Marcus Freeman says Jim Tressel offers advice weekly

After turning things around with a three-game win streak, Notre Dame hit another speed bump this weekend with a 16-14 loss to Stanford. First-year coach Marcus Freeman said Jim Tressel, the former Ohio State coach who is in the College Football Hall of Fame after winning five national titles, has given him some advice in a trying time.

Regularly, actually.

Freeman, of course, played linebacker for Tressel from 2004-08 before joining Tressel’s staff with the Buckeyes as a graduate assistant in 2010.

“I hear from him, we talk often. Weekly,” Freeman said Monday. “I won’t get too in-depth on our conversations. Some are football, his opinion. I’m going to give you my opinion, and I respect his opinion. But moreso just, ‘Hey, you’ll be fine, man.’ He struggled his first year.”

The Fighting Irish began the season ranked No. 5 in the country but quickly tumbled out of the Top 25 altogether after back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Marshall.

Freeman appeared to have things under control, beating California, North Carolina (on the road) and then a ranked BYU over a four-week span to get to 3-2. Then last weekend’s setback against Stanford, which hadn’t won a game since its season opener against Colgate.

Tressel’s general advice for Freeman? Building a foundation takes time, but you’ve got to be yourself.

Marcus Freeman leaning on Jim Tressel’s wise words

Former players often close bonds with their old coaches, and it’s clear Marcus Freeman respects Jim Tressel greatly.

After all, he was on Tressel’s teams that played for BCS National Championships in 2006 and 2007. He knows there are ups and downs in college football, because the Buckeyes went 8-4 in his first season with the program in 2004.

He also went through some of those ups and downs as a defensive coordinator at Cincinnati from 2017-20, where he really made a name for himself and eventually parlayed that success into a gig with Notre Dame.

“I think back to our first year at Cincinnati, it was a struggle,” Freeman said. “And that’s why I keep telling myself to build something the right way. I can’t build on what’s been done in the past. All right? What coach Kelly did here was tremendous. The wins and the success he had here. But I can’t come in here and say, ‘I have to be Brian Kelly.’ I’ve got to be Marcus Freeman, and it’s different. It’s different.

“So I’ve got to build this team with the current players that we have, the great players that we’ve recruited in the past, but you’re still building your foundation from the ground up. And you have to go through some of these growing pains, man. It’s just a part of, it’s something new. We’ve got to make it ours. We’ve got to make it mine. Anything worthwhile, I believe in my life, is going to take some growing pains to get it to where you want it.”

With that in mind, it’s back to work for Freeman and Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish will host UNLV this weekend in a game that kicks off at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.