ND Expected to Hire Marcus Freeman
December 1st, 2021 at 8:11 PM ^
To hell with Notre Dame.
December 2nd, 2021 at 12:50 AM ^
I second that
December 1st, 2021 at 8:12 PM ^
Very interesting, if true.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:27 PM ^
Glad he got a HC job so he doesn’t get hired by his alma mater Ohio St to be their DC
December 1st, 2021 at 8:33 PM ^
Exactly what I came here to say
December 1st, 2021 at 9:14 PM ^
ND opens the season with OSU next year. Interesting turn of events, for sure.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:13 PM ^
Dang, I think he's gonna be good someday, but seems like he doesn't have much experience for taking over a major program like ND.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:20 PM ^
Good points and it’ll be interesting how Freeman performs.
However, the floor at ND might be as low as don’t kill a kid by sending them up a crane to film a practice in bad weather.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:45 PM ^
I dunno, the players love him, he's a good recruiter, and Rees and the SC guy were retained and both apparently are pretty good
I think there's a good chance it works out well for them
December 1st, 2021 at 9:07 PM ^
Players typically like their assistant coaches though. They get to play the role of good cop while the head coach is the asshole disciplinarian. Some guys aren’t good at making the transition to being the asshole.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:21 PM ^
All the players loved Hoke
December 2nd, 2021 at 12:52 AM ^
Good point. The hand clap only takes you so far
December 1st, 2021 at 8:14 PM ^
May he be the next Charlie Weiss.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:00 PM ^
I hope he's a little better. Good enough not to get shown the door, not good enough to get into the playoffs or win a lot of games against his rivals.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:01 PM ^
The judges would have also accepted "...the next Gerry Faust."
December 1st, 2021 at 9:18 PM ^
Going with Davie Bob. The DC who was promoted the last time a good coach left ND.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:14 PM ^
And then that leaves Oklahoma as the last one standing. Luke Fickell may be intent on waiting out Ryan Day at Ohio St.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:33 PM ^
Agree with you on Fickell. He wants to stay in the Midwest
December 1st, 2021 at 8:41 PM ^
Fickell is being fickle.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:45 PM ^
My current notion is that he may have been told that Day is not long for OSU/CFB. I'd wait another 2 months or 2 years if it meant my dream job.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:38 PM ^
It really seems like Fickle is only leaving for OSU. I cannot imagine that ND didn’t at least reach out to speak to him about leaving Cincinnati.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:41 PM ^
Right now many observers think Cinci is poised to be one of the big players in the new Big XII once OU leaves for the SEC
Fickell can afford to wait for the right job and still have an easier path to the playoffs right now.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:42 PM ^
Interesting that Fickell ends up being the coach of Cincinatti. Looks like the marketplace doesn't see him as the next great thing. Best example is ND-they passed on Fickell to take on an unproven young guy with no HC experience. No way Fickell passed on ND in the hope that the OSU job opens up down the road. ND passed on Fickell.
December 1st, 2021 at 11:38 PM ^
ND didn’t pass on Fickell. They wanted Freeman from the go. He’s very well respected in the coaching community and most think he’s going to be an excellent head coach. He will keep the majority of their class intact on top of it. As for in-experienced, I present to you Lincoln Riley and Dabo. There are guys like Davies that didn’t work and there are guys like those 2 who did. For ND, it’s a really good choice to be honest.
December 2nd, 2021 at 12:26 AM ^
Or maybe he’s a decent guy and told them he’s trying to win a national championship and they couldn’t wait.
December 2nd, 2021 at 9:19 AM ^
It's possible. I'm just speaking after talking directly to a high school coach (and rival) that is friends with Freeman and coaches a 5 star that's committed there. Freeman was the guy from the jump. Explains why they immediately said they would not hire a search firm and would handle this quickly.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:15 PM ^
All recruits love him apparently. Would love M to poach some recruits from these schools with recent coaching changes
December 1st, 2021 at 8:22 PM ^
Yeah I was hoping they'd go with Fickell which would have made poaching more of a possibility. Players and recruits dig this guy and the guys we'd especially like to poach are on the defensive side of the ball and they're especially close to him. Dang.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:15 PM ^
Hmmm what’s going to happen with Fickell? Can’t think he wants to stay at Cincinnati long term.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:30 PM ^
Maybe Miami will throw some money at him. Or FSU. Both schools are looking to improve and could see something in him. Dunno.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:39 PM ^
Fickell doesn't come across as much of a state of Florida kind of guy. Curious to see what happens with him. I can see him being content at Cincinnati for another year, especially after this year's success. I wouldn't expect much after that, but what jobs would he leave UC for, aside from osu?
December 1st, 2021 at 9:08 PM ^
Cover three podcast suggested ND, Penn State, OSU, and maybe MSU as the only jobs he would really look to accept. If he turned down ND at this point, he must be feeling like OSU could be open in the near future?
December 1st, 2021 at 9:18 PM ^
He turned down MSU last year
December 2nd, 2021 at 9:48 AM ^
Right, but that also doesn't mean he wouldn't ever take the job. Hell, Mel Tucker also turned down MSU last year.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
Harder to hate Notre Dame w blueberry face gone, and a worthless no-name in place.
But not much.
As stated above - To Hell w Notre Dame.
Go Blue!!!
December 1st, 2021 at 9:12 PM ^
Harder to hate Notre Dame??? Does not compute.
Notre Dame was insanely easy to hate long before purple face. Removal of one asshole does nothing to dampen Notre Dame hate. Fuck those guys.
December 2nd, 2021 at 10:46 AM ^
I have never understood the hatred for Notre Dame. It's a quality school that used to be really good at football. They're basically us. And "we" hate them for the same reason everyone hates Michigan.
December 2nd, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
You never understood why we hate one of our rivals? Rivals are always hated. It's as simple as that.
But we hate Notre Dame for obvious reasons; like Lou Holtz and his fake flattery, for Harry Oliver and the wind stopping, for their special treatment in being a "part-time" member of the ACC, for their undeserved NBC TV contract, for Rocket Ismail, for Carlyle Halliday leaving the football behind on the 2 yard line and getting rewarded a touchdown, for that POS Charlie Weiss (No, he is not the reason for Tom Brady being the GOAT), for the several times they snuck an opponent in at the last minute to get a game under their belt before the Michigan game, for their home announcers once blaming mid-term exams for them losing to Stanford, for them making sure to get one last home game in against Michigan before cancelling the series altogether, for their continued greed in not joining a conference, for Purple face, for the phantom interference call on Ty Law on 3rd & goal to get a fresh set of downs when they desperately needed a TD, for the ref using an index card to measure and see if Michigan got a first down, for them claiming for 25 straight years that they have returned to glory, for the over-hype when they beat a crappy opponent, for Ron Pawlus being declared a 3 time Heisman winner before stepping on campus, for their knock-off Michigan Stadium...
I mean, I could go on. But if you haven't gotten the point by now...
December 1st, 2021 at 9:16 PM ^
Will always hate those "holier than though" a-holes no matter who the coach is.
December 1st, 2021 at 10:54 PM ^
It’s never difficult to hate Notre Dame. Try it. It’s wonderful!
December 1st, 2021 at 8:16 PM ^
Rumor is the players basically demanded this. They haven't had much success in the past hiring guys without head coaching experience but the program is as loaded as it has ever been so keeping their roster and recruiting class were the most important part of this hire. As much as I hate ND and OSU, Markus is a great dude.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:53 PM ^
"Rumor is the players basically demanded this."
If true, ouch. Bad things can happen.
December 1st, 2021 at 9:03 PM ^
See also: Bill Stewart at West Virginia
December 2nd, 2021 at 12:44 PM ^
Also see: Bobby Williams when Saban left
December 2nd, 2021 at 2:20 PM ^
Didn’t the players at USC want Orgeron ?
December 1st, 2021 at 9:50 PM ^
currently: assistant at Morgan State (under Todd Bozeman! Remember him?!?!?)
December 1st, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
No head coaching experience but a good recruiter? Sounds like a young Frames Janklin
December 1st, 2021 at 9:32 PM ^
....but does he have a hot wife ????
December 1st, 2021 at 8:19 PM ^
Your source is something called 0n3. I’ll wait till somebody we’ve heard of.
December 1st, 2021 at 8:21 PM ^
On3 was referenced in the hello post from today.