Marcus Freeman Revisited

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

Firing a HC one year into his tenure is beyond the pale stupid. That short of a leash and you’d struggle to ever hire another HC because they wouldn’t trust the admin.

Maybe. I think retaining Kelly after the 4-8 year showed that the admin was willing to not be impulsive with a firing when there is a track record to show patience is called for. Do you really think if we lose to BC and Navy (and Syracuse, and USC, and Clemson...) there shouldn't be serious consideration at just aborting this whole project? But really the point I'm making is that we probably go 6-6 this year with the 10th most talented roster in college football. Even going 8-4 next year would be a major down trend from the Kelly years. Freeman's leash is short and getting shorter.

 

[IRISHMAN]

Maybe. I think retaining Kelly after the 4-8 year showed that the admin was willing to not be impulsive with a firing when there is a track record to show patience is called for. Do you really think if we lose to BC and Navy (and Syracuse, and USC, and Clemson...) there shouldn't be serious consideration at just aborting this whole project? But really the point I'm making is that we probably go 6-6 this year with the 10th most talented roster in college football. Even going 8-4 next year would be a major down trend from the Kelly years. Freeman's leash is short and getting shorter.

i don't think the problem is MF as much as it is the lack of QB talent and that was BK and TR fault. if ND had a decent QB they'd be 6-1 right now and until the QB problem is fixed it's not going to get much better.

 

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

i don't think the problem is MF as much as it is the lack of QB talent and that was BK and TR fault. if ND had a decent QB they'd be 6-1 right now and until the QB problem is fixed it's not going to get much better.

I mean MF had an entire offseason to bring in a transfer. And holy **** we still do not have a 2023 QB. That is insane. If we go 6-6 again next year we are officially back to the bad old days

 

[Ray “The Mule” Finkle]

Maybe. I think retaining Kelly after the 4-8 year showed that the admin was willing to not be impulsive with a firing when there is a track record to show patience is called for. Do you really think if we lose to BC and Navy (and Syracuse, and USC, and Clemson...) there shouldn't be serious consideration at just aborting this whole project? But really the point I'm making is that we probably go 6-6 this year with the 10th most talented roster in college football. Even going 8-4 next year would be a major down trend from the Kelly years. Freeman's leash is short and getting shorter.

There’s little reason to expect him to turn anything around since there was nothing to turn around to begin with.

 

[anarin]

So we probably go either 6-6 or 7-5 this year, right? I think if we go 6-6 again next year how can there be any question MF is not the guy and needs to go. Heck if we lose out (which seems at least somewhat possible) he should be gone this year.

Posts like this make me laugh. Guess all those great coaches who had down first years should've been fired.

Cancel Culture right? 😂

 

[Irish#1]

I think if they 7-5 or 6-6, Swarbrick will be panicked that he may not be able to "Make the ship right" before his tenure is done. I think after the season he tells Freeman to hire whomever he wants as his Coordinators but that 2023 has to be 8 wins minimum to show improvement.

I don't see Freeman getting a 3rd year if the first two years are 6 or 7 wins seasons. Freeman better realize he is not a bystander but start demanding changes now and in this offseason. I hope he can do it.

Swarbrick is clueless on football. He did a tremendous job with athletics in general, raising the tide to lift all ships. He did well with somewhat improving the infrastructure of ND football. But when it comes to the finer details, football has a LONG way to go. And I'm not talking NIL or academic exceptions. I'm talking the day-to-day. I'm talking the stadium experience. I'm talking the G ratedness of the whole affair. Maybe just bump it up to like PG-13.

Football is the cash cow and should take precedence. I doubt ND will ever handle it right in the future either, but they need a football guy either as AD or as like the Assistant AD (football czar).

So we probably go either 6-6 or 7-5 this year, right? I think if we go 6-6 again next year how can there be any question MF is not the guy and needs to go. Heck if we lose out (which seems at least somewhat possible) he should be gone this year.

Swarbrick panic? Swarbrick clueless on football? Gone this year? lol

Where do you guys come up with some of this crap?

 

[Irish#1]

i don't think the problem is MF as much as it is the lack of QB talent and that was BK and TR fault. if ND had a decent QB they'd be 6-1 right now and until the QB problem is fixed it's not going to get much better.

Why are you thinking so logically and not emotionally?

 

[stlnd01]

I really do want Freemanham to succeed. I just don’t like the vibe right now on this team. Something isn’t right.

Yeah it’s called we have a quarterback who can’t play at this level and no better options and it’s frustrating.

 

[Irishdrunk]

I like this quote from Freeman today on getting receivers more involved:


A bit of a challenge to the receivers and QB. Play better or we will recruit over you unless you're a QB.

I am just glad he is commenting on the Offensive Side of the Ball. Freeman needs to become an "Operator" and give attention and management of the offense. Good to see it!

