Marcus Freeman Says Notre Dame Job Wasn’t Easy To Leave

Marcus Freeman said he was not ready to let go of his Notre Dame job after NFL attention grew louder following the regular season. The 40-year-old coach said the job at Notre Dame and the young players he recruited pulled him back as pro teams circled.

Freeman On Josh Pate

During an appearance on Josh Pate’s College Football Show, Freeman said, "The year before there was a little bit of chatter, but you’re in the playoffs, and that’s your only focus, you know?" This year, he said, the interest "got really loud after the end of the regular season," and he took time to consider what an NFL head-coaching opening would mean.

Freeman said, "This year got really loud after the end of the regular season, and, you know, usually, I’ve never been in this position where we’re not playing in a bowl game or playing in the playoffs, and so I did — I took a minute to really say, ‘What is this opportunity of being an NFL head coach?’" He added, "I’ve never coached in the NFL."

Notre Dame And NFL Interest

The appeal went beyond curiosity. Freeman said, "I wanted to know what they look for, what they think it takes to be successful." He said he was in communication with Notre Dame’s athletic director and his family while weighing the possibility.

He also said he was upfront with players when they asked about his future. "I was always honest with our players," Freeman said. "Listen, guys, like, I’m the head coach at Notre Dame. And I can’t control what opportunities or what people are saying outside of this building."

Last Ten Wins For Notre Dame

Freeman said the Notre Dame job still carried too much weight to walk away from. "But for me, it was the opportunity to be the head coach of this university was one that I wasn’t ready to let go," he said. "I love this place. I love, more importantly, the people here, the opportunity to coach these young men, many of them you’ve recruited for multiple years."

He tied that loyalty to a larger point about how success at Notre Dame spreads beyond one person. "With team success comes individual opportunities," Freeman said, adding that if Notre Dame had not won its last ten games, then his name would not have been floating around. He used Jeremiyah Love as the example, saying, "There’s a strong feeling if we didn’t win those last ten, then he wouldn’t have been up for the Heisman, right?"

That leaves Freeman at Notre Dame for now, after a stretch in which ten of 32 NFL head-coaching jobs were open and his name drew notice. He said the attention gave him knowledge about what pro teams value, but the pull of Notre Dame and the players he recruited was stronger this time.