Notre Dame football: 3 candidates to replace Clark Lea

Notre Dame football: 3 candidates to replace Clark Lea

Marcus Freeman, DC, Cincinnati

Could Brian Kelly tap into his old stomping grounds at Cincinnati for his next defensive coordinator? After all, current Bearcats defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman has been on the shortlist to become a Power-5 defensive coordinator, or even head coach, for a few seasons now.

Freeman’s background is primarily with the linebacker position, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting together the best secondary in the Group of 5, and arguably one of the best in all of college football. They’ve done so on the back of recruiting at a higher rate than other G5 teams and locking down opponents in man coverage.

The experience that Freeman brings is going to be incredibly important for whichever team he is on the staff for next season. He knows how to recruit Ohio and Kentucky well, which is one of those key pipelines for Notre Dame to get its talent from. He even has experience as a P5 coordinator in the state of Indiana, as he was the co-defensive coordinator at Purdue in 2016.

The only concern with Freeman is that he’s such a fast-rising candidate among coaching ranks that he’d be getting a head coaching offer soon, and it would leave the Irish looking for another new coordinator.