 

[ACamp1900]

It’s hard to see what identity they’re striving for game to game let alone where they are failing to achieve it,… thats what concerns me more than anything. Hopefully that’s changed but it’s pretty deep into the season

 

[Ray “The Mule” Finkle]

It’s funny how Kelly gets so much hate for recruiting, particularly QB (I won’t even get into the fact that he had a 3rd ranked 2013 class and 7th last year), yet to some, all our current issues (no transfer, no ‘23 kid) is all Rees’s fault. It’s like you want to respect freeman as the head man, but secretly you don’t respect him enough to place a HC degree of blame, including the blame for all the losses, decline in culture, etc. It’s quite comical watching you contradict yourselves.

 

[Irishdrunk]

It’s funny how Kelly gets so much hate for recruiting, particularly QB, yet to some, all our current issues (no transfer, no ‘23 kid) is all Rees’s fault. It’s like you want to respect freeman as the head man, but secretly you don’t respect him enough to place any blame, including the blame for all the losses. It’s quite comical watching you contradict yourselves.

Ray - for me the biggest issue is that Tommy and Marcus has stated publicly in a ND Presser after Buchner got hurt that they actively deliberated on whether to take additional QB from Transfer Portal (Daniels, Slovis) and decided they didn't need one.

That was a total growing pain right there.

Marcus has to grow into HC real quick and not rely 100% on his generals - he needs to make up his own mind and not make such an error like that again.

Whether Kelly would have done so or not, the fact is Kelly took a Transfer in Jayden Daniels, has a 5 Star who will red shirt, has Rickie Collins in this class and is chasing Julian Sayin in 2024, too. Very full QB Room.

If a QB will transfer if another QB might come, then "Don't let the door hit you on the arse on the way out!"

 

[Sea Turtle]

It’s hard to see what identity they’re striving for game to game let alone where they are failing to achieve it,… thats what concerns me more than anything. Hopefully that’s changed but it’s pretty deep into the season

This is what I was saying awhile back. What is our offense? Most programs, you can say 'they run the Air Raid or Power Spread or Pro Style.'

No one knows what we run. We run Duos and then throw to the tight end. A jet sweep thrown in there.

I wish we had an OC who had a definite offense so we can recruit to it specifically and practice it until the players can execute it in their sleep.

 

[ulukinatme]

This is what I was saying awhile back. What is our offense? Most programs, you can say 'they run the Air Raid or Power Spread or Pro Style.'

No one knows what we run. We run Duos and then throw to the tight end. A jet sweep thrown in there.

I wish we had an OC who had a definite offense so we can recruit to it specifically and practice it until the players can execute it in their sleep.

Just like in Madden, we run "Multiple!"

 

[Ray “The Mule” Finkle]

This is what I was saying awhile back. What is our offense? Most programs, you can say 'they run the Air Raid or Power Spread or Pro Style.'

No one knows what we run. We run Duos and then throw to the tight end. A jet sweep thrown in there.

I wish we had an OC who had a definite offense so we can recruit to it specifically and practice it until the players can execute it in their sleep.

Driskell thinks we need to dumb down the offense more. What will it be called? Instead of throw to Michael Mayer, even if in double coverage, it will now be called, throw to 87.

 

[Irish4life]

It’s funny how Kelly gets so much hate for recruiting, particularly QB (I won’t even get into the fact that he had a 3rd ranked 2013 class and 7th last year), yet to some, all our current issues (no transfer, no ‘23 kid) is all Rees’s fault. It’s like you want to respect freeman as the head man, but secretly you don’t respect him enough to place a HC degree of blame, including the blame for all the losses, decline in culture, etc. It’s quite comical watching you contradict yourselves.

Probably because he's coached 7 games and Kelly was here for 12 years.....and recruited and signed both Buchner and Pyne. If you wanna tell me we should've promised the job to JT Daniels (who is worse statistically than Pyne atm) then fine. I have no argument. Seems to me that Freeman and Rees bet on Buchner being healthy for the whole year, and Pyne being able to pick up the slack if he wasn't.

 

[ulukinatme]

Anytime I see "Driskell says" or "Driskell thinks" I picture...

 

[Grahambo]

It’s hard to see what identity they’re striving for game to game let alone where they are failing to achieve it,… thats what concerns me more than anything. Hopefully that’s changed but it’s pretty deep into the season

With Pyne at QB, I think MF wants a ball control offense. Probably sees that as ND’s best chance at winning. What they thought they would have with Buchner is impossible to have with Pyne so it’s changing on the fly.

All 3 RB’s are better players then Pyne so makes sense to have them carry the offense.

Part of the problem with Pyne is his lack of a threat of a deep ball. Defenses can stuff the box so the best we can hope for is Zo catching and breaking one or TM getting his 1-2 deep post target and Pyne nailing it.

