Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2022 25 "The culture of this program is in its best spot I've seen it and we're trending in the right direction, so how could we continue that growth with an overhaul and a whole new program?" graduate student linebacker and captain Drew White said. "We explained we thought the next guy was already in the building." Freeman's task, then, is winning games and being a "guardian" of that culture, to use Swarbrick's term. This isn't a 7-5 team making a hollow ploy for con- tinuity and over-exaggerating its cohesion. Notre Dame is 54-8 in the last five seasons and one of six teams to make multiple College Football Playoff appearances. The stan- dards within the program are impactful enough that even outgoing seniors have a fervent desire to see them remain in place. Kelly leaving for LSU put that culture at risk. For as much credit goes to play- ers in developing it, the head coach must facilitate it, too. And to do so, there's a level of understanding developed only with time spent in the program. That's not to say any outside hire couldn't have worked or that other coaches aren't also accomplished cul- ture builders. But the uncertainty of culture change from what has worked at this unique program was too much for Notre Dame's captains to bear and too important for Swarbrick to undo. Freeman, in just 11 months, formed a strong understanding of it. He was an outsider at this time last year but immersed himself and embraced what Notre Dame had done rather than foist- ing all his methods on a roster of players he didn't know. "When he initially came in, he ex- plained to the defensive players and linebackers we had just went to the play- off, so there wasn't much to come in and change," White said. "He has the humil- ity to come in and learn and absorb." Inheriting a mature and unified roster that knows and likes him is a friendly situation for a first-time head coach. Notre Dame isn't a Death Star like, say, Ohio State when in-house hire Ryan Day took over for Urban Meyer in 2019. Nor is it a cesspool waiting like a trapdoor for an unassuming up-and-coming co- ordinator from the outside. All told, Freeman will endure mini- mal cultural reset and can immediately start his quest to push Notre Dame to the summit. The first chance is weeks away. A win in the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State would snap a ma- jor bowl victory drought that stretches back to 1994. "We're not there yet, but we're close," Freeman said. "It can be done right away. We're not talking about a future long-term plan. This is talking about the urgency to finish this season off. Then next year, we have to have inten- tional efforts to make sure we're doing whatever it takes to put this team in po- sition to win a national championship. "[The players] understand the ex- pectation. They understand to achieve anything, it's going to be really hard and they're going to be pushed. But they've got a leader and they have leaders around them that care about them and have their best interests at heart. "That's how we're going to cre- ate success here. We're going to push each other, but they know their leaders trust them, they know their leaders love them. That, to me, is what has gotten us to this point. Over 11 months, you feel that way about a group of guys, and I hope the feeling's mutual most of the time." Based on the team's raw euphoria upon learning of Freeman's hire and the players' campaign for him, it's safe to assume the mutual admiration. In the captains' meeting, Swarbrick observed the offensive players were just as enthused about Freeman as the defensive play- ers Freeman coached up close every day. "You watch him during a session of practice, like special teams, he'd be talking to [running back] Kyren [Wil- liams] or talking to [quarterback] Jack [Coan]," Swarbrick said. "He built a re- lationship with everyone on the team." Not because he made a conscious effort to go out of his way. It simply happens. "I'd take the word 'conscious' out of that," Swarbrick said. "It's just who he is. How many coordinators can tell you the names of the managers? I bet he can. Very different." And yet, that's why he was trusted to keep the culture the same. ✦ Fighting Irish players let it be known how ecstatic they were to have Freeman be named their new head coach. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS "What they insisted I understand was that they had built the best culture in college football." JACK SWARBRICK ON HIS MEETINGS WITH NOTRE DAME'S CAPTAINS