Marcus Freeman welcomes expectations which comes with Notre Dame job

Few football programs present a challenge for a head coach quite like Notre Dame, and the current one, Marcus Freeman, is well aware of it. The expectations of competing for national championships is clear, as are the various benefits and limitations of Notre Dame being athletically independent in football and a premier private, Catholic school.

Freeman embraces the challenge, knowing there are hundreds of coaches who would gladly take it on if it weren’t currently his job. And the coach is bullish that for all the expectations and hills still to climb, Notre Dame is still a place to win a national championship at.

“The expectation’s win every game you play in. And ain’t won a national championship since 1988. And they, every year, ‘Win this national championship.’ You know? And that’s my goal, too. I want it. I want success for two groups, right? One is our players. I want it for our players. Cause they deserve it. That’s why they chose Notre Dame. And I want it for our athletic director, our president. They took a chance on me,” Freeman said on “The Pivot” podcast. “There’s so much support around here.”

Freeman wasn’t going to be passive when he and his team had failed to meet those expectations early on.

Notre Dame lost to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl in Freeman’s first game as head coach, but a 37-35 bowl loss after becoming the head coach weeks prior wasn’t going to engender scorn. What happened to start the 2022 season, though, did.

After putting up a valiant fight on the road in the opener against Ohio State, the 0-1 Notre Dame team hosted Marshall in the first home game under Freeman. One infamous afternoon in South Bend later, Marshall had a signature victory and Freeman was in the thick of it as the Irish fell to 0-2.

“But listen, man you gotta just love them dudes and you gotta fix the process. Like the amount of people that texted me after Marshall, ‘Trust the process.’ ‘Trust the process.’ Man, there ain’t no trusting. We’re 0-3. Ain’t no trusting. You gotta fix it,” Freeman said. “And you gotta — look, we gotta coach better. I gotta lead better first. And we’ve gotta coach better. And then they’ve gotta go do. We showed you guys the team room. We’re going to decide and we’re going to teach. So we’ve gotta teach better. But then they, in return, have to do better.”

The Irish are bullish on being able to compete in 2023. After a strong finish to 2022, Notre Dame brought in transfer quarterback Sam Hartman and should again feature a strong defense.

But Notre Dame is still a long way from being on the same tier as year-to-year playoff contenders. Freeman related the challenge ahead to the name of the podcast he was on.

Notre Dame is walking uphill on a seesaw in Freeman’s analogy, trying to get to the lever point in the middle where the seesaw would tilt and their uphill climb could become a downhill rush.

But that uphill climb isn’t ever easy.

“At one of the greatest Catholic universities in the world, we can’t pray this thing into happening,” Freeman said. “You can’t just pray it into happening. You gotta work. You gotta pray and work. And you gotta work tirelessly. And at some point that thing will pivot where it needs to go.”