Mike Golic Jr. provides ringing endorsement of Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman

Earlier this week news surfaced that Notre Dame had agreed on a contract extension with coach Marcus Freeman, presumably keeping him in South Bend for a good deal longer.

Mike Golic Jr., who played for the Fighting Irish and has some unique insight into the Notre Dame program, was asked on the Andy & Ari On3 show about the timing of that contract and whether he felt it appropriate given what Freeman has done.

“I do. Whether or not they wanted it out the week of the game or they wanted to wait for that after,” Golic said. “And if you listen to Pete Bevacqua, they knew they wanted this done then. I think to answer the initial question, yes, I do think Marcus Freeman is the guy.”

There are a few primary reasons why Golic believes Freeman is indeed the guy at Notre Dame. Chief among them, though, is his ability to connect.

“I think in this day and age we have seen a premium on young coaches that can connect with players in a different way,” Golic said. “And that don’t have preconceived notions about what the system used to be here.

“You haven’t heard a lot of complaints out of South Bend about the nature of the portal, the different things that are thrown at you in college football’s cycle. You’ve just seen them attack solutions, and that starts, that’s leadership from the top down.”

Moreover, Freeman doesn’t just talk. He walks the walk. The Fighting Irish head coach has demonstrated time and time again to his players that he’s a genuine guy who means what he says.

“We had a chance to talk to Riley Leonard on the show and he said it, the example Marcus sets in the building every day of how he treats people involved in this process, the way that he goes about this, how consistent he is in the way that he approaches managing this team,” Golic said. “I think all that and watching him grow into the job.”

Notre Dame has reached the College Football Playoffs this season and will host a home playoff game. That’s as good as it gets for the Fighting Irish as far as end results to a regular season go.

Now that Freeman is locked up long-term, the Fighting Irish will certainly be hoping that’s a regular occurrence. Even if they’ve seen some mistakes along the way.

“He’s a first-time head coach. We knew mistakes were going to come,” Golic said. “Some of them came in more high-profile moments — last year the Ohio State game with 10 men on the field thing. That was a tough moment to get over. Losses to Marshall and Northern Illinois. Those are difficult.

“But every time adversity has come up, you’ve seen the response there and you’ve seen them capable of playing ball in modern college football with NIL, with the portal, doing all these things that I didn’t know as a Notre Dame fan and a school that hugs tradition so much if we were necessarily going to dive right into the deep end on that. And they have. And I think Marcus’ leadership is a big reason why, so I was glad to see that contract come through.”