Notre Dame has officially found the face of their program for the near future. Today, the Irish reached a four-year extension that will keep Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman in South Bend for six more seasons.
Photo by The Irish Tribune
Earlier tonight, Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman agreed on a four-year extension that will secure Freeman in South Bend for the next six years.
Originally, Freeman was only under contract for two more seasons after inking a six-year deal when taking over for Brian Kelly at the end of the 2021 season. Since then, Marcus Freeman's growth as a head coach has been well-documented. There have been great highs in the memory of ranked wins against No. 4 Clemson in 2022 and No. 20 Texas A&M this year. Then, there were the heartbreaks of the Ohio State 2023 loss and the letdowns against Marshall and Northern Illinois. The learning curve for the first-time head coach has been steep, but it seems the Northern Illinois loss helped Freeman grow in the best possible way.
After the Week 2 defeat, Notre Dame has come out as a completely different team, which is also symbolic of the way Freeman has held himself as well. In his weekly press conferences and sound bites before kick-off, he possessed a significantly more serious tone. He appeared more determined and unconcerned with his perception in the media.
While Freeman's charisma has been key to recruiting and developing talent, his intense focus on opponents has driven the Fighting Irish's performance down the stretch.
Is it too optimistic to believe Freeman is finding his stride as a head coach? While this might be a stretch, rumors of interest from the Chicago Bears and his alma mater Ohio State suggest otherwise. Knowing this, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua took no chances in another team swooping in on his head coach.
After the NIU loss, when many Notre Dame fans were up in arms about the program's direction, I maintained faith in the young head coach, "My thing for the people that want Freeman gone: the entire program is back to ground zero. Talk to any recruits, they mention their relationship with coach Freeman as a main reason why they want to be at Notre Dame. The return of starters like Jack Kiser, Xavier Watts, Howard Cross III, and Rylie Mills is because they trust in the system established by Freeman. You lose Freeman, you lose the newfound identity of Notre Dame Football. The Irish have evolved from being a program that had mediocre talent across the board, in which SEC teams and USC were bigger, faster, and simply more athletic. Freeman's effort in rebranding ND has narrowed the talent gap; and while I can't excuse his lack of performances on the field, I don't think we can be so quick to can him because we're then at ground zero and the last three years were all for naught."
At the end of the day, I'm thrilled my emotion-filled rant was able to look like a good decision three months in the future. With the contract secured, all eyes are now on Freeman to build his legacy with a playoff victory this Friday.
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