Notre Dame Football Announces Marcus Freeman As New Head Coach

The Notre Dame football program acted quickly to find its new head coach.

On Friday, the Fighting Irish announced that Marcus Freeman will become the team’s 30th head coach. Freeman had spent the past season as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Freeman will be officially introduced at a press conference on Monday. Terms of his contract were not announced.

𝗜𝗧’𝗦 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟.

Please join us in welcoming @Marcus_Freeman1 as the 30th head coach of Notre Dame Football!#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/PVaPuPhukp

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 3, 2021

“It is an honor to be named the head coach of Notre Dame Football,” Freeman said in a statement. “I am eternally grateful to both Father John Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick for giving me the opportunity to lead the exceptional men who make this program what it is. Notre Dame is a very special place and I look forward to pursuing a national championship with the most outstanding student-athletes, coaches and staff in college football.”

The 35-year-old Freeman is the youngest head coach at Notre Dame since 1954. In his first game as the team’s head coach, Freeman will lead the Fighting Irish in the postseason in either one of the premier bowl games or the College Football Playoff.

With Freeman leading the defense, Notre Dame finished 11th in the nation in scoring (18.3 points per game), 33rd in yards per play (5.14), 20th in opponent third-down conversion rate (33.14 percent), fourth in red-zone touchdown percentage (36.84) and seventh in sacks (40).

“Marcus Freeman has not only proven himself a superb football coach, he has shown–both in his time at Notre Dame and in my conversations with him this week–that he is a person of highest integrity who cares deeply about our student-athletes and is committed to their success in the classroom as well as on the field,” University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C said. “I am excited to welcome him as our new head football coach, and to have his wife, Joanna, and their six beautiful children in the Notre Dame family.”

Before turning to coaching, Freeman was a standout linebacker for Ohio State and was selected in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.

Freeman and the Fighting Irish will learn their College Football Playoff fate on Sunday when the final rankings are announced.