On the Coach and Coordinator podcast is the Home Team series with guest host Joel Nellis. Today’s guest on Home Team is Danny Freund, wide receivers coach at the University of North Dakota. Freund is in his eighth season on the coaching staff and fifth coaching the wide receivers. Previously at UND, Freund coached the quarterbacks in 2013 and running backs from 2011-12. Freund helped UND in 2016 to a Big Sky Championship and their first FCS playoff berth.

Before coaching at UND, Freund was the quarterbacks coach at NCAA Division III school Carthage College (Wisconsin). He led their quarterback, Evan Jones, to be all-conference and offensive player of the year. Previously, Freund coached at his high school alma mater, Kenosha St. Joseph High School (Wisconsin), as quarterbacks coach under his father. Freund was a two-year starter at UND and graduated in 2008. His career passing yards and touchdowns numbers rank third on the all-time at UND.

On today’s podcast, Freund and host Nellis talk about the lessons he learned from his father being a coach and applying those to being a great husband and father himself while coaching.

Show Notes

2:41 Stars of his home team: how he met his wife

3:36 The passions and interests of his wife

6:10 Character traits that make his wife invaluable

7:09 Introducing his kids and their interests

8:51 Working with his wife in starting a coaching career

11:27 Figuring out next steps during a change in the coaching staff

12:52 Carving out time during the season to spend with his wife

14:23 Integrating children in the football program

16:18 Being efficient with the time at the office

17:46 Overcoming struggles in life with coaching

19:08 How his children give him perspective in life

20:17 Learning from his dad on how to balance coaching and parenting

21:57 What advice from his dad in how to start coaching

26:04 His players seeing the commitment he has for his family

28:18 Legacy he is striding for in coaching for his family