COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The father of a man in critical condition following an assault outside a Columbus bar said he has not left his son’s hospital room all week.

The family of the victim, Greg Coleman Jr., 37, said he is now in the intensive care unit at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center fighting for his life.

His father, Gregory Coleman Sr., said they have not left his side since the Sept. 5 attack.

“We are doing horrible,” Coleman Sr. said. “This probably is the worst thing that could ever happen to a family because it’s like he is brain dead, he is just lying there.”

Coleman said his son was a star football player in high school and college, playing at Iowa State and later Montana University. He is now a father to a 10-year-old girl and works as a bartender at the Short North Pint House where people know him as someone with high energy, not a fighter.

Coleman was reportedly a “long time” employee at the pint house — about a seven-minute walk from Julep, where the assault occurred — according to a news release from owner Chris Corso.

“But he loved working here, he loved the people here, he loved the atmosphere, he loved Ohio,” Coleman said.

Investigators have named Chrystian Foster and Dwayne Cummings as the suspects in the case and have filed attempted murder charges against both. Police said both men have been arrested for assault in the past.

The Sept. 5 incident happened on the 1000 block of North High Street at approximately 2:30 a.m. Investigators believe the men were arguing before the fight broke out, escalating to the point of assault.

Coleman Sr. said if he could tell his son anything, he would tell him how much his family loves him, although he believes his son already knows that.

“I just hope that these guys that did that to him, I just hope that they never get out of prison because that was just terrible to hit him from behind and then get on top of him and beat him to death,” he said. “That’s what they did, they beat him to death.”

Coleman’s father said the family is planning to keep him on life support for the next few weeks and pray he can pull through.