Marcus Freeman needs to win games and prove that he is not hard to work with
Let’s keep an eye on Marcus Freeman in year two of leading the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Sure, he was a promising up-and-coming defensive coordinator under Luke Fickell at Cincinnati and then for a year under Brian Kelly in South Bend. However, his first season in the big chair was every bit up-and-down. While they dominated Clemson, they also lost to Marshall and Stanford…
Although every first-time head coach has a learning curve to overcome, this is Notre Dame! Factor in Fighting Irish alum Tommy Rees leaving his alma mater after only one season as Freeman’s offensive coordinator for the Alabama gig after passing up the opportunity to follow Kelly to LSU, and something is up… Is Freeman hard to work with? Either way, he has to figure this out quickly.
While I don’t think Notre Dame would part ways with him after two seasons if year two is an unmitigated disaster, there may be somewhat of a buyer’s remorse by promoting him from within to succeed Kelly. The timing did not work out to bring over Freeman’s former boss and fellow Ohio State alum Fickell because of the Bearcats’ playoff run, but it might have been the smarter move.
Freeman still has supporters, but a second consistently inconsistent campaign could sway them.