Notre Dame football not seen as Top-5 job in the sports world

While Marcus Freeman is on the verge of making Notre Dame football history, it’s worth pointing out that not everyone sees the Fighting Irish as one of the top jobs in the country. There are a number of factors for that, but it’s important to keep that in mind while we talk about how he is doing in his third season in the role.

The program is one of the most well-known in the country. Because of that, people automatically assume that Freeman has one of the most sought-after in the college football world.

However, The Athletic polled 50 people working in the sport, including head coaches, assistant coaches, analysts and recruiters in order to find the Top-5 jobs in college. Notre Dame football did not make the list. 

In order to determine who did, the publication used the following criteria:

First-place votes were worth five points and second-place votes were worth four, and on down the line. There were a few teams tied for fifth place, in that case, 1 extra point was added on.

Notre Dame football doesn’t make top jobs list

So who are considered the top jobs in college football? Unsurprisingly its Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Alabama and LSU.

What is perhaps surprising is that Notre Dame was ranked 12th with just six points — meaning the school only managed six votes for 5th place.

The Athletic doesn’t lay out why the teams that didn’t make the list, don’t make the list, though it’s not hard to assume that the school’s tougher academic standards play a part. The five programs at the top of the list have also been national title contenders more recently than the Fighting Irish.

The top five teams also have strong NIL and vast recruiting bases from their home states, and all are national brands. While Notre Dame football is fighting it be better in the NIL sector, there’s no doubt that there’s still some struggles compared to some of the other programs in college football.