New Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman was on ESPN College Gameday on Saturday morning for his first national interview since officially being named head coach of the Fighting Irish. Freeman stressed that his message for the team is it’s all about now and not the future in his nearly five-minute interview with the GameDay crew.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Freeman’s interview was when Desmond Howard asked Freeman who his mentors were that he learned from to prepare him for this role. Freeman mentioned his college coach Jim Tressell. He mentioned former Purdue head coach Darrell Hazell who made Freeman a defensive coordinator for the first time. And he mentioned Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickel who Freeman worked under for four years prior to joining Notre Dame. Freeman did NOT mention Brian Kelly who he worked under for the last 11 months before Kelly headed down the bayou and picked up a newfound Southern accent.
As he’s been every time he’s been in front of the media since joining Notre Dame, Freeman was impressive in the interview.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
If Michigan fails to take the number 1 spot tomorrow I will have lost all confidence in the CFP committee.
1. Michigan vs 4. Cincinnati
2. Alabama vs 3. Georgia
I know they’re getting in but honestly what is UGAs best win? Kentucky?
And yes the committee is a joke. Bama will
Be #1
Well they beat Clemson who was ranked 3rd at the time. Easy wins over Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, and Auburn are all equally as good of wins as the Kentucky win. Michigan beat down Iowa who was ranked 2nd not to long ago but was clearly over ranked. I dont think Michigan should get jumped by Alabama tomorrow but wouldn’t be surprised if that happens.
Rhonda, you wanted ND to get in. What was its best win?
You posted before it was QB-lacking Wisconsin.
(The best win was actually Purdue, but I digress…)
Call me crazy, but I think Georgia could beat the Badgers. Playing all freshmen.
Using Wisconson boosters as officials.
I am happy but I would hope tht he learned something from Brian, Kelly stopping the run and playnig in control.
Well Oklahoma state just got beat. Now if Georgia and Houston can take care of business Notre Dame could wind up as a 3 seed. Wouldn’t that be something.
Yes…let’s see if this new guy can handle the absolute biggest load of pressure and duties and requests for his time as can possibly be imposed on anyone…..in his first month ever as a head coach.
Hell, with all their lights shinging on him like the Sun, maybe the expertise of today’s muck-raking media could find out some old, arcane incident in his past that no one…not even ND…is aware of.
How could this not be a great idea?
Not so fast my friend. Michigan could lose setting up a Notre Dame vs Alabama 1st round playoff game.
Oh yay ! ND kicking Alabama’s butt will be SO great! (They are incredibly overrated, you know..)
Notre Dame vs Michigan state wow must see tv
So beating Michigan State is now beneath you? Poor baby.
A matchup with MSU or Iowa would be very favorable for ND. Iowa is especially atrocious on O.
A game tOSU would be a really bad matchup since the ND D would be exposed badly and the ND O would not be able to keep up. The end result could well be another humiliation which would be an ugly start to the MF era in South Bend.
Since ND will not be in the POs at this point a win in a NY6 bowl game is the best possible outcome and a top 5 finish.
Go Irish!
I’m not sure Notre Dame could beat Michigan state and if they were to lose that would look worse than getting stomped in a playoff game. ND is going to be ranked 5th sometime tomorrow followed by OSU, Ole Miss, and Baylor. We know OSU is Rose bowl bound. I would like to see ND vs Ole Miss. That seems like a much better matchup than Michigan state or Iowa.
It would indeed.
Alabama should get in the playoff….no question. And has most certainly earned it.
Ignoring the future Disney movie playing in y’alls heads, bullet dodged for ND.
Yes, BCS money is pretty sweet. But ND’s previous 2 dubious paydays make this one too expensive. After 2 good bluffs, better to fold, protect the stack, and wait for a real hand.
Next year is just fine with me.
I hold no animosity for LSU. In fact, I might now even have a real soft spot for them.
When Washington hired Tyrone W, they ended up vindicating ND and “absolving it” from ALL accusations of racism.
They proved, using their money, that he was a totally disinterested, lazy, terrible coach.
LSU will provide a similar service. With its natural bounty of available talent, it’s future underperformance will be inexcusable.
And it will prove that “inadequate talent” wasn’t Kelly’s problem at ND….Brian Kelly was.
Hell, hey’re even paying ND some money to help replace him. Even Washington didn’t do that!
This players coach stuff is getting overplayed. The kids all love the assistants because the head guy usually has to be a prick. I’ve been a position coach and a coordinator (never head coach) and half the job was letting kids know you care and love them after the head coach inevitably had to rip them. Once you get credit for the Wins and Losses the job is different.
Hope and pray they made the right choice.
Go Irish
Alright, buddy. Who the hell are you, and what did you do to Rhonda ?!
“david”, what’s the law? Do we have to wait 24 hours before reporting “Burgy” missing to the FBI?!
Perhaps someone has hacked his computer or stolen his identity.
By not mentioning Brian Kelly, we know he’s less of a lying POS than Brian Kelly.
And by not saying ‘on a day to day basis’ and ‘relative to’ 5 times each, he saved me from another migraine.
So far, so good.