Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman is No. 1 first-year head coach in college football per The Sporting News
The offseason success of Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman hasn’t been lost on anyone. The Sporting News has certainly taken notice.
The outlet released its annual rankings of college football head coaches Tuesday, from No. 1 Nick Saban to No. 131 Ken Wilson. A bevy of the coaches are first-timers; coaches who have ascended to head coach status for the first time in their careers. Freeman, of course, is among them.
Well, sort of. Technically, he’s above them. At least in this ranking.
Freeman checked in at No. 35 on The Sporting News’ list. He’s the highest-ranked first-year head coach, 13 spots clear of the next closest (Oregon’s Dan Lanning). For context, Freeman came in ahead of established names in the sport such as UCLA’s Chip Kelly (38), Auburn’s Bryan Harsin (39), UCF’s Gus Malzahn (45) and many more. He’s right behind other big names such as Mississippi State’s Mike Leach (30) and Stanford’s David Shaw (31).
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Freeman still has a long way to go to catch former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly (6), who departed from the Fighting Irish after winning more games than any other coach in program history in his 12-year tenure. Also of note, the coach who Freeman learned from for four seasons at Cincinnati cracked the top five. Luke Fickell checked in right at No. 5, an eight-spot jump after taking the Bearcats to the College Football Playoff in 2021. They beat the Irish in South Bend on the way there.
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Freeman’s debut as a head coach came on New Year’s Day in the Fiesta Bowl. Mike Gundy (12) Oklahoma State beat Notre Dame, 37-35. The Irish led 28-7 late in the second half but could not withstand a second-half surge from the Pokes without All-American safety Kyle Hamilton and their offensive heartbeat of running back, Kyren Williams.
Freeman carries the burden of an 0-1 record and outside pressure from all over into the 2022 season. A similar CBS ranking of all the FBS coaches put Freeman at No. 49 last month. That was ahead of fellow former Notre Dame defensive coordinators Clark Lea of Vanderbilt (57) and Mike Elko of Duke (64). Those appeared at No. 76 and 79 on The Sporting News list, respectively.
What Freeman has accomplished in six months as the Notre Dame head coach without having won a game has certainly been impressive. From recruiting to a refined positive public image of the program, Freeman has said and done all the right things. Whether he goes up or down in these rankings this time next year, though, depends on how he fares during the 2022 season. Winning — or losing — is everything.
