It all comes down to the choice he made and will make at OC. With an experienced, quality OC, SO MANY of Freeman's warts could have been covered up. He needed a Golden on offense, pure and simple. Instead, for whatever reason, he went down the hall and elevated a guy who couldn't cut it at West Virginia and (literally) not another P5 school wanted as OC. That's not a recipe for success. We can blame Freeman, Jack, admin, etc. Doesn't matter - what's done is done. But it needs to be corrected.
Brian Kelly was at ND for so long that everyone forgot about the Charlie Weis experiment. Simply can't learn on the job at ND
This is where I'm at. I think Freeman can be an amazing CEO/Leader of ND's program but he absolutely needs a STUD OC and DC, I 100% believe/know this.
You're not wrong, but a young Caleb Williams (or any stud QB) and a decent OC.....could definitely have this program capable of going 25-1 over 2 years. It just seems that the stars never align, even when they seem so close.
Ya, I'm agreeing but don't see why we can't be on the same page as UGA, OSU and Bama. I've lived un Atlanta for 20 years....I'm very familiar with UGA pre-Kirby.
IMO, this is more an indictment on the school than the program or any individual coach. ND systematically limits its own ability to be successful. Even though the football program is the reason anyone even knows the school exists (sorry, don't mean to trigger the academics, but it's true). God forbid the tail wag the dog. It's infuriating. ND can have both a successful, dominant football program AND be an elite academic institution. It's not a zero-sum game. So enough with the self-flagellation ffs...
Kinda agree other than Georgia took a HUGE step forward in Kirby's second year. That's clearly not the case with Freeman in his second year.
Kirby wasn't hamstrung by his OC. We'd be saying Freeman took a huge step this season if not for Parker.
Jim Chaney is probably available lol
Understood, but one recruit (pref a QB) here....and one OC there....and we have a 3 year run like UGA. I just don't feel ND is that far off....But maybe it's like thinking all your kids are adorable when nobody else does...haha
The schedule the next 2 years most likely will not be as challenging as this year or last.
Clemson model and even the Patriots model. Good QB's and good coordinators should be a no brainer. My biggest gripe, and I've said this on this board for a decade. I'll NEVER understand why the University of Notre Dame can't land one of the top 5 HS QB's every single year without fail. My buddies seem to think that these HS kids don't look at ND like us old heads do. This isn't the 40's, everyone is on TV, haven't won in 30+ years...blah blah blah and all good points. But it's still a MASSIVE platform for a HS QB, and ND has been winning a lot lately. Why we always end up with BUMS (no offense to Book and others that have produced) just baffles me. You land "Trevor Lawrence" you land stud WR/RB/TE. Let's forget NIL for a minute as that's obviously messed up things for players like Dante Moore. But for years before that, I never could understand how this could be the case.
Bingo, if he surrounded himself with the best of the best....He could literally just recruit and they'd dominate.
Do I need to remind everyone that he was nearly speechless when asked about his offensive philosophy at his introductory press conference.
No, never during the bye week. Next monday for Wake he'll have one.