Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman in Alignment on Future With Contract Extension

Rumors started popping up connecting Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman to open NFL gigs as soon as the Chicago Bears head coach position opened. Freeman didn’t unequivocally shoot them down at the time, but it seems he was slightly coy at the time because a long-term extension with Notre Dame was in the works. Sunday night, the University announced that they agreed on an extension with the head coach who guided the Irish to a home playoff game this Friday.

“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 said in a statement on Sunday. “The investment they continue to pour into our program is invaluable to our student-athletes and staff. This commitment goes well beyond myself, as they are dedicated to ensuring all aspects of our program are competitive within the upper echelon of college football.”

According to Irish Sports Daily, the extension will also give Freeman access to one of the country’s largest assistant coach salary pools. ISD also reports that the extension is for four years, locking Freeman in for six more years. The assistant coach salary pool is a critical component of Notre Dame’s future success, given that Al Golden and Mike Denbrock can both probably have their pick of coordinator jobs if they want and could still draw interest in head coaching opportunities.

On the night of September 7, the betting odds of Freeman not making it to the end of his first contract probably would have been worse than the odds of him getting an extension. Freeman had just overseen his third home loss as a 2+ touchdown favorite, this time to Northern Illinois. At that point, no one knew what to expect from the 2024 season. Since then, however, Notre Dame has rattled off 11 straight wins in impressive fashion and finished the season ranked 5th in the final CFP rankings, earning a home playoff game in the process.

Freeman was going to attract the interest of NFL franchises—as evidenced by the Bears rumors—and likely would have drawn interest from other college programs. As we’ve seen in recent years, programs aren’t afraid to spend money on coaching searches or poach coaches from top programs.

The extension now gives Notre Dame and Freeman stability and shoots down any rumors that could have been used against the Irish on the recruiting trail – both with high school recruits and portal targets. It also shows that Freeman and the University are in full alignment on the future of the program. Earlier this year, Notre Dame broke ground on state-of-the-art football facilities that will put Notre Dame back into the top tier of programs from a facilities perspective now that the Gug has become a bit dated. The University also opened up the coffers to lure Denbrock from LSU a year after the embarrassing OC search left the Irish settling on Gerad Parker.

Freeman has had his fair first of first-time head coach blunders – and spoiler, there will still be more given he has only been a head coach for three years – but he also has Notre Dame in position for their best chance at a national championship in many years. He has also embraced Notre Dame in a way that very few head coaches at Notre Dame have. Freeman is a regular at other sports teams’ games, including being a regular courtside spectator at the women’s basketball games. He’s also embraced Notre Dame academic standards and challenged his players to “choose hard” instead of using excuses like “having to shop down different aisles” at Notre Dame.

There is still a lot of work left for Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame starting this Friday, but despite the hiccups that have occurred, the University has to be pleased to be in the situation they find themselves. LSU and Oklahoma, for instance, can’t feel as good about the hires they made in the same off-season as Notre Dame hired Freeman.