Marcus Freeman named Dick Corbett Head Football Coach

[Kingbish01]

Excited he is still coaching ND. I'm withholding making an opinion until the details come out, but the reporting so far leads me to believe this will be a thing after every season.



Are we really going to pretend BK in 2012 and MF in 2025 are the same, at all? I don't think they are even comparable. Just start with their relationships with the school, completely different.

Now I'm ready for the downvotes....Call me crazy, but I always felt like BK would be a better NFL coach than a college coach.

 

[KPENN]

Has Fortuna ever been even remotely positive about ND? I don't need the beat to be rah-rah cheerleaders, but my God what an absolute hair puller of a twat. It's not the fanbase's fault that he was put on the ND beat 20 years ago at ESPN and he got some emails from people calling him a moron who didn't know anything about ND when he wrote articles with glaring mistakes in them. Yet after being tossed out with the rest of the expendable staff at ESPN years ago because he didn't provide any meaningful value, here's Matty years later still getting a check off half-baked ND content.

Being critical is fine. Being a hair puller like Fortuna and some of the people on here (we all know who) is entirely different. If you hate this team and th fans so much, do something else with your time.

Remember in 2022 when he said it would be a while till ND beat USC again, when in fact it will be USC who won’t be ND for a while

 

[NDPhilly]

Now I'm ready for the downvotes....Call me crazy, but I always felt like BK would be a better NFL coach than a college coach.

If my Eagles had an opening and I had to pick between 2012 BK and 2025 MF, i'd pretty easily pick BK. I just don't think MF is near ready to for a NFL HC job and his skillset is a perfect fit for college at the moment.

 

[Kingbish01]

If my Eagles had an opening and I had to pick between 2012 BK and 2025 MF, i'd pretty easily pick BK. I just don't think MF is near ready to for a NFL HC job and his skillset is a perfect fit for college at the moment.

SAME.EXACT.PAGE

 

[sfk324]

Now I'm ready for the downvotes....Call me crazy, but I always felt like BK would be a better NFL coach than a college coach.

The NFL disagreed. His agent tried to get him in the door there starting in 2012 and nobody bit.

 

[rtrn2glory]

I used to think it was easier to be a family man in college then the NFL.. Now I'm not so sure that is has flipped with the way college football has become. However it is nice to that there's less recruiting traveling for these guys compared to the previous decades.. That may make it more like NFL then anything else

 

[Kingbish01]

The NFL disagreed. His agent tried to get him in the door there starting in 2012 and nobody bit.

We will never know, he sure did turn out to be a pretty blah college coach.

 

[IrishLax]

Why in the world would we want a 26-35 coach? I mean, I like Clark Lea....But dude has done NOTHING without Pavia. If ND hired him, I'd call it the worst hire ever.

I mean he was a better DC at Notre Dame than Marcus was. So ignoring his HC credentials, he would be more "qualified" than Marcus was when he got the job. And then he just took Vanderbilt to their best season in decades?

 

[sfk324]

We will never know, he sure did turn out to be a pretty blah college coach.

He was a blah coach in general. His peak was D2. He never had a clue how to coach great to elite caliber players, and frankly, I am of the opinion those caliber of players are able to sniff out bullshitters, and they never bought in on him because he's so obviously a bullshitter.

 

[irish2104]

I will never listed to Fortuna and Sampson.. both were rooting for Miami basically and are total clowns.. the love the ND hate

 

[Bane]

WTF.

That sounds like instead of being pleasantly surprised they were wrong, they are digging their high heels in, and being snotty they were wrong.


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Wow, I can’t believe anyone on the ND beat would be like that…

 

[Dale]

Vanderbilt’s 2026 schedule is rather easy by SEC standards. If Lea is a serious head ball coach and not just a flash in a pan success with Pavia, they would need to win 9 games for be to be impressed enough to hire Lea

2026 Vanderbilt Football Schedule | FBSchedules.com

View the 2026 Vanderbilt Football Schedule at FBSchedules.com. The Commodores football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and TV.

fbschedules.com

IMO put a pin in this and I say they win 7 as it stands today. No idea what their QB plan is yet.

 

[Kingbish01]

I mean he was a better DC at Notre Dame than Marcus was. So ignoring his HC credentials, he would be more "qualified" than Marcus was when he got the job. And then he just took Vanderbilt to their best season in decades?

