Marcus Freeman addresses attention placed on racial heritage, achievements

The College Football Playoff semifinal between Notre Dame and Penn State has set up a unique situation in coaching. It’s a game between two minority head coaches — Marcus Freeman and James Franklin — and the winner will be the first black head coach to take their team to a national championship game.

With that in mind, Freeman recently shared his thoughts on some of the attention now being placed on racial heritage in this game and his achievements as a head coach.

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“More than anything, if you want to impact the young people in this profession, you probably should do things to help them,” Marcus Freeman said. “And those are things that, maybe after the season, that I could focus on trying to do. I want to be a representation, and I am a representation. But that’s not enough. If you want to truly help some people, then you got to be one to make decisions and actions that truly help people. And those are things that probably, hopefully, after the season, I can do more of but, right now, I’m more focused on getting this team prepared for this opportunity we have in front of us.”

Marcus Freeman was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach at Notre Dame following Brian Kelly‘s departure following the 2021 regular season. Since then, he’s gone 32-9 and now has the Irish on the brink of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Notably, Freeman had many influences throughout his coaching career. He made sure to emphasize that those influences have come from all over, including minority and non-minority coaches in football.

“There’s so many. I mean, there’s so many and so many different races. I mean, the impact Jim Tressel has had on my life, and Luke Fickell and Darrell Hazell, the guys I’ve worked for. It didn’t matter what color they were. It’s the way they went about their business, but then I’ve followed Tony Dungy from afar, reading his books, meeting with him. Mike Tomlin from afar. Todd Bowles, I mean, there’s great coaches, but you don’t just follow them because of the color of their skin,” Freeman said.

“You follow them because of their actions and the men of integrity they are, and their hard work. I think of Nick Saban. I think of Kirby Smart. I mean, those are guys — You got to be yourself, but you’re a fool if you don’t study what the best do. There’s something that they do that is helping them have success. So, I have to be Marcus Freeman, but I’m going to study the best. I want to study those guys, and some of them happen to be minorities, and some of them don’t.”

The Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, January 9th.