when I was in Houston," Freeman said. "My knee was hurt.I was on the practice squad. I remember saying, 'You know, Coach, I want to get into coaching."
Fickell told Freeman that was a bad idea.
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"He said, 'Let me tell you something, you don't want to be a coach,'" Freeman said."'Go play as long as you can. Don't get into this coaching stuff.'"
But the decision was made for Freeman. While getting a physical before a tryout with the Indianapolis Colts, team doctors discovered Freeman had an enlarged heart. His playing career was over. He retired in May 2010.
"I just remember driving home, saying, 'Trust your heart. Trust your heart. You know what you want. And if you don't, God's going to tell you exactly what your future should hold," he said.
Freeman, the coach
Freeman in 2010 joined Fickell, now the Buckeyes co-defensive coordinator, as a graduate assistant at Ohio State. He then spent two seasons as the linebackers coach at Kent State, followed by afour-year stint at Purdue, where hecoached linebackers all four seasons and served as the Boilermakersco-defensive coordinator in 2016.
Cincinnati hired FickellDec. 10 of that year. Three days later, Freeman announced he was joining Fickell and becoming the Bearcats defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
"No matter what, I want to deal with people I can trust," Fickell said. "For me, as much as anything, it's having a core nucleus of people that you know and that you can trust. He was a guy, because of our history, it just made sense. And it was a situation, too, where he was up for it and open for it."
Over the past two seasons with Freeman at the helm of the Cincinnati defense, the Bearcats haveled the American Athletic Conferencein scoring defense and forced an AAC-best 25 turnovers in 2019. Two of Freeman's top defenders, senior safety Darrick Forrest and sophom*ore cornerback Ahmad Gardner, were named Monday to the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, presented annually to the most outstanding defensive player in college football.
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Freeman credits the defense's success to the "Black Cat" brand of football he's brought to Cincinnati, which stresses challenging each other to be better, the importance of having every defensive unit playing as one, and being fundamentally sound in every facet of the game.
It also has a lotto do with the top-notch recruits Freeman has been able to help bring onto campus. The 2020 recruiting class is the best among Cincinnati's peers and better than previous UC teams dating back at least two decades,according to 247Sports.com team rankings.
"I amwho I am. I don't try to sell some BS or something that's not real. I'm going to be who I am," Freeman said. "Recruiting is really an area where you can outwork your opponent. There's a direct area where if you work harder than other coaches, you have a better chance of getting that recruit to come to Cincinnati, and I take pride in that. I take pride in making sure that I'm exhausting every tool or area that I can to make sure I am trying to do more than the next guy. But also understanding that this is all about building a relationship with the student-athlete."
Marcus Freeman talks about his relationship with coach Luke Fickell
Marcus Freeman, UC defensive coordinator, talks with reporter, Keith Jenkins, about his relationship with UC head coach, Luke Fickell.
Amanda Rossmann and Keith Jenkins, Cincinnati Enquirer
Staying at Cincinnati
Fickell in February turned down an opportunity to become the head coach at Michigan State. After that, the Spartans shifted their focus to Mel Tucker, who coached at Ohio State while both Fickell and Freeman were in Columbus. Tucker accepted the job and wanted Freeman to leave Cincinnati and become his defensive coordinator. Freeman elected to stay with Fickell.
"I have a high level of respect for Mel Tucker," Freeman said. "But ultimately, I have goals, personal goals, and one of those is wanting to be a head coach, and I believe I don't need to leave the University of Cincinnati to achieve that goal. I'm in a great position as the defensive coordinator here at Cincinnati to one day be in position to be a head coach, and going to Michigan State didn't make me feel like I was going to be anymore closer to it. Did the relationship with Coach Fickell come into play? Absolutely. Did the relationship I have with our kids here come into play? Absolutely."
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With both Fickell and Freeman choosing to stay put, the future looks bright for the Bearcats, who are scheduled to open their fourthseason with the two coachesagainst Austin Peay Sept. 3 at Nippert Stadium. The future also looks full of more healthy fighting, which seems to happen often between Fickell and Freeman.
"When you've dealt with a kid since he's been 16, 17 years old, he's run the gamut of thinking I was a nice guy and cool during the recruiting process, and then getting there and realizing I'm such an asshole, and going home with his friends and say, 'This guy's the biggest jerk,'" Fickell said. "You grow through all those things. It's what gives you what you have now. He's one of those guys who can argue with you in a room. He's not just going to be like, 'Oh yeah, whatever you say,'because he's already had those arguments with me. He understands the relationship and the respect about not having just some 'yes guys.'"
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That fighting has trickled down to the two coaches' kids. Freeman and his wife,Joanna, have six children, as do Fickell and his wife, Amy. Recently, the families took a vacation together to Hilton Head, South Carolina. A fun family outing in the pool seems to always turn into a competitive, bloody mess.
"We have our battles," Freeman said. "We have some pool basketball games, which can get kind of bloody. Now, that means me and Fickell will get in there too. We can have some really good, bloody pool basketball games amongst our families. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of chaos. But I wouldn't trade it for the world."