You're not wrong, I just feel his success is more on Pavia than him. I'm almost thinking that ND is too big for him at this point, after Freeman you can't take a gamble as the train is rolling down the tracks. Love what he's done at Vandy, but would be almost in tears if he was named the next head coach after Freeman. LOL

 

[Dale]

I mean he was a better DC at Notre Dame than Marcus was. So ignoring his HC credentials, he would be more "qualified" than Marcus was when he got the job. And then he just took Vanderbilt to their best season in decades?

Neither Lea or Freeman call the defense anymore so I’m not sure how that fact really matters?

 

[Kingbish01]

He was a blah coach in general. His peak was D2. He never had a clue how to coach great to elite caliber players, and frankly, I am of the opinion those caliber of players are able to sniff out bullshitters, and they never bought in on him because he's so obviously a bullshitter.

I couldn't agree with what you typed more. I just think his lack of connection to the kids and his attempt to run a program like the CEO of Apple bodes well for a NFL HC.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Vanderbilt’s 2026 schedule is rather easy by SEC standards. If Lea is a serious head ball coach and not just a flash in a pan success with Pavia, they would need to win 9 games for be to be impressed enough to hire Lea

2026 Vanderbilt Football Schedule | FBSchedules.com

View the 2026 Vanderbilt Football Schedule at FBSchedules.com. The Commodores football schedule includes opponents, date, time, and TV.

fbschedules.com

IMO put a pin in this and I say they win 7 as it stands today. No idea what their QB plan is yet.

They signed the #1 overall recruit who is a QB.

No bearing on next season, but it’s kind of a big deal. I’d be curious to see if Vandy has ever had a 5 star sign before.


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[Dale]

They signed the #1 overall recruit who is a QB.

No bearing on next season, but it’s kind of a big deal. I’d be curious to see if Vandy has ever had a 5 star sign before.


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List of some other HCs who have signed 5 star QBs in the NIL era:

Matt Rhule, Billy Napier, Willie Fritz, Sherrone Moore, Chip Kelly

 

[pumpdog20]

I really believe there is some truth to them hating MF because he has made their job impossible / has made them looks like fools repeatedly. No other beat in the country tries to take a supposedly "neutral" stance like they do.

I hate this... II and BGI really want us to know about their journalistic integrity. Motherfuckers, I don't care about that. People pay you for inside info on the team based on your company name. Of course we want the Irish slant. ND needs its media to have it's back, especially in this ever increasingly hostile environment from the national media. Doesn't mean they aren't allowed to have opinions if things go bad. But you better not be siding with the enemy when they are clearly wrong.

Miami should be ranked above us? Feel free to get bent. Love wasn't your heisman pick (outside of O'Malley)? Why the fuck not??? ND has some blame in losing the USC game? Go play in traffic.

Prister, Sampson, all of BGI can shove their neutrality up their asses.

 

[Kingbish01]

They signed the #1 overall recruit who is a QB.

No bearing on next season, but it’s kind of a big deal. I’d be curious to see if Vandy has ever had a 5 star sign before.


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Quick google says their 2 highest recruits ever are the '26 QB and the LB in next years class.

 

[irishfan]

Fortuna 3 minutes into their live show says well he could still leave anyways

These beat guys absolutely hate Notre Dame

What the hell did we do to deserve Fortuna? He sucks at his job, he doesn’t like ND / the fan base, and the feeling is mutual there.

 

[bumpdaddy]

Sure. The message was just kind of weird from Freeman in my opinion. You have a six year contract but you say “run it back?” That just seems more fitting of a player who is coming back for their senior year.

Also, beat writers have been commenting pretty regularly that Freeman has real NFL interest. Omalley went so far as to say that a group of people in the know were out to dinner. Someone proposed a bet if freeman would be at ND after 2027 (so two more years). no one would take the bet.

I love Freeman and the type of coach he is. Realistically I don’t think he is here much longer

This is close to what O'Malley said, but not quite. There were 10 people at the dinner. He said 1 guy at the table said MF would be here for another decade. 3 people said he would be gone after next year. O'Malley took the position that MF would be here for 2027, and then there was a bet about whether or not MF would be here after 2027. No one took the bet.

