Marcus Freeman clarified his future coaching plans.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman did some of the best work of any head coach in the country this year, bringing the Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff semifinals months after the season got off to a rocky start with a surprising loss to Northern Illinois. That outstanding performance on the sidelines apparently landed Freeman’s name on NFL radars, with various insiders indicating in November that the Notre Dame coach drew new interest from front offices across the league. However, before of the Orange Bowl showdown with Penn State, Freeman pushed back on the NFL speculation.
Freeman is one of several playoff coaches that have apparently generated NFL hype. Oregon’s Dan Lanning rose to prominence among general managers earlier this season, while ESPN’s Adam Schefter predicted Sunday that Texas’ Steve Sarkisian will receive calls from NFL teams amid renewed interest from front offices throughout the league.
“I don’t know when they announced it — I can’t remember — but about a week or two ago, they announced another long contract here at Notre Dame,” Freeman told SportsCenter this weekend. “So I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
That contract, which became official last month, would make Freeman one of college football’s highest-paid coaches. It adds a four-year extension to the three years Freeman already has left on his lucrative six-year contract, inked in December 2021. The arrangement includes a wage increase from $7 million to an average of more than $9 million each year. Freeman also offers new incentives, such as bonuses for making the College Football Playoffs.
“I am grateful for the support of the Board of Trustees, led by John Veihmeyer, President Fr. Bob Dowd, C.S.C., and Director of Athletics Pete Bevacqua,” Freeman wrote in a statement last month. “Our student-athletes and staff value the continued commitment they make in our program. This dedication extends far beyond myself, as they are committed to ensuring that all areas of our program are competitive in the upper echelons of college football.”
Freeman demonstrated his coaching prowess in last week’s playoff quarterfinal triumph against Georgia. He received widespread plaudits in the college football world for his great execution of a fourth-down call, which resulted in an offsides penalty that effectively ended the game, as well as for preparing the Fighting Irish to overcome one of the sport’s blue-blood schools.
Freeman’s performance on the CFP sideline came just two days after winning the Dodd Trophy for national coach of the year. He is the second Notre Dame coach to receive the award in the previous two periods of Fighting Irish football, following Brian Kelly’s tenure with the program.
