Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1466176
8 MAY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY PATRICK ENGEL M arcus Freeman is a self-described "routine guy" on the field. He's a diligent planner who, ideally, finds where he's most comfortable and stays there. That applies to how he runs Notre Dame's day-to-day operations. He likes to script practices and his duties during them the same way each time. Ro u t i n e g uys d o n 't h ave a n o f f switch once they leave work, and cer- tainly not when their home life in- volves being a father of six children. Good luck navigating tee-ball prac- tices and school pickups without some sort of regimentation. The thing about routines when lead- ing a college football program, though, is they must also work for the players and assistant coaches. And on April 5 — the day of Notre Dame's ninth spring practice — they did not. Freeman sensed a lethargy. A lack of passion and energy. A satisfaction with going through the motions. The kind of things that must be halted right away. "I wasn't happy with the way we practiced," Freeman said. "We got the work in, but we got through it. When you get through things, you say, 'How can we change things up so we can get their attention?'" In response, Freeman tore up his rou- tine. His reaction to one poor practice wasn't to bark at players to fall back in line with his comfort zone because he's the boss and his methods are tried and true. This is a moment where coach doesn't equate to boss. A coach's job is to get the most out of his players. Some- times that means catering to them at the expense of your ideal. "[Next practice], we start with a com- petitive opener," Freeman said. "O-line vs. D-line, one-on-ones. Then we did wideouts vs. corners, one-on-one. We had coaches catching punts. We had to change it up. You set your routine, but you have to be able to gauge what this team needs. "Tuesday [April 5] wasn't a great practice. I'm going to go challenge them on Thursday, get in front of the room and tell them we can't have an aver- age practice. But also on my end, how can you slightly change things up so it's something new?" This is all captivating because it's a look at how Freeman has gained a feel for the controls he was handed four months ago and a hint at his adapta- tion skills. There are endless demands, duties and stakeholders to satisfy. Mo- ments where he can find a jet stream and turn on autopilot are cherished and create feelings of comfort and control. But there will be turbulence. A skilled pilot can navigate it and find smoother air. He just has to know what buttons to push. Or, in Freeman's case, admit they need pushing. Freeman understands he's a first- time head coach and that his plans will hit bumps because of that. He's not done learning and evolving as a head coach, because nobody can be in four months. No first-year head coach sets a perfect course. Offseasons throw curveballs, too. Plowing headstrong through a bad practice with the same routine does more damage than the bad practice it- UNDER THE DOME ADAPTABILITY ON DISPLAY Marcus Freeman embraces changes to his comfort zone Freeman learned a lot about how to manage a football program this spring. He has been intentional about introducing a highly competitive environment in practices. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER