Marcus Freeman Revisited

[FightingIrishLover7]

Bowen, Dante, Keeley.

So far.

Key here

 

[OhioIrish]

I wonder how long Freeman will be fine sitting around watching other teams poach his top recruits while the ND BoT gives him a butter knife to fight back with.

100% agree. Long term, this is the real issue. A&M, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, OSU could all have openings by the end of next season.

 

[thekid33]

100% agree. Long term, this is the real issue. A&M, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, OSU could all have openings by the end of next season.

Honestly, Ohio State is the only one that I think he'd leave for. Just my gut feeling.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Freeman gets ND and if there is one thing he has shown thus far, it's that he will find a solution that will benefit ND as a program and as a university. That is where he is different than previous coaches. He will push, but will do so in a thoughtout, tactical approach. He is exactly the leader ND needs at this pivotal point in time for the program.

 

[stlnd01]

Honestly, Ohio State is the only one that I think he'd leave for. Just my gut feeling.

I think if Ohio State came calling, Freeman would have a hard time saying no. The others? As long as we're competitive? Nah. (And personally I think after this cycle the administration will rethink its approach to upfront NIL. If they don't, then we will have a very hard time recruiting elite players and employing top-tier coaches.)

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Honestly, Ohio State is the only one that I think he'd leave for. Just my gut feeling.

College jobs, I agree.

There is also the NFL.

 

[stlnd01]

College jobs, I agree.

There is also the NFL.

If Freeman someday gets hired away to the NFL he will have been very successful at Notre Dame first.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

If Freeman someday gets hired away to the NFL he will have been very successful at Notre Dame first.

I'd assume the same if he were being hired away by the Buckturds.

 

[stlnd01]

I'd assume the same if he were being hired away by the Buckturds.

Sure. Though his ties to Ohio State are tighter and his skill set is more aligned with college coaching than the NFL.
If Ohio State opened tomorrow he’d be on the short list (tho behind Fickell and likely others at this point). He’s not on any NFL short list.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Sure. Though his ties to Ohio State are tighter and his skill set is more aligned with college coaching than the NFL.
If Ohio State opened tomorrow he’d be on the short list (tho behind Fickell and likely others at this point). He’s not on any NFL short list.

I would speculate Fickell, Campbell, Mark Stoops and Mike Vrabel would be ahead of Freeman if that job were to open any time soon.

Freeman didn't get the pro career he wanted because of a medical condition. He jumped right into college coaching. If there is a part of him that could be interested in coaching in the NFL, I doubt he'd say it if direclty asked. I just think it is a potential option.

Few have left the ND job on their own terms for good reasons, to your point.

 

[NDMatt91]

I still think Freeman is the right man for job. However, there are some big changes that he needs to make.

Off the top of my head:
-Upgrade at Offensive Coordinator
-Personnel changes on offense (bring in a quality grad transfer QB, less PT for walk-ons like and more snaps for Colzie, Tobias, etc.)
-Personnel changes on defense (get the faster LB's on the field)

 

[tko]

I gather Rees isn’t going anywhere. Just my gut feeling.

 

[INLaw]

I am more down on Al Golden then most of the board. Numbers say defense is good. They kept us in a lot of games. But my eyes say a lot of problems papered over by great sporadic individual play. Also would prefer a better recruiter than him.

 

[NDMatt91]

I gather Rees isn’t going anywhere. Just my gut feeling.

Unfortunately I think you're right. Hello, Cade McNamara and an 8-4 or 9-3 season. At least the offense will be a little better and the 3 and outs will be more impressive than we saw with Pyne.

