Notre Dame football needs to promote Marcus Freeman to head coach

Sep 18, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman leaves the field after Notre Dame defeated the Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman leaves the field after Notre Dame defeated the Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Notre Dame football team is reportedly losing head coach Brian Kelly, and they need to make Marcus Freeman his successor immediately.

In an incredible turn of events for this Notre Dame football program, it is being reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports that Brian Kelly is going to take the head coaching job at LSU.

In the last few years, Brian Kelly has unlocked the key to success at Notre Dame football. In that time, he’s found a way to recruit better than anyone since Lou Holtz at Notre Dame. He’s also made brilliant hires at his position coaches.

This move threatens to reset the level of success at Notre Dame for years to come unless Jack Swarbrick nails this next hire.

That’s why it’s important not to overthink this hire. Promote Marcus Freeman to head coach of the University of Notre Dame. Pay him anything. It’s that simple.

Notre Dame football must make Marcus Freeman head coach

The first reason why you should do this if your the Notre Dame administration is for recruiting. It’s incredibly difficult to recruit to Notre Dame in the first place. You need an accomplished and skilled recruiter at Notre Dame to bring in the upper level talent and the depth of talent to win a College Football Playoff Game.

Freeman has that ability, and he’s proven it in the past year.

If you were paying any attention to the Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma for USC, you likely saw a rash of de-commitments. That’s going to happen again to Notre Dame, which has a top-class for 2022. Making Freeman the head coach at Notre Dame can negate that and keep the top defensive talent, at least.

On top of that, Freeman is a defensive mastermind. Just over the course of this season it’s been clear to see how the Irish defense has embraced Freeman and is playing freely within it. This is a team that has the potential to be the best defensive team in all of college football in the coming seasons. You can’t let that slip away.

Make no mistake, there is no retaining Marcus Freeman as the defensive coordinator. He either goes with Kelly to LSU or he gets a head coaching job somewhere. He’s going to take tons of talent and his football genius with him. Don’t let that happen. Notre Dame needs to promote Freeman and make sure that they’re going to handle this transition as gracefully as possible.