Marcus Freeman named Dick Corbett Head Football Coach

[Bluto]

Erickson was never that good without a huge talent advantage provided by flagrant cheating at Miami and the Fiasco Bowl year in Oregon State (85 + TJ Houshmensomething).
I was at ASU when Dennis was floundering along incapable of winning one in five games that would have gotten them to the PAC title game. Erickson was destined for mediocrity at best when the NCAA put his program on probation. So it's not like he gave up very much to try the NFL.

Side note, I did not know he was still in coaching after ASU

Dennis Erickson - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We talk about Freeman's results on the field a lot. Another topic is his mic skills. We haven't had a HC who is so good with the media post St Lou.

A quick web search proves this statement is pretty ridiculous.

He went 31-13 at his first head coaching gig at lowly Idaho. He went 63-9 at Miami. He had an 11-1 season at Oregon State where they trashed Notre Dame on their way to finishing the season ranked 4th nationally which made Oregon State nationally relevant again. In his first season at ASU he went 10-2 and he was named PAC 10 coach of the year at three different schools.

The guy was a good coach.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

A quick web search proves this statement is pretty ridiculous.

He went 31-13 at his first head coaching gig at lowly Idaho. He went 63-9 at Miami. He had an 11-1 season at Oregon State where they trashed Notre Dame on their way to finishing the season ranked 4th nationally which made Oregon State nationally relevant again. In his first season at ASU he went 10-2 and he was named PAC 10 coach of the year at three different schools.

The guy was a good coach.

Are you calling Idaho proof that Erickson was a good coach? Everyone knows what the Miami of the '80s was. Chad Johnson and TJ H were unlikely to be real college students. Any competent coach should be able to win 10 games with that talent advantage.

 

[Bluto]

Are you calling Idaho proof that Erickson was a good coach? Everyone knows what the Miami of the '80s was. Chad Johnson and TJ H were unlikely to be real college students. Any competent coach should be able to win 10 games with that talent advantage.

No.

It’s that plus all the other stuff you decided to ignore.

He also beat the number one ranked team in the nation (UCLA who finished ranked 6th) and 15th ranked team in the same season while at Washington State and number 8 ranked USC while at Oregon State and was national coach of the year while at Oregon State.

Again, the guy was a good coach.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

No.

It’s that plus all the other stuff you decided to ignore.

He also beat the number one ranked team in the nation (UCLA who finished ranked 6th) and 15th ranked team in the same season while at Washington State and number 8 ranked USC while at Oregon State and was national coach of the year while at Oregon State.

Again, the guy was a good coach.

So good at time but not great. @Jiggi was saying that Erickson was a cautionary tale for college coaches who risk something to go to the pros. Erickson flamed out in the pros the same way he did in college.

 

[Irish#1]

I keep coming back to the fact that Marcus Freeman, who turns 40 in a few weeks, has spent his entire life in the states of Ohio and Indiana. I don't know if that's just his network or if there are some deep rooted midwestern values in the guy, but the idea of him and his 43-12 National Championship less resume going to the New York Giants just seems like a bridge too far. The historical trends on this are hard to deny.

NFL culture is very different. I know times have changed in the college game, but the cautionary tale is a guy like Dennis Erickson. He probably won close to 200 games as a college head coach. Won 2 National Championships. He had two bites at the NFL apple and both ended up crashing out pretty hard. Most people bring up Saban, Jimmy Johnson, Poodle and Harbaugh. Erickson, for me, is the guy that is probably the most likely outcome for how most of these dudes are going to turn out. You're going to go, and then you're going to wind up right back in college. Erickson is unique in that he got a second chance in the NFL.

You find NFL coaches in the NFL. This isn't to say that there will not be mutual interest between Freeman and NFL teams, but until there is a formal interview, I'm not going to worry about interest and back channel footsie. Again, as a Bears fan, I wanted zero part of Marcus Freeman last year or any other college coach. NFL programs need NFL people that know how to run them.

Lou Holtz
Chip Kelly
Steve Spurrier
Urban Meyer
Nick Saban
Matt Rhule
Bobby Petrino
Greg Schiano

Personally, I think the amount of free time available to a coach in the NFL is pretty much the same as in CFB. You can say it's less in the NFL because the disparity in talent is almost non-existent. You need to spend more time looking for the little things to get you an advantage.

 

[NorthDakota]

No.

It’s that plus all the other stuff you decided to ignore.

He also beat the number one ranked team in the nation (UCLA who finished ranked 6th) and 15th ranked team in the same season while at Washington State and number 8 ranked USC while at Oregon State and was national coach of the year while at Oregon State.

Again, the guy was a good coach.

People seem to forget some guys end up at good jobs (like Miami) because they succeed at other schools with fewer/no advantages.

Dennis Erickson did well for himself. He isn't Ryan Day whose first HC job was Ohio State or something.

 

[NorthDakota]

All this makes sense to me, as a Steeler fan I want Tomlin gone, and if that ever comes to fruition.... MF doesn't hit my top 10 to replace him. College football rah rah guys like MF and Kirby are amazing at this level and I don't have a doubt they would not have the same success at the next level. Maybe in 15+ years for both guys I mentioned, but right now...they connect to well to these young men. Not a bad thing.

In 15+ years, Kirby Smart will be collecting social security checks. Dude is fifty.

 

[NorthDakota]

I really just think the idea that the NFL has more downtime is appealing to Freeman because of his young, large family. It is not an indictment of Notre Dame imo.
However Freeman is smart enough to know the NFL is a shredder and will only listen if he is guaranteed longer term deals. Hence, the long window of talks. I do not think any NFL team will offer him that at this time in his career.