 

[Valpodoc85]

This is not a horrible first season for Freeman. He was always going to learn on the job as was Rees. This team and Freeman have come along way and will continue to blossom with good recruiting. I like our chances better than this time last year.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

Freeman might be a good head coach, but he isn't going to last long if Riley stays at USC. They are part of the crew playing a different game than us. That means there is one loss on the schedule every year. If we don't start playing that same game, Freeman's margin of error is extremely small to stay at what most fans would consider an acceptable level after what we had with BK.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Freeman might be a good head coach, but he isn't going to last long if Riley stays at USC. They are part of the crew playing a different game than us. That means there is one loss on the schedule every year. If we don't start playing that same game, Freeman's margin of error is extremely small to stay at what most fans would consider an acceptable level after what we had with BK.

Oklahoma fans would disagree with you. His teams have historically had great offenses, but poor defenses. He doesn't recruit like the Big Three do, and I doubt that'll change at SC.

 

[ColinKSU]

Oklahoma fans would disagree with you. His teams have historically had great offenses, but poor defenses. He doesn't recruit like the Big Three do, and I doubt that'll change at SC.

100% this. If Lincoln was the coach that poster thinks he is, he wouldn’t have the history of big losses that he has.

This USC team is just another Lincoln Riley team with all the same weaknesses. Only they’re fortunate to have a transcendent talent at QB.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

This USC team is just another Lincoln Riley team with all the same weaknesses. Only they’re fortunate to have a transcendent talent at QB.

He's had at least three of those OU, and they all ran into the buzz saw of SEC defense in the post-season. We were too limited and beat up to expose his weaknesses, but Georgia won't be.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

Oklahoma fans would disagree with you. His teams have historically had great offenses, but poor defenses. He doesn't recruit like the Big Three do, and I doubt that'll change at SC.

He doesn't need to recruit. He mastered taking transfers before free agency even came to college football. USC has money to throw around and an attractive environment. They will likely never be without a top 2 round draft pick at QB and receivers to match.

Even without the ability to buy players at his weakest recruiting positions, Riley was able to make the playoff twice and win the conference other times. He is in a better position now and we should expect that not only will he lose more games, but that we will consistently be one of those games?

 

[Irish4life]

He doesn't need to recruit. He mastered taking transfers before free agency even came to college football. USC has money to throw around and an attractive environment. They will likely never be without a top 2 round draft pick at QB and receivers to match.

Even without the ability to buy players at his weakest recruiting positions, Riley was able to make the playoff twice and win the conference other times. He is in a better position now and we should expect that not only will he lose more games, but that we will consistently be one of those games?

Yes. ND should expect to beat USC every year. USC should expect to beat ND every year. That's how rivalries work. Lol.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

Just make sure to account for Freeman’s recruiting also. We have some tremendous talent coming to ND also. It’s just that we need to strike gold at QB to take it that next level.

IDK yet. The crown jewel of our remaining defensive class is wavering and I don't know if we have the the QB needed to elevate our skill talent or the skill talent to elevate our QB. And we have no one at rush end (in the recruiting class or really on the roster) which is so important to disrupting passing attacks.

 

[Blazers46]

College football has changed, but Notre Dame has not. That is the problem.

 

[NorthDakota]

Unfortunately I think you're right. Hello, Cade McNamara and an 8-4 or 9-3 season. At least the offense will be a little better and the 3 and outs will be more impressive than we saw with Pyne.

If he's the best we can get, stick with Buchner. I'll take the unknown guy with great ability over the dude who lost his job to McCarthy

 

[NorthDakota]

He doesn't need to recruit. He mastered taking transfers before free agency even came to college football. USC has money to throw around and an attractive environment. They will likely never be without a top 2 round draft pick at QB and receivers to match.

Even without the ability to buy players at his weakest recruiting positions, Riley was able to make the playoff twice and win the conference other times. He is in a better position now and we should expect that not only will he lose more games, but that we will consistently be one of those games?

He won a bad conference where the only competition with resources has been wandering the desert for over a decade.

 

[Bluto]

Freeman might be a good head coach, but he isn't going to last long if Riley stays at USC. They are part of the crew playing a different game than us. That means there is one loss on the schedule every year. If we don't start playing that same game, Freeman's margin of error is extremely small to stay at what most fans would consider an acceptable level after what we had with BK.

