Marcus Freeman details message to Notre Dame players on football, life

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is focused on more than football. The 37-year-old coach recently discussed his hope to improve his players’ performance on the gridiron and in life.

“I try to really just give them examples and a lot of times that ain’t me, but examples of don’t cheat football, right? That’s why you choose Notre Dame. You want to be a first round pick, right? You aspire to be a national champion. So, we don’t want to cheat that man. You’ve got to grind, work your tail off and all those things that we know it takes to have success,” Freeman said on a recent episode of “The Pivot Podcast.”

Freeman knows about success. He is the third-youngest head coach in NCAA Football. He was a star linebacker at Ohio State from 2004-08. Simply put, he’s a winner. Nonetheless, he knows those wins don’t come easily.

Freeman’s first season leading the Fighting Irish is a perfect example. The team began the season 0-2 after falling to Ohio State and Marshall. However, Notre Dame bounced back to finish the season 9-4 with a massive win over South Carolina in the Gator Bowl.

Freeman knows he couldn’t have overcome the season’s early adversity without his friends and mentors supporting him. Now, he wants to help his players build similar networks, even if they’re not related to football.

“Understand you’re at a place that you can truly tap into a network that is second to none. And, I try to show them examples of really what this network is. It can be former players, it can be Notre Dame alums; people to just connect with at Notre Dame. And, [I] say, ‘We’re foolish if you don’t tap into this network why you’re chasing this dream.’

“Even coming up sometimes, if you thought about anything other than football — ‘Man, I’m cheating my chance of making the league, right? I’m cheating my chance of really reaching all my football goals which is foolish, right?’ You can chase these dreams to be an NFL football player to be the greatest football player you can be. But you can tap into your networking and have some realizations about what other passions you have,” Freeman said.

Freeman knows football dreams don’t always come to fruition. Despite his success at Ohio State, he was diagnosed with an enlarged left ventricle his first year in the NFL. Yet, due to his solid network, he still found success in an avenue related to his passion.

The Ohio native wants his athletes to find their passions, and if that’s football, all the better. Watch Freeman and his Fighting Irish kick off their season against Navy on Aug. 26.