Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 APRIL/MAY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED O ne trip around the Notre Dame cam- pus on any given spring football practice day provides all the evidence that this university is leaving no benefit or brick unturned to winning the arms race that college football has become. Facility-wise, construction of the new 150,000-square-foot, $100-mil- lion Shields Family Hall on the east side of campus — the future home of Fight- ing Irish football — is wrapping up and will open its doors in the fall. When complete, this cutting-edge complex will rival any in the country with top-notch services for training, re- covery and nutrition for the Irish players, along with expanded locker rooms, gath- ering spaces and technological advance- ments for the Notre Dame coaches. Just south of Shields Family Hall, the beautiful Irish Athletics Center indoor football practice facility is in its seventh year of operations. The practice complex was long overdue when it opened in 2019. These facility improvements — with a price tag of about a quarter billion dollars — are tangible brick-and mortar examples of Notre Dame's fundraising commitment to providing the football program every resource to attract, develop and retain the elite players needed for head coach Mar- cus Freeman to win a national title. "One of main obligations and respon- sibilities to this university is to make sure Coach Freeman wakes up every day knowing that he is supported and val- ued by Notre Dame," first-year athletics director Pete Bevacqua vowed. "We are totally aligned around the importance of college football for Notre Dame." When former head coach Brian Kelly fled for LSU in November 2021, he did so for what he believed was a firmer cam- pus commitment and a clearer path to winning a national title in Baton Rouge compared to South Bend. To Kelly, the hurdles were too high and the university commitment was too flimsy at Notre Dame to ever reach the mountain top, and maybe he was right. "I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a na- tional championship," Kelly said. Kelly survived only three-plus years at LSU before being unceremoniously fired after a 5-3 start to the 2025 season. Undoubtedly, aging facilities were part of Kelly's grievance list at Notre Dame. But finding a firmer financial commit- ment and some academic compromise from the university likely weighed even heavier in his departure decision. Like it or not, top programs are spending $30 million or more every year in NIL money to build a roster, with no end in sight. And if Notre Dame was going to sur- vive and keep up with Ohio State, Ala- bama, Georgia and others, a lasting fi- nancial commitment to match its facility investments was needed. And according to various media reports, it happened, and Notre Dame built a roster this season that's valued at more than $30 million. Yet, even with facilities and finances in place, Freeman still wasn't satisfied. On the urging of the fifth-year Irish head coach this offseason, the university relaxed its incoming transfer rules and finally al- lowed undergraduate players to relocate here more freely — without the long delays and the bureaucratic mess of yesteryear. Historically, Notre Dame would es- sentially only welcome in grad transfers who had already earned degrees from their previous university, a restrictive approach that limited its portal pursuits. In a dramatic change of course, Free- man got his admissions wish granted in January and brought in eight trans- fers in January, all undergraduates with multiple years of eligibility remaining. "We had strategic, intentional conver- sations with admissions on understand- ing the landscape of college football has changed," Freeman said. "College ath- letics has changed and there's going to be some student-athletes that we have to get admitted into Notre Dame that maybe haven't graduated." Facility upgrades, competitive player pay, robust coaching and staff salaries, and relaxing roster rules are all critical compo- nents to an increased commitment to give Freeman everything he needs to succeed. As is also a change in attitude and ap- proach when allowing early enrollment for incoming high school seniors who graduate in December and want to en- roll at Notre Dame in January. More the exception than the rule for the last 15-plus years before Freeman, Notre Dame always reserved January enrollment for a select few incoming prep recruits. In fact, under tighter restrictions, Kelly averaged only about 6.5 early enrollees each year during his 13 recruiting cycles. And since those rules have been loosened, Freeman has averaged 16 early enrollees during his four recruiting cycles, including a record 24 early arrivals this past January. While the more things change in and around the program, one thread remains the same that ties together the facil- ity improvements and attitude adjust- ments within the university, and it's the culture Freeman builds and fosters. "When you come here, I don't care if you're here for a year, or for five years, or for six years," Freeman explained. "You have to put everything in the past aside and say, 'I'm joining this family and this brotherhood. I'm putting family and putting Notre Dame in front of myself.'" In the same way, the university is put- ting Freeman and a push for an elusive national championship ahead of previous fiscal worries and roster restrictions. ✦ Wideout Mylan Graham is one of seven incom- ing transfers (out of the eight in total) for Notre Dame in 2026 who arrived in South Bend with multiple years of eligibility. During the previous five years, 27 of the 29 transfers Notre Dame brought in had only one year of eligibility. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com. UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Championship Commitment Is On Full Display