Duke adds Rodney Freeman II as running backs coach
Duke’s rotating cast of running backs coaches means Rodney Freeman II is next up.
The football program announced Freeman, coming from East Carolina, will be the new running backs coach. He’s replacing Chris Foster, who was recently hired at Florida.
Freeman will be Duke’s fourth running backs coach in four seasons. Foster coached this past season; Willie Simmons was Duke’s running backs coach in 2024 before taking the head coaching job at FIU; and Trooper Taylor was Duke’s running backs coach previously (in 2022-23).
Freeman has been with the Pirates for the past two seasons. ECU went 17-9 in those seasons with bowl wins against ACC teams each year (against N.C. State and Pittsburgh, both in the Military Bowl).
This season, a four-man rotation combined for 1,886 yards in ECU’s backfield. Last year, his position group rolled up 2,241 yards.
By comparison, Duke’s running backs this season combined for 1,912 yards. More than half of those came from freshman Nate Sheppard (1,132 yards).
Before Freeman’s two-year stint at ECU, he spent one season at Utah State as its running backs coach. He was at Michigan State in the fall of 2022 as an offensive analyst.
Freeman has also spent time on staffs at Colorado Mesa, West Texas A&M, Abilene Christian, Missouri Southern and Western State. He’s also been on a few high school coaching staffs.
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