Ever since Marcus Freeman took over as the head coach at Notre Dame after the departure of Brian Kelly, the program has taken a step forward each season. Freeman has a 33-10 record to start his head coaching career and he managed to help lead the Fighting Irish to the National championship game last year where they took on an unbelievably talented Ohio State team.
He was named the Bryant Coach of the Year for this past season and with a lot of key returners this coming season, Freeman is ready to take the next step forward with this program. In three full seasons as the head coach, he has shown in a short amount of time how great his impact has been, even with Brian Kelly stepping away from the team to join LSU.
Marcus Freeman’s hire is being overlooked due to Brian Kelly
Shehan Jeyarajah from CBS Sports recently listed the top 25 coaching hires within this century and despite Freeman’s major success in such a short amount of time, Notre Dame’s only mention on this list was the hiring of Brian Kelly back in 2010 (No. 19 on Jeyarajah’s list).
"It took only three years to reach the BCS National Championship Game. Kelly led the Irish to multiple playoff appearances and three AP top five finishes. He passed Knute Rockne in all-time wins, and also brought Marcus Freeman onto his staff." said Jeyarajah. While Kelly had a lot of success with the Irish, Freeman is off to a better start than Kelly was.
Kelly never had more than 12 regular season wins as Notre Dame’s head coach. Freeman is coming off a 14 win season and beating teams like Indiana, Georgia, and Penn State in the playoffs. I get it, Freeman has only been the head coach for three full seasons and it might take some time. However, we can’t deny the fact that Freeman is off to a better start with this program than Kelly was.
The Irish are loaded up for another championship run in 2025 and if they can get the quarterback position right, this team could reach new heights and be even better than last year’s. If that does indeed come true, there’s no way Freeman’s impact will be ignored then.