Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546068
10 PRESEASON 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ERIC HANSEN I n late July, Marcus Freeman encapsu- lated the secret sauce to his continual rise into the upper stratosphere of col- lege football coaching. And he did so with both a facial ex- pression and the avoidance of a word salad, in the sentences that followed. The subject matter covered in the question — one of roughly 30 the fifth- year Notre Dame head coach fielded in a 45-minute sit-down with a small group of reporters — had to do with his predecessor, Brian Kelly, whose summer image-rehab tour includes pushing the notion of an August visit to see Freeman and the Irish football program that he walked away from in late November 2021. After putting his hand over his face and then sitting slack-jawed for a cou- ple of seconds — seemingly telling in its own right — Freeman did what Free- man does. Spin the possibly awkward experience into an opportunity to grow himself and the program. "When you talk about his years of ex- perience as a coach," Freeman said of the man who hired him as defensive co- ordinator in January 2021, "I'm sure he could come here and evaluate and give me feedback from things that he saw. "I know he's talking about coming to practice. We text back and forth, and he wants to come around. If he does, then I'll tell him, 'Hey, I want you to evalu- ate. I want you to give me some honest feedback.' "Because there's very few people that will give you honest feedback, and I hope that he'll be willing to do that, because it can make us better." THE ESSENCE OF MARCUS FREEMAN It's not just consistent messaging. It's who Marcus Freeman continues to be. And that is the notion that you never arrive. You're always learning. That serves Freeman well, because while value systems tend to be immu- table, the world around those values in college football is constantly evolving. That's why Freeman's reactions to those changes make sense, because it's not about being well rehearsed, it's about being authentic. What that's produced on the field in the 40-year-old Freeman's first four years since succeeding Kelly in Decem- ber 2021 is a 43-12 mark. The Irish will aim to add to the win total beginning Sept. 6 against Wisconsin in Green Bay, Wis., with a roster that looks eerily sim- ilar to those concocted in the peak Lou Holtz years. Kelly, meanwhile, in his three seasons at LSU and a truncated fourth before being fired, three days after his 64th birthday, was 34-14. WHAT KELLY COULD LEARN There's not much of an appetite for Brian Kelly content among the Irish fan base these days, and understandably so. His messy exit in 2021 and the self- narrative that came with it hasn't gotten any better with Kelly's recent attempts to reframe it instead of owning it. And if Kelly is going to reboot his coaching career in 2027 after a year of TV work, that's going to have to be who he is to make it a success, much the way he did after a 4-8 season at Notre Dame in 2016. It does no good to look in the mirror UNDER THE DOME CREATING THAT EDGE The essence of Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman and why his coaching stock continues to rise Freeman, who was hired to be Notre Dame's defensive coordinator by Brian Kelly in January 2021, said he would welcome a visit and honest feedback from the former Irish coach. "I hope that he'll be willing to do that, because it can make us better," Freeman noted. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER