A youth movement takes hold among college football coaches, and Marcus Freeman is the handsome face of this millennial moment.
If Notre Dame beats Ohio State, Marcus Freeman would become the youngest coach to win a national championship since Danny Ford, with 1981 Clemson.
Chicago Bears turn an eye toward Marcus Freeman, per report, but staying at Notre Dame seems pretty enticing.
You’ve probably heard it’s a tough time to coach college football. Never mind that coaching salaries soar into the eight figures for guys who’ve never won a national championship or that exorbitant buyouts protect some failing coaches. Yes, indeedy, the echo chamber says coaching college football is a fool’s errand nowadays.
Players possess more power, freedom and compensation than ever before, and coaches are left with less roster control. That’s unbearable for some coaches who can’t stomach operating without unchecked omnipotence.
And then here’s Marcus Freeman, standing in contrast to all that coaching doom and gloom. Notre Dame’s 39-year-old coach sprints along the career fast track while shepherding this blue blood to power. He’s at the vanguard of a youth movement taking over college football sidelines.
If Freeman’s Fighting Irish beat Ohio State on Monday in Atlanta, he’d become the youngest coach to win a national championship since Danny Ford, at age 33, led 1981 Clemson to a national title.
In this millennium, Urban Meyer was 42 when he won his first national championship at Florida, and Bob Stoops turned 40 a few months before capturing his lone national championship at Oklahoma.
Freeman and Ohio State coach Ryan Day, 45, combine for an age of 84 years. That’s the youngest coaching pairing for a national championship game since the Bowl Championship Series began pitting No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a title matchup beginning in the 1998 season.
Freeman and Day manage strong relationships with players even in this transactional age of the sport.
So, it’s a bad time to coach college ball, huh? Maybe, it’s only excruciating for those with a foot stuck in a past that’s never returning.
Marcus Freeman to Ryan Day, College Football Playoff serves youth
Coaches in their 30s and 40s seized this moment, and the trend stretches beyond Freeman and Day.
As college football’s old guard retreats, enters retirement, or cashes buyout checks on the unemployment line, the next generation takes their place.
When this College Football Playoff began last month, the average age of the 12 coaches from the qualifying teams was 45½ years old.
At 63, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti checked in with the most trips around the sun. Arizona State’s pup Kenny Dillingham, 34, is the youngest of four playoff-qualifying coaches in their 30s.
Book your tee times, boomers, or take your spot on the “College GameDay,’ because millennials claimed this era as their own.
And Freeman proved the landscape allows for a coach at a school with resources and tradition to advance from unproven newbie to hot commodity at warp speed.
Stay at Notre Dame, or eye the NFL’s Chicago Bears?
Freeman might enjoy the opportunity to call his next shot. The Chicago Bears, just zip on I-90 away from Notre Dame, would like to interview Freeman for their coaching vacancy, the NFL Network reported Sunday.
Notre Dame recently awarded Freeman a contract extension through the 2030 season, and, although his salary at a private university is not public record, he’s widely believed to rank among the nation’s top-paid coaches.
Freeman recently downplayed the NFL rumors.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” he told ESPN.
Freeman’s certainly got nothing to worry about. He’s holding nothing but trump cards.
Staying at Notre Dame or jumping to the NFL offers a win-win situation. Reviving the Bears, though, would be a tougher challenge than keeping Notre Dame humming. Ask any of the several coaches who unsuccessfully followed Lovie Smith how easy it is to win in Chicago. Freeman ought to think long and hard before walking away from Notre Dame.
In South Bend, Freeman could continue as the popular coach who made Notre Dame, long one of college football’s most polarizing programs, more likable to the general public. Freeman’s movie star looks probably have something to do with that, but so, too, does his composed demeanor that contrasts from Brian Kelly, his red-faced predecessor.
No matter what Kelly insinuated after he left Notre Dame for LSU, coaching the Irish ranks as a premier job, and the university adjusted to college football’s evolution.
While Notre Dame won’t threaten for “Portal King” status, several transfers – from quarterback Riley Leonard to kicker Mitch Jeter to strip-sacking defensive lineman RJ Oben – contributed to this journey. Freeman helped galvanize a new Notre Dame, one fit for NIL and high-impact transfers.
In hiring Freeman, “I saw almost an advantage in having somebody who wasn’t set in their ways as a head coach,” former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told NBC Sports, “because the world was shifting, and you’ve got to be able to shift with it.”
Swarbrick gambled on a first-time coach, and, as recently as September, the jury remained out on Freeman. Notre Dame and Freeman hit an inflection point after the Irish shockingly lost on their home field to Northern Illinois in Week 2. Combine that result with his 2022 losses to Marshall and a bad Stanford team, and Freeman owned three defeats to opponents that had little business beating the Irish.
Freeman and his Irish stuck the landing after that rocky start, and they validated this run with an Orange Bowl victory against Penn State.
A day before that College Football Playoff semifinal game, Penn State coach James Franklin, 52, joked about Freeman’s youth and impressive hairline before complimenting his coaching skills. Whatever Franklin’s intentions, Freeman used those wisecracks as fuel. In his third full season, he’s advanced to a grand stage that eludes Penn State’s veteran coach.
With one more victory, Freeman would cement his place as the handsome face of college football’s millennial moment.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.