Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 APRIL 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED M arcus Freeman likely wasn't aware of the rich history he'll be chasing in 2024 when the Irish head coach recently opened his third spring football season on the Fighting Irish sideline. Given the monumental success many of his predecessors enjoyed in their third seasons at Notre Dame, it's worth taking a trip down memory lane and measuring whether Freeman can follow a similar course to find comparable results. Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won their first national championships in their third seasons with the Irish. Knute Rockne capped his third sea- son with a second straight undefeated record. And even Brian Kelly, more recently, led the Irish to the national championship game in 2012 during his third year here. "It could be a coincidence," Parseghian explained for a Blue & Gold Illustrated story in 2012, when asked about this pat- tern of third-year coaching success at Notre Dame. "But I think it reflects on your recruiting capabilities and abilities, recognizing what you need after your first year and being able to fill those." Parseghian's point that good recruit- ing is the best method to quick results may be somewhat outdated in this era of the transfer portal and NIL dollars. But that said, Freeman is taking this old recruiting message to heart, and more than holding his own while fol- lowing it. When Notre Dame put a bow on its No. 11-ranked 2024 recruiting class in February, Freeman became the first Irish coach to ink three straight top-11 recruiting classes since Charlie Weis did it in 2006-08. Beyond recruiting, another important measure of a coach's worth is how they perform against ranked teams, and Free- man also stacks up historically well here. He has already played 11 ranked teams during his first two seasons and is 7-4 in those games, making him only the third of the previous 10 Irish coaches — join- ing Terry Brennan and Dan Devine — to secure a winning record against ranked opponents during their first two sea- sons on the job. For more comparison, Kelly — Free- man's predecessor — played only six top-25 teams during his first two sea- sons and went 2-4. Then Kelly beat four ranked opponents in 2012 and reached the national title game in his third season. Another measure of worth for a head coach is how well they avoid head- scratching upsets. This was an area that Kelly thrived in, leaving his Notre Dame post in 2021 after winning 42 consecu- tive games against unranked opponents. After Freeman lost to Marshall and Stanford in 2022 as a rookie head coach, and as a three-touchdown favorite in both games, the second-year Irish skip- per avoided any unthinkable upsets in 2023. Notre Dame was at least a three- touchdown favorite six times during this most recent season, and it won all six of those games by an average of 39.7 points. Freeman's loss at Clemson last No- vember — the Tigers finished No. 20 in the final Associated Press poll — was his only defeat to an unranked opponent in his last 12 tries, more evidence that perhaps Freeman is on track to reach the same heights in Year 3 that many of his contemporaries did in years gone by. ✦ Four of Freeman's predecessors — Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz — won national championships in their third seasons with the Fighting Irish. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP Third-Year History On The Side Of Marcus Freeman UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com Following are the records of the last 10 Irish head coaches through their first two seasons at Notre Dame, dating back to Terry Bren- nan in 1954-55. These 10 coaches are ranked from best to worst by winning percent- age heading into their third season. Winning percentages are in paren- thesis, and title-winning coaches are marked with an asterisk. 1. Terry Brennan 1954: 9-1 1955: 8-2 Overall: 17-3 (.850) Vs. ranked opponents: 6-2 2. Ara Parseghian* 1964: 9-1 1965: 7-2-1 Overall: 16-3-1 (.825) Vs. ranked opponents: 1-2 3. Charlie Weis 2005: 9-3 2006: 10-3 Overall: 19-6 (.760) Vs. ranked opponents: 4-7 4. Dan Devine* 1975: 8-3 1976: 9-3 Overall: 17-6 (.739) Vs. ranked opponents: 4-3 5. Marcus Freeman 2022: 8-4 2023: 10-3 Overall: 18-7 (.720) Vs. ranked opponents: 7-4 6. Bob Davie 1997: 7-6 1998: 9-3 Overall: 16-9 (.640) Vs. ranked opponents: 3-7 7. Brian Kelly 2010: 8-5 2011: 8-5 Overall: 16-10 (.615) Vs. ranked opponents: 2-4 8. Tyrone Willingham 2002: 10-3 2003: 5-7 Overall: 15-10 (.600) Vs. ranked opponents: 4-7 9. Lou Holtz* 1986: 5-6 1987: 8-4 Overall: 13-10 (.565) Vs. ranked opponents: 4-7 10. Gerry Faust 1981: 5-6 1982: 6-4-1 Overall: 11-10-1 (.522) Vs. ranked opponents: 3-7 * Won their first national championship in Year 3 Third Time A Charm?