So, out of 10 people "in the know," you had:

MF will be here 10+ yrs - 1
MF will be here at least through 2027 - 1
MF will be gone after 2026 - 3
Don't have any clue about how long MF will be here - 5

These people may be "in the know," but when you break it down, it's pretty clear they were all guessing, and none of them actually knows what MF's plans are over the next few years.

 

[jprue24]

I used to think it was easier to be a family man in college then the NFL.. Now I'm not so sure that is has flipped with the way college football has become. However it is nice to that there's less recruiting traveling for these guys compared to the previous decades.. That may make it more like NFL then anything else

Without clear evidence, "family man" isn't a phrase that should ever be applied to a high level football coach. What do these guys work? 70? 80 hours a week?

I think it's perfectly okay that they aren't a "family man".

 

[Rudy89]

I hear you & I’m with you, but it did really seem like if he would’ve taken an nfl job we would’ve been caught with our pants down trying to find a new coach for next year. Alls well that ends well but if freeman ever decides to move on we will need a home run hire so we don’t regress too further down with a coaching change. Still hopefully this means revenge tour 2026 is in our future.

 

[ColinKSU]

Fortuna 3 minutes into their live show says well he could still leave anyways

These beat guys absolutely hate Notre Dame

Can you imagine how insufferable they'll be if Marcus stays, but the program starts sliding?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Why are you getting so angry. I want him to stay more than anyone, but I’m just being realistic. He is gonna make the jump eventually. Probably after a title

I'm not angry. I'm a level of annoyed and confused that isn't typical of a popular coach announcing a contract extension, I will give you that.

Here's me typing nicely, with sugar on top: can you or anyone else confirm that Marcus Freeman had a formal interview with the Giants, Titans or any other NFL team? Entertaining a conversation means willing to talk. It doesn't mean talking, and it certainly is not a formal interview.

He announced a contract extension and you're being "realistic" talking about he's eventually going to leave for the NFL. Like the new contract doesn't matter because it's actually a good thing for us as fans and for the program overall. Yeah, it's kind of annoying, and I'm surely not alone. The initial reaction to this news is basically, "Well, it doesn't matter. He's going to the NFL and he's probably staying for one more year and even if he doesn't we have to go through this every year."

It's beyond pussy. Full stop.

They should have let him walk. Or done nothing.

I think there are people here, today, that want him to leave. Either they want to be right or it's some kind of weird sadomasochism thing with being a sports fan I don't really understand.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Typical ND off-season.....

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

It's just exhausting having a fanbase that seemingly can't even enjoy ANY good news. This was as good as this was going to get during this coaching carousel - we all know NFL flirtations aren't going anywhere, and we don't need to be reminded of that today.

Correct. And let's be honest, the current beat guys don't help with this. They're putting out a lot of bad juju into the ears of our fans. The ND beat is about as bad as the national beat now. Winning in spite of all of them is going to be satisfying.

I want to know where the conversations with the Giants and Titans started and ended. Otherwise, it's a bunch of bad douchebag frat boy media mouths talking shit without any kind of substance to back it up as far as I'm concerned Not worth a squirt of piss let alone a nickel.

 

[jprue24]

I think there are people here, today, that want him to leave. Either they want to be right or it's some kind of weird sadomasochism thing with being a sports fan I don't really understand.

I think it's expectation management to avoid being hurt if/when he does leave

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I think it's expectation management to avoid being hurt if/when he does leave

I don't know if that is more sad or dumb.

 

[sfk324]

....
I think there are people here, today, that want him to leave. Either they want to be right or it's some kind of weird sadomasochism thing with being a sports fan I don't really understand.

There are people here, and elsewhere in the fanbase, that didn't want him hired in the first place. There are people who wanted him fired after year 1. There are people who wanted him fired after Marshall. And after NIU. They have generally been smart enough not to call for him to be fired after how last season turned out, but you can tell by the subtext of posts that they're just waiting for a slip up so they can start again.

I just wish these people would find another team to cheer for, because they aren't ND fans. Unfortunately, just like wishing Fortuna and Sampson would find another team's fanbase to grift so I didn't have to be bombarded with their garbage takes 2nd and 3rd hand, I am not holding my breath.