Marcus Freeman does damage control over offensive coordinator search, hire

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman defended his decision to promote Gerad Parker to be their next offensive coordinator.

The first year under new head coach Marcus Freeman saw the Notre Dame Fighting Irish go 9-4 and win the Gator Bowl. But after the season, Freeman already saw one of the members of his coaching staff leave in offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. After Rees left to take the same position at Alabama, Notre Dame swung and missed on candidates like Andy Ludwig of Utah and Collin Klein of Kansas State. Ultimately, Freeman chose to promote tight ends coach Gerad Parker.

On Monday, Freeman spoke to the media to introduce Parker and defended the team’s search for a new offensive coordinator. Specifically, he said that athletic director Jack Swarbrick was willing to buyout a candidate from their contract, but that wasn’t the reason why they didn’t choose the job.

Marcus Freeman defends Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator search

"“In our line of business, part of college football and college business is we negotiate buyouts,” Freeman said, h/t NBC Sports. “Any coordinator or position coach that has a buyout, we talk about those things. We discuss it. That’s not the reason why somebody didn’t choose Notre Dame. Let’s make sure we get that out there.“… Jack Swarbrick has never shied away from paying a buyout.”"

These comments were directed towards an ESPN report indicating that Ludwig’s contract buyout of at least $2 million was an “obstacle” in negotiations. Ludwig was considered a frontrunner for the job, but after meeting with Notre Dame, decided to remain as offensive coordinator for the Utes.

Swarbrick responded to the report in an email, denying that Ludwig’s buyout was an obstacle for the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame also interviewed Klein, who was the offensive coordinator for Kansas State for the 2022 season. After an interview, Klein opted to remain at Kansas State.

Now, the Fighting Irish will have Parker as their offensive coordinator, the first time he has held the position since the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the West Virginia Mountaineers. Now, he will be in charge of getting the most out of the offense and to ensure that transfer quarterback Sam Hartman succeeds.

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