Marianna Freeman 1957–

Basketball coach

As a former assistant coach with the University of Iowa women’s basketball program, Marianna Freeman has contributed to and enjoyed the rewards of many successful, high-profile seasons. As head coach of the women’s basketball program at Syracuse University, Freeman has also seen the other side of the coin, experiencing the frustration of trying to get her players to coalesce as a team. However, she knows the value of hard work and perseverance, and possesses a neversay-die attitude. It is these qualities that Freeman has brought to both coaching positions, qualities which also support her in her role as president of the Black Coaches Association.

Adopted by Her Grandmother

Freeman was born July 30, 1957 in Wilmington, Dela-ware. One of several children born to Annie Blue and her husband, Freeman and two of her sisters, Maryetta and Barbara, were adopted by their maternal grand mother, Marion Leona Freeman. They grew up in the little town of Smyrna, Delaware, only a block away from their mother and four other siblings. Freeman’s great-grandmother, Minnie P. Lucas, also lived with the family until her death when Marianna was eight. Her parents divorced in the next year or so, and her father died five years later. Freeman was a bright child who learned to read at the age of four, and she taught a Sunday school class when she was 12 years-old.

Freeman was especially close to her grandmother and absorbed her lessons well. Marion was strict, yet evenhanded with both praise and punishment. Freeman and her sisters regularly attended services at the African Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as youth meetings and Sunday school. In addition to placing great importance on the value of education, Freeman’s grandmother also stressed the importance of civic duty and community service. During elections, she and her children provided transportation to the polls for disadvantaged church members.

Freeman’s grandmother also demonstrated an indomitable spirit that had a lasting impression on her children. Although plagued by poor health in her later years, she provided a living example of one of her prime directives: never quit anything you start. Jeanne Albanese noted in

At a Glance…

Born July 30, 1957 in Wilmington, DE; daughter of Marion L. Freeman. Education: Cheyney State University, 8$, 1979; Slippery Rock University, MS.

Career: Women’s college basketball coach. Head coach, Delaware State College, 1981-83; assistant coach, University of Iowa, 1983-93; head coach, Syracuse University, 1993-; assistant coach, United States Junior National Basketball Team, World Championships, 1998.

Members Black Coaches Association, board of directors, 1987-; president 1998-; chair, Women’s NCAA Basketball Rules Commrttee; Women’s Basketball Coaches Association; National Council of Negro Women.

Selected awards; Numerous athletic and academic awards while an undergraduate at Cheyney State University; Cheyney State University Hall of Fame, 1993; Spirit of American Women Award, Girls Inc. of Central New York.

Addresses: Home—Cicero, New York; Office—Syracuse University, Comstock Avev Manley Field House, Syracuse, NY, 13244.

a 1998 article for Syracuse Online, “Arthritis forced the replacement of both hips with metal plates. Complications kept her bedridden for a year and left her on crutches… for the rest of her life…. For the next 12 years she fought bad hips and legs, two heart attacks and cancer. Until her death at age 77, none of it stopped her.” This example has spurred Freeman to persevere when others might have given up. “She’s my inspiration,” she said to Albanese, referring her grandmother. “There’s not much that can get me down.”

In high school, Freeman was active in student government and also established the school’s first African American drill team. She was also an excellent basket-ball player, and became an All-American during her senior year. Freeman was recruited by then-coach C. Vivian Stringer to play at Cheyney State University, near Philadelphia. Her natural leadership skills were apparent throughout her college career, and she led Cheyney State to an undefeated season in 1979. Following graduation, Freeman pursued a masters degree at Slippery Rock University.

Became a Basketball Coach

Freeman began her coaching career in 1981, when she was hired as head coach of the women’s basketball program at Delaware State College in Dover. In 1983, she was offered the top assistant coaching slot at the University of Iowa. This offer was made by her former coach at Cheyney State, Vivian Stringer. Freeman welcomed the opportunity to work with her old mentor, and she quickly accepted the position.

In the ten years that Freeman served as Stringer’s assistant coach, she established a solid reputation as one of the top female assistant coaches in the country. She was very good at relating to the players, and inspired them to work harder. Freeman also helped to recruit some of Iowa’s best women’s basketball players. In 1993, the Iowa women’s basketball team advanced to the NCAA Final Four. However, they lost in the semifinals. Following Iowa’s trip to the Final Four, Freeman accepted an offer for the women’s head coaching position at Syracuse University in New York. She be-came only the third women’s head coach in the history of the Syracuse program.

Freeman has failed to find success at Syracuse. During the past several seasons, her team has performed inconsistently. According to Albanese, “Freeman has lost more games in five seasons at SU than in a decade at the University of Iowa.” Losing has been a profoundly frustrating experience for Freeman, and it has prompted her to reassess the women’s basketball program at Syracuse. However, while she may reassess, revise, or even make some major changes, Freeman will not quit on the Syracuse program. She is, Albanese wrote, “firm in her resolve to finish what she started at SU, no matter what it takes, in the next ten years. She says she doesn’t see herself coaching past [age] 50 because by then, she’ll be too far removed from this generation of athletes.” In addition to her work with the Syracuse women’s basketball program, Freeman was an assistant coach for the U.S. Junior National Basketball Team, which won the gold medal at the World Championships in 1998.

In 1987, Freeman joined the Black Coaches Association (BCA) and has served on its board of directors. The BCA’s mandate, according to its Directors Message “is to create a positive, enlightened environment of common ground where issues can be examined closely, debated sincerely and resolved honestly.” Dedicated to resolving institutional barriers that block equal access to educational and employment opportunities for minorities at every level of intercollegiate athletics, the BCA’s high point was the 1993-94 season. At that time, according to Sports Illustrated, the BCA called for boycotts to protest “an NCAA vote against restoring one of two men’s basketball scholarships eliminated in 1991” as well as asking the NCAA “to add minorities to its staff and to reconsider the academic restrictions of Propositions 42 and 48, which the association saw as discriminatory toward black athletes.” The momentum generated by these issues began to decline in 1994, and some of the association’s legislative committee members distanced themselves from the organization. Freeman replaced Rudy Washington as president of the Black Coaches Association in December of 1998. Although she refused initially to comment on the change of leadership, Mike Waters wrote in a 1999 article appearing in Syracuse Online that “Freeman said her aim was to re-energize the BCA and re-recruit the big-name coaches who had grown disenchanted with the organization.”

Freeman was named to the Cheyney State Hall of Fame in 1993, and was chosen by Girls Inc. of Central New York as one of its Spirit of American Women Award winners. The award acknowledged Freeman’s efforts to nurture and encourage the development of young girls. “My gold medal is special, having gone to a Final Four is special, but nothing beats being given an award for appreciation of giving something back,” Freeman told Albanese. “It means more to me than any other award I’ve ever gotten because it was for the very thing that I try to stand for.”

Sources

Books

Who’s Who Among African Americans, 12th Edition, Edited by Shirelle Phelps. Detroit: Gale, 1999.

Periodicals

Sports Illustrated, January 11, 1999, p.60.

Other

Additional information for this profile was obtained from Syracuse Online at www.Syracuse.com/features/discover/stars/files/freeman.html:HTTP1.1; the Black Coaches Association Home Page, 1999 at www.bcaorg.com99; and at www.Syracuse.com/sports/stwednesday/19990818_sfreema.html.

—Ellen Dennis French