Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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18 APRIL 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED lege or the pros. Asked what he wanted to see from Notre Dame's offense when wielding the big whistle, he pointed to Rees' two seasons in charge of it. "It's what you've seen Tommy do," Freeman said at his introduction on Dec. 6, 2021. Nearly 15 months and one full season later, it turns out his preference for an offensive identity hasn't changed much. But what's clear now is that his view of offense is less about Rees' creations than it is the philosophy behind them. That philosophy, in a two-word de- scription: pro style. It's what Rees ran, in Freeman's eyes. It's what he expects Parker to run, even as Parker enhances and tweaks what Alabama-bound Rees left behind. "What Tommy had shown was to be a pro-style type offense," Freeman said. "That's still the vision I have for Notre Dame's offense. "I want to make sure we're developing these guys so that the transition from college to the NFL isn't a huge one, that they have a transition where they un- derstand the basic concepts they use throughout the majority of the NFL. It's still about making sure we have success and making sure it's efficient." Schematically speaking, Freeman's view of pro style is not a heavy dose of I-formation. It's not passing only when necessary, a West Coast offense clone or some other outdated trend from the 20th century. Offensive concepts and trends that began in college have trick- led into the NFL in recent years. The zone read was popular in college before it became widespread in the pros, for in- stance. The same goes for run/pass op- tions. Freeman wants a bit of everything. "It's multiple," Freeman said. "Multiple formations, multiple personnel, pro-style type concepts in the pass game, multiple running schemes. It's not just one thing you're looking for. It's multiple different things that I feel will help our guys trans- late as they move forward to the NFL." Freeman, though, has a No. 1 prior- ity: a strong run game. That should be a product of a team that meets his vi- sion of an offensive and defensive-line driven program. No matter how the of- fense changes year to year in what con- cepts or schemes it emphasizes, a viable run game is Freeman's prerequisite. "It's still an offensive predicated on running the ball," Freeman said. "I want to be able to run the football. This is not a pass-first offense. But it cre- ates opportunities to have success in the pass game because of your ability to run the ball." Freeman believes Parker can deliver on that, and not just because he was part of a Notre Dame offense that re- lied on its ground game last year. And not just because Notre Dame returns two potential three-and-done offen- sive tackles, a fifth-year center with 21 career starts and three running backs who had at least 100 carries last sea- son. Parker echoed the vision in his first press conference since his promotion. "We want to be O-line driven," Parker said. "And we're going to be built from the inside out." FREEMAN DOWNPLAYS 'MISCONCEPTIONS' AROUND SEARCH To the masses, Ludwig's public spot- ting at a Notre Dame hockey game be- fore agreeing to be the next offensive coordinator — a position he ultimately turned down, according to head coach Freeman — was a bad look. To Freeman, it was all business. Fans and media jumped to conclu- sions when Ludwig made an appear- ance on Peacock's livestream of a Feb. 10 hockey game between Notre Dame and Ohio State at Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend. They assumed Ludwig would soon be named the successor to Rees. You know what they say about as- suming. Ludwig's courtship ultimately lasted less than a week. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported on Feb. 13 that Notre Dame would not hire Ludwig because of issues with his buyout. Fans and media again had a field day. This time, they weren't so nice to Freeman and the Fighting Irish brass. Notre Dame not paying a buyout for a coordinator the head coach clearly wants? Not a good look for the program with the most extensive his- tory in the annals of the sport. But is that really the way it went down? At Parker's introductory press conference, Freeman adamantly offered his own account of the circumstances surrounding the Irish OC search. "During this process I was made aware of some misconceptions of what was being said out there," Freeman said. "Obviously most of it is just not true. My wife even showed me a picture of me, somebody out there asking for a buyout, and it had my head on it. I told my wife, 'That ain't my job now.' I thought it was pretty funny. "The misconception of the support — at no time during this process did I not have the support of [athletics director] Jack Swarbrick and the administration. I want to be crystal clear about that. At no point during this process or since my time that I've been here do I not feel I have the support of our administration and Jack. He has offered to pay whatever buyout there has been. That's a part of college football. That's a part of busi- ness. There are different buyouts for different people. Jack Swarbrick has never shied out of paying a buyout." Freeman said Ludwig, meanwhile, shied out of accepting an offer from the Irish. His exact phrasing was that Lud- wig "decided not to come." That's also business, as is showing a candidate all a place has to offer. Liken it to taking someone on a date and wanting to im- press them with bells and whistles. You don't take a date to Arby's for a 99-cent roast beef sandwich. You go to Ruth's Chris for filet mignon. Compton Family Ice Arena, in this case, was Freeman's Ruth's Chris. "We bring our top recruits into this place, and guess what we did with them on junior day? We took them to the hockey game because coach [Jeff] Jack- son does an excellent job and that is a great environment," Freeman said. "So, "To adjust and grow is one of our golden standard things, and we'll do that. … The motivation moving forward will be, 'What can our players do best? And how do we make the ball go for- ward and gain yards and score points?'" PARKER