Bradley's Keith Freeman says filling in OK while coach Damon Floyd suspended

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland - Bradley Central football coach Damon Floyd talks to players during a football scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tenn.
Staff Photo by Doug Strickland - Bradley Central football coach Damon Floyd talks to players during a football scrimmage Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, at Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tenn.

Keith Freeman is on ground he never intended to walk.

With the TSSAA's controversial two-game suspension of football coach Damon Floyd - one that flamed the Bradley Central/Cleveland rivalry - Freeman was thrust into the position of the Bears' head coach last week and tonight.

"It's hard on him," Freeman said of Floyd, with whom he has coached for the last decade. "It's 20 percent of the season - stiff punishment, especially when he didn't know he was doing something wrong when he contacted a kid that already had been up here lifting."

Freeman has contended for years that he never wanted to be a head coach and didn't need the title or the responsibilities to stroke his ego or to meet his definition of success.

"I've known for a long time that I didn't want to be a head coach. I've been with a lot of programs and understand the pressures and things you have to do that go with being a head coach," he said. "I don't have an ego, and look at the turnover every year. It's hard when you're also trying to be a teacher, a husband and a father."

There are any number who wind up as head coaches simply because they were asked. It was that way to some extent for Floyd, a Bradley Central alumnus who got the job when the program was coming off a 1-10 season and looking for someone to reinvigorate the program.

"If you ask him he'd probably tell you he didn't know any better," Freeman said with a laugh.

Nevertheless, Freeman was the man in charge last Friday as the Bears dispatched county rival Walker Valley, and he'll be the man again tonight when Bradley travels to McMinn County.

"it's not just me," he said. "Coach (Cortney) Braswell's in charge of the defense, and I can think of at least two really good defensive stops. It was definitely a team effort and a testament to what Damon has established."

Floyd had intended to make a brief speech after the team's pregame meal last Friday. He didn't because he couldn't swallow the emotions that rolled through him.

"We spend a lot of time talking about being a family and being together. It's the first time in 10 years I hadn't been with them," Floyd said. "I rode the bus with them and said a few words before the bus went through (Walker Valley's) gate, where my wife picked me up."

He went to the home of Bradley baseball coach Travis Adams and listened to the game on the radio.

"I think it made me realize that I'm doing what I'm supposed be doing in life. On Friday nights you realize you're blessed to do what you do," Floyd said. "I never had any doubt that our staff would be able to handle it. Each (coach) has his role, and it was well-defined going into the game."

As Freeman said, though, that's just part of Floyd being himself.

"Our coaches - some of them on the faculty and some that are part of the community - and Damon is really good at plugging them in," the acting head coach said. "We all have roles as assistant coaches, and Damon does a great job of putting people where they need to be."

Even in the preseason in the Bears' two scrimmages, Floyd took a step back and let his coaches run the show in preparation for these first two games.

"I can't say I was quiet the whole time ,but I tried," Floyd recalled.

Freeman can't wait for Saturday morning.

"I'll be glad when this week is over and Damon can get back out there," he said.

Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.

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