Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM JANUARY 2026 25 And yet Notre Dame football has not only survived in that new world, thanks in part to Martin, it's thrived. "I'll admit I didn't know what I didn't know," he said. "When I got into this job, I don't think anyone knew just what all the rule changes were. When I started off, we were all over the place. Coach Freeman often references a bumpy road to better. I think, along the way, we got better and started to familiarize our- selves with the changes. "Our emphasis is on getting the right players, and the evaluation effort is be- ing ramped up. When I first got here, that was the goal. And then somewhere along the way, we got mired in all of these changes. We were able to pull it back together and get back to what we wanted to do, which was focusing on finding the right individuals." WHY RELATIONSHIPS MATTER What that looked like on Martin's first college National Signing Day, after spending his entire administrative ca- reer in the NFL, was Notre Dame host- ing 28 prospects on official visits this summer and signing 27 of them. And without a single decommitment. "A lot of stats will get thrown around about this class," Martin said. "But the one I'm most excited about, most proud of, is the zero decommitments. I think we're excellent here in terms of building relationships between Coach Freeman, the coaching staff, recruiting staff, the support staff and the recruits. "We're able to connect with these young men on a personal level and build genuine relationships. This doesn't happen without genuine, real relation- ships. I think that was key in being able to hold this class together. Also, we try to focus on the right young men. "I feel like this place isn't for every- one, but for the young men that this place is for, they get it. Once they figure out that this is where they want to be, I think they're committed to that. This class was the perfect example." EMBRACING THE SEISMIC CHANGES This is the timeless formula that has to be married to 2020's reality — the finan- cial side. And an elite program doesn't sustain itself with only one or the other. The strong culture needs the right re- sources as much as the ample resources need the right culture to preserve team- first goals and keep the transfer portal from needing a revolving door installed. Here's a peek into that side of things through Martin's eyes: • On getting comfortable with the rev share/NIL aspects and player contracts: "I'm still trying to get comfortable with that part," he said. "When you're dealing with men at the NFL level, ev- erything is business. You earn a check; you're in a contract. But at the college level, we connect on so many different levels —helping to develop them, build- ing relationships. "Sometimes it makes the negotia- tions over NIL difficult. You're dealing with some agents who are the greatest in the world to work with. And there are some that aren't as easy to work with. Then there's families that represent themselves, and then there's even young men that represent themselves. You find yourself constantly trying to adjust to who you're working with. "Transparency is important at Notre Dame, transparency on how we see them from a valuation standpoint. Be- ing up front, being clear with them, helped us navigate that space. But it's still something we're working through. "There's challenges. There's contrac- tual language in there that they're not always receptive to. There's a lot of back and forth and redlining, and that's kept us pretty busy. I don't know if that's something you ever get comfortable with. I'm glad that it is where it is, and we are where we are. And I'm glad that this class came together." • On navigating the new territory of putting a monetary valuation on each player: "It's tough," Martin said. "We started with how much of the budget we were going to allocate to the 2026 class. And then from that, what percentage of that percentage do we want to allocate to each position room? We were able to divvy up the funds and then make the budget from there. "It's hard to just put a number on something. There's not a lot of shared information on what guys are making or what Alabama is paying guys, what Oklahoma is paying. You don't really get that information, so you have to fall back on what you know. "I took our approach from the rookie salary pool, and we were able to break it down. It's a good baseline, a good starting point, and that's how we set the initial valuation. We also evaluate the player's talent, and we're able to tier players within positions. We hit on top- tier players at every position." • On how competitive Notre Dame is in the NIL/rev share space: "We are positioned well to do what we want to do and what we need to do," Martin said. "We understand that we may never be the highest-paying team or the highest bidder, but it is impor- tant to us to be competitive. We offer so many other things that we don't neces- sarily have to have the same budget, but we can't be too far off either. "If we want to continue to be com- petitive on the field, we're going to have to continue to push the number. Right now we are positioned well for that." And well-positioned to continue to push Freeman's vision and mantra: Choose Hard. IN STEP WITH FREEMAN'S VISION Martin was able to get in step with it naturally, in part because of his choice to attend another high academic school, Vanderbilt, for his playing career and then excel at those academics to the extent of being an SEC All-Academic selection. "I learned a lot, I think, in my colle- giate time," Martin said. "I learned the importance of education and the aca- demic side. I also learned how to per- severe through hard times, because we had it rough while I was there. "Marcus always speaks to this, 'Ev- erything that we want in life is on the other side of hard.' He's been able to connect with our young men and our players and just emphasize that struggle is necessary. "We were faced with that reality right out of the gate in the first two games which didn't end up the way we wanted. We struggled. But I don't think we go on to win the next 10 without that struggle. "He's able to constantly remind this team that the struggle and the signifi- cance of hard and overcoming challenges help build the unit that we want here. And we've been able to do that thus far, and we're going to continue." ✦