Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2025 11 UNDER THE DOME Notre Dame Hires Mike Martin As General Manager Notre Dame has a new football program general manager to replace Chad Bowden, who left for USC. It's Mike Martin, formerly the director of scouting advancement for the Detroit Lions. The university made the transition official Feb. 27. "Mike Martin is an innovative, forward-thinking, organized leader, who is also elite at tal- ent evaluation," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said in a statement. "He is a great communicator and has valuable experience in roster building and management, as he was a vital piece of enhancing and developing the Detroit Lions' roster over the last few years. Additionally, his expertise in utilizing sports science and analytics will help us continue to elevate our program." Martin's job in Detroit was to work with personnel staffers from colleges and other profes- sional teams to "enhance the scouting and roster-building process." He'll be asked to perform similar tasks at Notre Dame. Martin was a big part of three winning seasons in a row for the Lions from 2022-24. Many felt the Lions had a roster worthy of getting to the Super Bowl, if not winning it, in 2024. Martin's longest stint in one place during his two-plus decades as an NFL support staffer was in Houston. He worked for the Texans for 11 seasons, holding titles ranging from college scout (2007-14) to national scout (2015-16) and assistant director of college scouting (2017). He was the Southwest area scout for the Carolina Panthers from 2018-20. Current Notre Dame director of scouting Matt Jansen worked for the Houston Texans on three different occasions, beginning as an intern in 2008, then as a college scouting assistant from 2011-13 and finally as a college scouting coordinator from 2015-18. All three stints overlapped with Martin's lengthy one in the Lone Star State. So while this will be Martin's first official college gig, he'll have at least one familiar face to work with in Notre Dame's facility. — Tyler Horka Former Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator Al Golden Wins Broyles Award Former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden won the 2024 Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in college football. He accepted the honor at a ceremony Feb. 13. Golden took the same job with the Cincin- nati Bengals shortly after the 2024-25 season ended, but he left an indelible mark on the program in South Bend. The honor of being named the best assistant coach in the nation marked his final achievement with the Irish. "People always ask me, in this age of transactional sports, what it was like to coach at Notre Dame," Golden said shortly before his win was announced. "I'll say this: It was the greatest 1,000 days of my career to be associated with and to wake up and coach those young men every day." Golden, whose defense led the Irish to the national championship game, is Notre Dame's second Broyles winner. The first was defensive coordinator Bob Diaco in 2012. In Golden's third year in charge of the defense in South Bend, his group was the catalyst for Notre Dame's 11-1 regular sea- son and subsequent College Football Playoff run. The Irish allowed 15.5 points per game, which was tied for fourth in the nation. They led the country in passing efficiency defense at 104.4, turnovers forced with 33 and defensive touchdowns with 6. — Jack Soble Marcus Freeman Adds Two More Coach of the Year Awards Marcus Freeman stood at the half-court line at Purcell Pavilion March 2 to formally accept his Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year award hardware. He received a thunderous applause from a sold-out arena. Clearly, it just never gets old. Notre Dame could have honored its head foot- ball coach in a similar fashion for four other coach of the year awards. The two most recent of those were the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches College Coach of the Year, which he was bestowed Feb. 14, and the Ted Ginn Sr. Coach of the Year, which he was given Feb. 21. Freeman also took home the Dodd Trophy and the George Munger Col- lege Coach of the Year award. Notre Dame had by far its best season of the Freeman era in 2024, turning in a 14-2 record and a national runner-up finish following a loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national champi- onship game. The Irish went 9-4 in Free- man's first season and 10-3 in his second. They're one of the top 10 favorites to win it all in the 2025 season. — Tyler Horka Martin was a big part of three straight winning seasons for the Detroit Lions from 2022-24. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Golden was honored as the top assistant coach in college football this past season. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER