Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 12, 2024 7 UNDER THE DOME ously. And once you do, you're validated in his eyes. Forgiven. That's how he op- erates. As soon as Shuler apologized, the saga was over. The blunder had been learned from, and that's all that Free- man really wanted all along. Well, that and the possibility of some Notre Dame points. But that became water under the bridge quite quickly. What's the use of a coach holding a grudge? Shuler is a starter Freeman must entrust each and every time Notre Dame plays a football game on Saturdays. Head coach and one of 11 on defense have to be on good terms in order for the operation to be at its best. That's why Freeman got in Shuler's ear while running to the tun- nel at halftime. This time much friend- lier than the last. "I said, 'I appreciate you owning it. I love ya. Let's reload and get ready to come back in the second half,'" Free- man said. "I love that kid. He's a great young man." Owning it goes for more than just mistakes. It goes for personal decisions and convictions. Sometime in the 40 or so hours af- ter the Shuler ordeal and Notre Dame's 28-3 win over Miami (Ohio) went final, Freeman had a conversation with Jaden Mickey. The junior cornerback made it clear to Freeman he wanted to sit out the rest of the season, excuse himself from the Notre Dame program and enter the transfer portal at the end of the year. This is a player Freeman recruited through Mickey's mother's battle with cancer. A player Freeman had grown close to, perhaps even closer than oth- ers, and this is a coach who loves them all, all the same. This was also no time to throw a fit like he did with Shuler. Totally different situation. The duality of head coaching in 2024. Freeman heard Mickey out and empowered the young man to make the life-altering choice he believed was in his best interest. "Everybody's going to have an opin- ion, myself included. But it's not our opinion that really matters," Freeman said. "Jaden Mickey made a decision that he felt was best for him. So for me to do anything other than support him, it's selfish. I'm not in his shoes. I don't know what's going on in his life. This is what he said is best for him and his future, so it would be selfish for me to have selfish thoughts and opinions about the decision he's making. "I wish him the best of luck. I love him. He's a great young man who's been through a lot. He'll go and do great things." Not every coach in America would step to a lectern and say those things in the immediate aftermath of a player's departure from the program. Mickey was giving Notre Dame real, quality time on the field this season as rota- tional player at corner — the Irish's No. 3 option on the outside behind Benja- min Morrison and Christian Gray — and a special teams staple on the punt return team. But he clearly sees himself as a starter somewhere else. That's what transfer- ring is often about, often to the ire of the coaches players leave behind, but Freeman showed his sincere side in let- ting him go peacefully. That's always been the case for him in these types of situations. Freeman is very much still learning how to lead a national title-contender of a football program. He's not there yet. But he's always been there as a leader of men, a galvanizer of groups and some- one you'd want to have looking after your son every day. The idea has always been if winning at an elite level soon comes with that, Notre Dame will have a head coach it wants to stick around for years and years. Rightfully so. ✦ UNDER THE DOME 1. Publication Title 2. Publication Number 4. Issue Frequency 5. Number of Issues Published Annually 6. Annual Subscription Price 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher (Not printer) 9. 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Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies) (16b divided by 16c 100) PRIVACY NOTICE: See our privacy policy on www.usps.com. X October 12, 2024 9/27/24 663 8,046 8,058 99.9% 678 8,261 8,288 99.7% Publisher "I lost my temper a little bit, but the first thing he said was, 'Yes sir. I own it. I shouldn't have done it. My bad. It won't happen again.' And when a young person, a coach or anybody, when you own your mistakes, now we can fix it. If you make excuses and say it's somebody else's fault, it's hard to fix that until you own it." FREEMAN ON HIS SIDELINE EXCHANGE WITH SOPHOMORE SAFETY ADON SHULER