ND was competitive in this one with a shorter Tommy Rees/less athletic Ian Book. Let that sink in for a minute. This wasn’t some Bama 2012 run away freight train type win for the other team.

 

[NorthDakota]

ND was competitive in this one with a shorter Tommy Rees/less athletic Ian Book. Let that sink in for a minute. This wasn’t some Bama 2012 run away freight train type win for the other team.

Yeah, I'd have liked to see this team with Buchner. Or Coan. Or a bona fide blue blood QB.

 

[GoldenToTheGrave]

He doesn't need to recruit. He mastered taking transfers before free agency even came to college football. USC has money to throw around and an attractive environment. They will likely never be without a top 2 round draft pick at QB and receivers to match.

Even without the ability to buy players at his weakest recruiting positions, Riley was able to make the playoff twice and win the conference other times. He is in a better position now and we should expect that not only will he lose more games, but that we will consistently be one of those games?

Riley can get his pick of the litter at QB because his record develop the position at a totally unprecedented rate. I expect this to happen for the foreseeable future. The QB position at ND has been an issue for some time is also the greatest source of predictable post-gane overreaction.

Alabama and OSU both have Heisman candidate quarterbacks and will be sitting out the playoff, meanwhile Georgia is going with an Ian Book like QB. There's a lot of ways to get the job done in CFB and while the crisis of faith we're seeing among a lot of ND fans after a disappointing season and a decisive defeat against a rival is to be expected, we should recognize the sky isn't falling.

 

[GATTACA!]

Riley can get his pick of the litter at QB because his record develop the position at a totally unprecedented rate. I expect this to happen for the foreseeable future. The QB position at ND has been an issue for some time is also the greatest source of predictable post-gane overreaction.

Alabama and OSU both have Heisman candidate quarterbacks and will be sitting out the playoff, meanwhile Georgia is going with an Ian Book like QB. There's a lot of ways to get the job done in CFB and while the crisis of faith we're seeing among a lot of ND fans after a disappointing season and a decisive defeat against a rival is to be expected, we should recognize the sky isn't falling.

Getting a stud QB is more attainable for ND than the Georgia method of having 11 5* guys on your defense.

 

[irishff1014]

Should be interesting to see how Freeman handles his this offseason. He was hired as the coach and it was for the most part a quick process. He has year one under his belt. He is going to have some roster turnover. So it should be interesting to she how they go about filling the spots. I was super excited about Freeman getting the job and the season started out blah. The losses to Marshall and Stanford were bad. But Freeman and staff got in their heads and wouldn't let them quit. The players chose not to quit. I was wondering if ND made the right move hiring Freeman. You could see the toughness and the mentality of the team changing. I knew then this was only going to get better. When you are struggling and you get everyone to buy in and change the course that's a tough feat.

We have watched Freeman grow in front of our eyes. He has admitted things he should have done better and that he has grown. Tonight we were supposed to be the tougher team and that didn't happen for a various of reasons. Just think if we had a top 30ish QB how much better this team would have been. Drew just isn't the guy. He is limited in his athletic ability and vision of the field. I hope like 2023 recruiting class goes through with out many hiccups and they can start building this team up in certain areas.

Thank you Marcus Freeman for taking this tough job at ND and giving it your all. If i am being honesty i really don't know that ND will win another national championship but i can tell you that Freeman is not a quitter and is going to give it his all. I think he going to make sure they have the right coaches in the right positions and we know that he is gonna do some thing in the recruiting world Kelly could never do. It's a shame the NIL stuff couldn't have come out about another 5 years later because some things would probably be different. Instead of making an excuse Freeman is trying to make things happen anyway. Hell even his approach and maybe Jack's support the University might make some more small changes that helps the team. When you aren't arrogant all the time it will at least was better when the conversation happens.

At the end of the day we all like the Irish because they are different but in good ways. Let's go Irish and Coach Freeman.