The NFL is always looking for a few good coaches. This year, it was looking for more than a few. Ten of 32 jobs opened up.
And Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman got plenty of attention until he made it clear that he’s staying put.
Freeman recently revisited the situation during an appearance on Josh Pate’s College Football Show. And, as Freeman did in January, he left the door open for a possible future jump to pro football.
“The year before there was a little bit of chatter, but you’re in the playoffs, and that’s your only focus, you know?” Freeman said. “This year got really loud after the end of the regular season, and, you know, usually, I’ve never been in this position where we’re not playing in a bowl game or playing in the playoffs, and so I did — I took a minute to really say, ‘What is this opportunity of being an NFL head coach?’ I’ve never coached in the NFL. I wanted to know what they look for, what they think it takes to be successful. And I gained some valuable knowledge.”
As he did, Freeman wisely opted for transparency with his players and with the program.
“I was always honest with our players,” Freeman said. “If they asked, and [I] talked to them, I said, ‘Listen, guys, like, I’m the head coach at Notre Dame. And I can’t control what opportunities or what people are saying outside of this building.’ But — and I was always in communication with our Athletic Director, right? And my family. But for me, it was the opportunity to be the head coach of this university was one that I wasn’t ready to let go. And I love this place. I love, more importantly, the people here, the opportunity to coach these young men, many of them you’ve recruited for multiple years. Like, that’s just something I’m not ready to let go of.
“And it’s the opportunity of a lifetime and, you know, again, the other thing I use it to tell the team, ‘With team success comes individual opportunities.’ And the head coach is a reflection of the players of other coaches. We’ve had some coaches get opportunities to go coach in the NFL, and I’m happy for them. But if we weren’t having team success, if we didn’t win those last ten games, then my name or nobody else’s name would be floating around here.”
He used the example of running back Jeremiyah Love, whose Heisman candidacy (and possibly his status as the third overall pick in the 2026 draft) was fueled by the success of the team.
“There’s a strong feeling if we didn’t win those last ten, then he wouldn’t have been up for the Heisman, right?” Freeman said. “So it’s a reminder for all of us that, with team success comes individual opportunities. So let’s just be intentional about and focused on team success. If we do that, your individual opportunities and individual praise, those will come. But it’s a result of team success. Let’s just be focused on team success, and that’s the message we constantly say.”
It’s the right way to strike a delicate balance regarding commitment to the job and long-term aspirations. The coaching profession has always included the pursuit of upward mobility — to bigger jobs, to more money, to the highest mountains to climb.
Freeman, 40, has chosen to be honest with himself, and everyone else, when it comes to where his own ambitions could lead him. And the best way to reconcile future goals with more immediate objectives is to tie them together. Instead of arguing that individual opportunities are an unwelcome consequence of team success, Freeman’s position is that those individual opportunities are a direct product of team success.
And everyone benefits from that, not just the coach.
It’s a refreshing shift from the days when the coach kept his cards close to the vest, lied to everyone about never wanting to leave, and then disappeared without a trace to the next job.
As to Freeman, the door to the NFL will remain open for as long as Notre Dame continues to be a high-level contender. One of these years, he may decide to walk through it. The year-to-year nature of the NIL era makes that easier to do.
The argument that a recruit shouldn’t sign with a given school because the coach won’t be there for the full four or five years has become a relic. For today’s players, the only season that matters is the next one.