Other then that, no need to really blitz since Pyne stares down his first option and MF, the defensive coordinator version of MF, knows this which is why he probably wants TR to run it like a mofo.

 

[Domina Nostra]

But if it is a limited ball control offense, why not plug in Angeli?

 

[NDPhilly]

Its so tough for me to imagine Angeli playing worse than Pyne did on saturday. He was the definition of a game manager at Bergen Catholic. He made the right read, rarely made mistakes, and would pick up available yards with his legs. Also 100% outplayed Pyne in the spring game. Obviously only 1 scrimmage, but his poise vs Pyne's were in different stratospheres.

 

[stlnd01]

Its so tough for me to imagine Angeli playing worse than Pyne did on saturday. He was the definition of a game manager at Bergen Catholic. He made the right read, rarely made mistakes, and would pick up available yards with his legs. Also 100% outplayed Pyne in the spring game. Obviously only 1 scrimmage, but his poise vs Pyne's were in different stratospheres.

I will say for Pyne he looks a lot less skittish out there than he used to. Even when he came in against Marshall he couldn’t stop dancing around. Now he sets his feet, stares at Mayer, and throws it to him.

And no offense to the north Jersey Catholic league but Clemson might be a little tougher than the defenses Angeli faced back home.

But seriously, yeah, Pyne was clearly (even more) limited after he took that hit, and the game really wasn’t in doubt. Why not play Angeli in the second half just to get his feet wet and slow the game down a little.

 

[irishff1014]

I think every Irish fan across America likes and wants Freeman to do well. I think that most of those same fans expected him to do better than he is doing. Some of that is our fault for the high expectations however some of that is on Freeman.

What I expected: a time that was fired up to play for a young head coach they wanted. * Haven’t really seen this.

A coach that made brought an aggressive team to the field each and every week.

Even a coach that was learning how to do be a head coach you would think would be part of the time. When he is in the sideline he looks disengaged, he looks bored, he doesn’t bring any energy to the team, and it doesn’t seem like the team is making changes to fix some issues.

He is the head coach so if you don’t like how the QB played on that drive be the first person in his ear. Give him hell and praise and tell him to get ready. Same way with Estime give him hell about fumbling but fire him up. Of course this might be happening and we just don’t see it.

This team needs an attitude adjustment. It always trying to be so nice and positive when reality is there’s not much to be happy about. Need someone to step up and bring some heat.

 

[irishff1014]

Its so tough for me to imagine Angeli playing worse than Pyne did on saturday. He was the definition of a game manager at Bergen Catholic. He made the right read, rarely made mistakes, and would pick up available yards with his legs. Also 100% outplayed Pyne in the spring game. Obviously only 1 scrimmage, but his poise vs Pyne's were in different stratospheres.

I am gonna join you and play devils advocate.

If you had to play a freshman QB what would you want.

A good O-line ✅, a good running game ✅, a good TE ✅. We have all three of those.

And we might even get a WR to join the party now the QB isn’t locked in on one guy. They already help Pyne check in/out of plays.

 

[ACamp1900]

I think every Irish fan across America likes and wants Freeman to do well. I think that most of those same fans expected him to do better than he is doing. Some of that is our fault for the high expectations however some of that is on Freeman.

There is no such thing as ‘expectations being too high’ in regards to fans expecting ND to beat Marshall and 2022 Stanford at home,… that’s completely a Freeman and Co problem,…

 

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

Posts like this make me laugh. Guess all those great coaches who had down first years should've been fired.

Cancel Culture right? 😂

Cancel Culture?

But yeah just the issue is Freeman was brought in literally to keep it going + add some "youthful vigor" that was supposed to pay dividends in recruiting. Underperforming every single Kelly team except his worst simply isn't a great way to start. This wasn't a classic "the house has burnt down" type rebuild

 

[Irish#1]

Regardless of what people think of MF and TR, we wouldn’t be having these discussions if we had a QB.

 

[Domina Nostra]

Regardless of what people think of MF and TR, we wouldn’t be having these discussions if we had a QB.

This is 100% the case. Freeman may be good or bad. Rees may be good or bad. But we would be at least 5-1 with Ian Book.

And I remember Kelly getting less out of a more talented team in the the not too distant past.

 

[Spurt Reynolds]

I really do want Freemanham to succeed. I just don’t like the vibe right now on this team. Something isn’t right.

Freemanham. Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[ACamp1900]

I really do want Freemanham to succeed. I just don’t like the vibe right now on this team. Something isn’t right.

Yeah, the vibe is so vastly different than what I thought it’d be. I figured there would be more losses than some here would like in year one,… however the entire feel of this team from all levels is just yuck. I’m really surprised how amateurish much of it feels

 

[Sea Turtle]

We need some of this in this program.

SWAGGER!