Marcus Freeman is three days away from coaching Notre Dame in a national title game. Is the 39-year-old coach looking to leave for the NFL? And specifically, would the Chicago Bears pique his interest?
The Athletic’s national college football insider Bruce Feldman joined Dianna Russini and Chase Daniel on the latest episode of “Scoop City” to discuss Freeman’s short-term plans as well as his long-term prospects.
The partial transcript below has been edited for clarity. The full episode is available now in The “Scoop City” podcast feed.
Dianna: Bruce, since I have you here. I’ve been I’ve been trying to read the tea leaves, but obviously also trying to have conversations about Marcus Freeman. I feel like the tone has been changing lately — as in, Chicago really wants to make something happen with him. I know he’s focused on on the national championship and he has a lot going on at this moment. What do you know about Marcus’s overall happiness at Notre Dame? We know the school wants him there. Do you see that being realistic, leaving to be an NFL head coach?
Bruce: I’d be very surprised if Marcus left to go be the Bears head coach. You know, obviously, the Bears’ president, Kevin Warren, was the president of the Big Ten. I could totally see why he would be very enamored with Marcus. Marcus has really grown in the last couple of years as a head coach, and he put together a terrific staff. It was really interesting to watch a couple of weeks ago: He plays Georgia, Kirby Smart won two national titles, and Marcus Freeman was one step or two steps ahead of him. He outfoxed them almost at every turn. You see a guy who has total confidence both in his players and staff. He’s a terrific recruiter and he was a Jim Tressel protégé.
Our Notre Dame beat writer, Pete Sampson, really put this well: He’s coached very differently from Tressel. He’s very aggressive. They go for it more on fourth down. They play a ton of man coverage. You see a lot of fake punts, fake field goals. He is in a sweet spot right now. And win or lose — they’re almost a 10-point underdog against Ohio State — I think this program is really ascending.
I think Marcus knows people around Notre Dame gave him a big opportunity and he is thriving in it. He’s got a pretty young family — six kids. They had the chance to either go to Baton Rouge or to be the DC at Notre Dame. He chose Notre Dame because I think they felt comfortable with the fit there. Everything has gone exceptionally well. He just turned 39 last week. The NFL will be there for him if he wants it five years from now. A lot of people have taken the Bears job and it has not worked out.
Dianna: I’ve talked to people close to him, too, that have told me that he’s been pretty patient in his career. He’s had tons of different opportunities that I guess the public doesn’t even know about that he’s turned down and decided to either continue to grow in the position he’s in, and in some cases even almost take a step back to just continue that coaching growth. So that makes all the sense in the world. I could certainly see the Chicago Bears wanting him and maybe perhaps he’s just not ready (to leave) at this moment.
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
