Headlining the Dodd Watch List, Marcus Freeman could join elite company in 2025

Marcus Freeman has the chance to do something only two other college football coaches have ever done.
Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman is recognized during a NCAA women's basketball game between No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 25 Louisville for receiving the 2024 Paul ÒBearÓ Bryant Coach of the Year Award at Purcell Pavilion on Sunday, March 2, 2025, in South Bend.
Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman is recognized during a NCAA women's basketball game between No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 25 Louisville for receiving the 2024 Paul ÒBearÓ Bryant Coach of the Year Award at Purcell Pavilion on Sunday, March 2, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman had quite the 2024 season. His team made it into the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, was in the National Championship, and he won the Dodd Trophy, which is given to the best coach in college football. While his team wasn't able to finish the job adn win it all, Freeman certainly still had a very successful season with the Fighting Irish.

Now it is almost time for the 2025 football season, and with preseason watch lists coming out, Freeman finds himself on a few. The biggest one he finds himself on is the Dodd Trophy watch list, the award he won last season. With Freeman on the list, it opens the door for something to happen that has never happened before.

Only twice has a head coach won the award twice, and it has never won in consecutive seasons. The only head coaches to ever win the award twice in their careers were Joe Paterno with Penn State and Bill Snyder with Kansas State. If Freeman were to win the award this season, he would be the first to win twice since those coaches and the first to win it in back-to-back seasons.

What is the Dodd Trophy?

The Dodd Trophy is known as the Coach of the Year award, which is given to the best head coach in college football each season. The award was established in 1976 to honor the best head coach that season who brought success to their program as well as success in the classroom.

The award is named after Boddy Dodd, who was a coach at Georgia Tech for 22 seasons and brought both program excellence on the field and in the classroom. The award is not given at a gala or a big outside presentation, but is instead presented to the winning coach on their own college campus, which is different from many other college coach awards.