Marcus Freeman addresses NFL speculation head-on, reframing it as a testament to team success and a tool for personal growth.
This has been a jammed pack offseason so far for Notre Dame and at the center of it, head coach Marcus Freeman. The Ohio native is gearing up for his 5th season in South Bend but there was some question surrounding his future with the Irish over the last couple of weeks.
Freeman has drawn a lot of attention from NFL teams, and it's understandable. He's gone 43-11 since 2022 including a 24-4 record the last two seasons. In 2024, he led Notre Dame to it's first National Championship game appearance since 2012 and ended a 30-year major bowl win drought along the way. This past season, Notre Dame went 10-2 and won 10 straight by double digits. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make the playoffs.
Do to his performance the last couple of seasons and the success Notre Dame has had as a program, Freeman has garnished interest from several NFL teams. As unsettling as this is to many Notre Dame fans, the head coach had s slightly different perspective on it.
"Individual recognition, individual success, NFL interests, those are all reflections of team success," Freeman stated. "I've used some of the interest from the NFL to personally gain wisdom. I utilize these opportunities through conversations to gain knowledge myself to be the best head coach I can be of the Notre Dame football program. Again, that's where my mindset is. I know the noise that's in my head and where my focus is."
We've seen in previous years Freeman look outside of the program to seek wisdom to find ways of becoming a better head coach. The picture gets painted slightly different when it's an NFL organization. There's risk involved, and in this day and age of media, anyone can spin and run with any kind of story.
"I'm always open and honest with our administration, our recruits and our current players," Freeman explained. "It's important they hear from me and not what's in the media or on social media. It's not just gaining knowledge from NFL executives. I've gained knowledge from coaches around here; I'm always looking for ways to improve."
If Notre Dame has the success we think they're going to have in 2026 and beyond, this may end up being an annual thing. In some ways, that's a positive but in other ways, knowing every offseason the beloved head coach may leave is daunting. However, as things stand today, Freeman understands the task at hand.
"The only statement I put out was, 'Let's run it back' and I was intentional about that," Freeman said. "I don't need to come out with a statement every time one of these job openings happens. I always say the future is uncertain. What I tell our players is what I tell myself. It's the reality of life. Everything I want and everything that I need personally can be achieved right here as the head coach of this program."
"I hope this is something we have to address every year," Freeman continued. "I really do because it means we're having a lot of success right here at Notre Dame. If this isn't something we'd have to address, then there's bigger issues."
Ideally, Freeman is the head coach at Notre Dame for a long time. Will that happen? I don't have those answers. What I do know, is that he's the head coach for the 2026 team which has an exceptionally high ceiling. If focus and emphasis is put on the right things this offseason, this could be a season we're talking about for quite some time.
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