We’ll see what happens but I think we will have Freeman for the foreseeable future…unless a NFL team is willing to give him some longevity

Does the NFL really have more downtime? I know they don't have to recruit but my understanding is the guys who succeed there basically live at the facility?

 

[IrishLax]

Does the NFL really have more downtime? I know they don't have to recruit but my understanding is the guys who succeed there basically live at the facility?

You get a break in the offseason that is much longer than it is in CFB where you are in charge of year-round everything. The interesting thing is that being a college coach has never been less demanding because the nature of recruiting has changed, and being an NFL head coach has never been harder.

NFL coaches basically are building staff and doing draft prep from January through April. It's not super demanding, but it's not appreciably better than what college coaches are doing.

From April up to the start of training camp you have a lot of downtime. College coaches are running spring ball and doing S&C and doing recruiting in this window. The bid advantage in the calendar comes with how the spring-summer window is handled.

From training camp through end-of-year there is no discernible difference in how demanding the jobs are. The NFL... because it's a longer season... is arguably more demanding.

 

[EvilleIrish]

Eric Thomas on II said Ryan Day to the cardinals could be a thing

 

[NorthDakota]

Eric Thomas on II said Ryan Day to the cardinals could be a thing

They didn't learn from the Kingsbury Experiment?

 

[SDIrishFan]

Who is the last prominent college coach to move to the NFL and have success? Pete Carroll in stint number 2?

 

[IRISHDODGER]

They didn't learn from the Kingsbury Experiment?

Kingsbury was fired from Texas Tech before AZ hired him. I guess they’ll rationalize Day as an employed college HC. LOL

 

[Ndaccountant]

Eric Thomas on II said Ryan Day to the cardinals could be a thing

Need to see what the predictions market say. They have been right so often...

 

[IRISHbluehen]

Eric Thomas on II said Ryan Day to the cardinals could be a thing

You are incredible 🤣

 

[allenm5333]

Kingsbury was fired from Texas Tech before AZ hired him. I guess they’ll rationalize Day as an employed college HC. LOL

And was going to be USC OC but then Arizona came out of nowhere and said "that fired college coach is our guy!"

 

[KPENN]

Eric Thomas on II said Ryan Day to the cardinals could be a thing

Spot on yet again. It’s quite impressive

 

[Huntr]

Spot on yet again. It’s quite impressive

So, the conversation actually went like this:

We have a question from Shamrock Florida.

Shamrock FL, please rank these 2026 predictions in order of most to least likely to happen.

-First one. CJ Carr is a Heisman finalist.
Notre Dame appears in the national championship game.
The Notre Dame offensive line wins the Joe Moore award.
Boubacar Traore records 11 and a half sacks.
And then number five, Marcus Freeman leaves Notre Dame at the end of the season.


...

-Uh, Eric, why don't you jump in here? Yeah.

-Um, mine's going to be a little bit different. I actually wrote Freeman number one. Uh, specifically because leaving ND at the end of the season between the NFL interest and just the deep-seated feeling in my gut that Arizona Cardinals head coach Ryan Day is a reality rapidly approaching me. Um, that one makes me nervous

So

Eric Thomas on II said Ryan Day to the cardinals could be a thing

didn't actually happen. To no ones surprise. Gut feeling pronouncements get clicks, tho.

 

[Plankton]

Shambles gonna shamble. Never fails.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

People seem to forget some guys end up at good jobs (like Miami) because they succeed at other schools with fewer/no advantages.

Dennis Erickson did well for himself. He isn't Ryan Day whose first HC job was Ohio State or something.

Chip.Kelly and Day came out of high school ranks, in New Hampshire. I am from NH in the same era. Nobody took our football seriously, not even us.

Kingsbury was fired from Texas Tech before AZ hired him. I guess they’ll rationalize Day as an employed college HC. LOL

This is the Franchise that fired Bruce Arians?

 

[Bluto]

So good at time but not great. @Jiggi was saying that Erickson was a cautionary tale for college coaches who risk something to go to the pros. Erickson flamed out in the pros the same way he did in college.

Per your original statement you were arguing that he only was successful because of some major talent advantage. That’s clearly not true.

If coaching college ball for over two decades, winning multiple natty’s, having multiple wins against to ten opponents at different schools, being named PAC 10 coach of the year three times is “flaming out” I think we have different ideas of what that term means.

The guy is one of the most accomplished coaches in college football history.

 

[Fbolt]

Were there truly any negotiations or talks between the NYG and Freeman? Was this Freeman's agent making the noise? I'm seeing nuggets in the media, but nothing out there about him seriously considering a move.

 

[tirishman505]

It was all agent talk that bled into the media as a lead up to black Monday. No formal interview was ever reported as taking place. People got airtime to fill, clicks to bait, and agents are trying to make their clients money.

 

[Huntr]

haaa

 

[rikkitikki08]

haaa

Evilirish just got some more inside info from this post. Marcus to Ohio state confirmed

 

[bumpdaddy]

This is the Franchise that fired Bruce Arians?

The Cardinals didn't fire Arians. He retired due to "family" reasons, and then unretired and took the Bucks job a year later.

 

[Dale]

Russini is addicted to tweeting pictures of Freeman

 

[Fbolt]

Internal discussions and not discussions with Freeman. The Irish beat continued to state he was looking - was he really? Waiting for a Freeman presser to find out the truth.

Smacks of the Minchey over Carr clusterfuck.

 

[RudyVerse]

Internal discussions and not discussions with Freeman. The Irish beat continued to state he was looking - was he really? Waiting for a Freeman presser to find out the truth.

Smacks of the Minchey over Carr clusterfuck.

Has a truth ever been told in a presser?

 

[Fbolt]

You can glean quite a bit from a presser. Particularly, if you know what you're looking for.