On Thursday night, Penn State’s James Franklin and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman met in a clash to determine who would advance to the National Championship.
More significantly, the winner would make history as the first Black head coach in FBS history to make the Championship.
In the end, Freeman became the history-maker as the Fighting Irish kicked a field goal with under 10 seconds remaining to win the Orange Bowl and advance to the championship game.
It was a moment not lost on Freeman.
“It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this,” said Freeman after being asked how it felt to be the first Black coach to make the championship.
Freeman, Notre Dame’s second Black head football coach behind Tyrone Willingham, was a popular choice for the position.
When he was given the job after Brian Kelly left for LSU, players swarmed the then-defensive coordinator and celebrated.
He was a four-year letterman at Ohio State who played one season in the NFL before returning to the Buckeyes in 2010 to begin his college coaching career.
Over a decade later, he was hired as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and became the full-time head coach in 2022.
Under his leadership, the team has improved each season, going 9-4 and 10-3.
This year, the Irish went 12-1 in the regular season. More impressively, after a stunning week 2 upset by Northern Illinois, the Irish reeled off 11 straight wins to make the playoffs, where they’ve won three straight over Indiana, Georgia and Penn State.
What Freeman has accomplished at Notre Dame has been somewhat overlooked as most paid attention to teams from the SEC and Big 10, particularly after signing massive media deals. Some have even started to complain that the Irish have an easier path to the CFP as they’re an independent; they even critiqued them for a weak schedule and for pocketing the full $20 million that other teams have to share with their conference.
That belittles what Freeman has accomplished and ignores Notre Dame’s media deal with NBC.
The Irish beat then-ranked no.20 Texas A&M on the road, no.15 Louisville, no.24 Navy, no.18 Army and USC in LA. That’s not an easy schedule.
When the team renewed its long-term deal with NBC in 2013, they were making roughly $22 million per year, much less than teams in the SEC and Big 10. This past November they signed their sixth extension with NBC. The new deal runs through the 2029 season and increases their annual rights fee to $50 million, which is still less than what Big 10 or SEC schools are making.
Even with the $14 million the Irish make annually from being in the ACC for basketball, the school still makes less than Big 10 and SEC schools, so there’s nothing really for critics to complain about.
Those criticisms detract from the greatness that Freeman has demonstrated over the last four years at Notre Dame and from the history he’s both made and could make on January 20th in Atlanta.
Becoming the first Black head football coach in FBS history to win a national title will put his name next to legends and history makers like John Thompson at Georgetown, Carolyn Peck at Purdue and C. Vivian Stringer and John Chaney at Cheyney State.
They were all “firsts” in college sports history, and now Freeman has joined that list.
All he needs is one more win to become the first for a second straight time.
