Dwight Freeman Named Men's Basketball Coach at Norfolk State

April 22, 2001

Norfolk, VA-Norfolk State University has named Dwight Freeman as its men's head basketball coach. Freeman brings a wealth of experience to the Norfolk State program having coached 18 seasons at the collegiate level, including the last seven as an assistant at the University of Miami.

NSU Photo Dwight Freeman

Freeman replaces Wil Jones, who was relieved of his coaching duties after posting a finished last season 10-18 overall and 9-9 in the conference. Jones' overall record was 34-52.

"He brings a lot of enthusiasm to the program, as well as being one of the top Division I assistants in the country," said NSU Athletics Director Orby Moss. "I'm very confident that he will he take the program where we want to go here at Norfolk State.

While at Miami, Freeman helped lead the Hurricanes to its most successful period in school-history registering a 135-75 (.643) record. Miami recording seven straight winning seasons and six consecutive post-season appearances, including NCAA Tournament berths in four of the last five seasons.

"I would like to thank President Marie McDemmond, Mr. Moss, and the administration here at Norfolk State for giving me the opportunity to become a head coach again," said Freeman. "This is great because it allows my family and I to be closer to my parents who reside in Washington, DC. We will win here at Norfolk State and I'm very confident that the students, faculty, and alumni will be pleased with the product we put on the floor."

Known as an outstanding recruiter Freeman's 1996-recruiting class was ranked as high as seventh nationally while the 1999 class was rated as high as 26th nationally. The 2000 class, which included McDonald's All-American Darius Rice, ranked among the top-10 classes nationally.

In addition to 14 seasons as an assistant, Freeman served as the head coach at Marshall University from 1990-94 where his teams recorded a 46-65 overall record. Freeman was Marshall's youngest head coach and the youngest head coach in the Southern Conference when he was appointed to the position at the age of 31.

Freeman began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Moberly Junior College in Missouri during the 1983-84 season. He followed that with stints at Hutchinson Junior College in Kansas (1984-85), Delaware State University (1985-88), and Colgate University (1988-89). He served for one year as an assistant to Dana Altman at Marshall (1989-90) before replacing him as head coach when Altman left to take the head-coaching job at Kansas State. Prior to joining the Miami staff, Freeman served one season as an assistant to Lefty Driesell at James Madison (1994-95).

He received his bachelor's degree in marketing and management from Western State College in 1982. Freeman and his wife, Angela, have a 13-year old son, Darrian, and an 11-year old daughter, Morgan.

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