Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 22, 2022 5 M ost coaches experience a dichotomy of emotions in the press conference set- ting fairly quickly in their careers. It happened to Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman a few times in his first year at the helm of the Fighting Irish program. He wasn't the calm, cool, col- lected presence he was in his in- troductory press conference in mid-December of last year when forced to speak directly after Notre Dame blew a 21-point lead to lose 37-35 to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day. He was anything but sure of himself when addressing the media immediately after Notre Dame's shocking home loss to unranked Marshall Sept. 10. "I don't know if it's my experi- ence as a head coach," Freeman said when asked if he was a ma- jor reason why the Irish fell short that day. "I don't know if that's a reason why or a lack of execution. But it starts with me, right?" Yes. It does. Two of the greatest coaches of all time could tell him that. They could also tell Freeman what it's like to be in a similar position. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban have found themselves standing at a podium not knowing what to say, and those are two men who otherwise seem to have all the answers. The former has won six Super Bowl championships. The latter has won seven college national championships. Belichick went 36-44 as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-95. He went 5-11 in his first season with New England. Saban's college coaching record at places not named Alabama? 91-42-1, a winning percentage of .679. That's good, but it's not the .883 he has in Tus- caloosa. He also went 15-17 in a not-so- successful experimental stint with the Miami Dolphins. The point? Dig up old interview clips of Belichick and Saban. There's bound to be something from Belichick in brown looking befuddled. And there's got to be something of Saban in Michi- gan State green looking as green as ever as a college head coach. Now, they can say whatever they want with hardly any repercussions. OK, un- less it's Belichick being deliberate in declaring it's on to Cincinnati or Saban talking about all the high school pros- pects Texas A&M bought to take home the No. 1 recruiting class in the country in 2022. They rebounded from those blun- ders, though, just like Freeman has re- bounded from his flabbergasted looks after Notre Dame's 0-2 start this season and his own 0-3 start to his head coach- ing career, becoming the first Fighting Irish head coach to ever own that mark. Freeman was asked specifically about defensive lapses against BYU. He refer- enced the Cougars' 53-yard touchdown on which freshman cornerback Jaden Mickey did not trail the receiver. He let him slip easily into the secondary and ultimately the end zone. Some coaches would have as- signed blame. Not Freeman. "As the head coach, I'm not pointing the finger at the player," he said. "I'm looking at the coach and saying we didn't coach it well enough. That's on us. We've called this defense multiple times, and we didn't execute it. "I challenged the coaches. It's not the kid's fault. We have to coach him better. Then in turn that kid's going to say, 'You know what, he did coach me, he did teach me, I have to execute bet- ter.' It really trickles downhill." Spoken like Saban himself. For all his wizardry, Belichick would never say that. And that's fine. To each his own. Freeman was also asked about how he manages unexpected per- sonnel losses in the wake of los- ing graduate student linebacker Bo Bauer to a season-ending knee injury. He didn't waver in his an- swer. He was direct and pointed. "You can't wait until your op- portunity comes to get ready," " he said. "If you wait for that opportu- nity to come, then you're going to get passed by." It's not as difficult to talk on a Thurs- day afternoon with a 3-2 record and a win over then-No. 16 BYU under your belt as it is right after a defeat to a Sun Belt team at home with 0-2 staring you in the face. But Freeman has still taken his lumps and bruises, and pushed through them in a way that might not have seemed possible in mid-September. The confident 36-year-old who can't seem to say anything to draw the ire of Irish fans is back. So long as he keeps winning. Just ask Belichick and Saban how easy it is to manipulate the media when the W's are piling up like Hallow- een candy. ✦ GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com Marcus Freeman is back to being his bubbly self after his team's mid- season winning streak. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Relearning How To Say All The Right Things