Marcus Freeman, Chad Bowden, Recruiting Staff Have Changed The Game For Notre Dame
One of my biggest complaints about the prior regime for Notre Dame was about recruiting. The lack of a proper plan, the lack of effort at the top and the lack of commitment to recruiting at an elite level was one of the many self-induced stumbling blocks that kept Notre Dame from getting over the hump.
Instead of making changes and putting in the work, we were fed excuses about academics and needing to "shop down a different aisle."
Fortunately, the arrival of Marcus Freeman, Chad Bowden and the rest of the Notre Dame staff has completely changed the game. The excuses are gone and Notre Dame is recruiting at a much higher level than it has in quite a long time.
Freeman is also shopping down a different aisle, at least different from the previous head coach. He is choosing to go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country, and the Irish are getting wins that have the program heading in an exciting direction.
Freeman has obviously had a big impact on that, both directly and indirectly. Obviously Freeman is a strong individual recruiter, but demanding that Bowden be brought with him when he arrived as the defensive coordinator, and then promoting Bowden to Director of Recruiting for the entire program when he Freeman was promoted to head coach was incredibly impactful as well.
Bowden and his staff, which includes strong up-and-comers in Dre Brown, Carter Auman and Zaire Turner (Director of Recruiting Operations) have brought a lot of juice to the recruiting operation along with Mackenzie Zanow, the Director of On Campus Recruiting.
Of course we have seen the funny videos of Bowden and Brown dancing, and the fun antics like Bowden, Davis and others dressing up like Secret Service agents or Leprechauns for Junior Days. While that is something young prospects, and even some parents, certainly enjoy, there is a seriousness to the recruiting operation that has really change the game.
If you focus too much on the antics you lose sight of how serious this recruiting operation has become, and the results are speaking for themselves.
Don't let the antics fool you, it's done with a purpose. There is a plan to everything that Notre Dame is doing on the recruiting trail, an intentionality that has made Notre Dame effective on the trail, and has helped lead to some big wins over the last two cycles, and has the Irish off to a red hot start in the 2025 class as well. The assistant coaches and Freeman rightfully get a ton of the credit, but the work being done by the recruiting office, often behind the scenes, is incredibly important.
The work is done in a variety of ways, from both a program promotion standpoint, and when it comes to playing a huge role in actually doing the recruiting and landing prospects.
Here's an example of the creativity the recruiting staff has utilized to promote the program and standout.
Look at how the staff put out official offers for the 2024 class.
I, for one, can't wait to see what the staff does for the 2025 class, especially as we get closer and closer to the Pot of Gold offer push for this class.
The Notre Dame recruiting operation is no longer just relying on tradition and the prestige of the school, they are showing that what Notre Dame is now is something you'll want to be part of. Tradition has met an innovative modern approach that continues to make Notre Dame one of the "it" schools.
When you talk to recruits you constantly hear Bowden's name. In fact, only Freeman's name is mentioned as much as Bowden, who is a grinder on the recruiting trail. You'll see him in the dancing videos and you can tell he truly enjoys the skits when recruits are on campus, but don't let that fool you, Bowden is a serious recruiter for Notre Dame. Bowden knows how to sell Notre Dame, Freeman and the Irish staff.
Notre Dame's administration needs to whatever it takes to make sure Bowden stays with the program as long as possible. The more years that Freeman and Bowden stay together the more talented the Notre Dame roster will be.
You are starting to hear Brown's name a lot more over the last year as he starts to find his way. Brown, a former running back at Illinois, could be hard for Notre Dame to keep on staff before he's running his own recruiting operation, but keeping him around as long as possible is important.
I argued for years that Notre Dame needs to up its game on the recruiting trail on all levels, but for many years the recruiting operation was led by an assistant coach who already had his hands full with coaching duties.
The way Freeman set up the current recruiting operation, which he is the lead for and he put Bowden in charge of, frees the coordinating of recruiting up to those two, and allows the assistant coaches to focus on coaching and doing actual recruiting. It has made the entire operation more effective, and as Bowden and his crew continue to become more entrenched, it's only going to make it better and better.
They say recruiting is the life blood of a football program, and that's absolutely correct. Freeman absolutely gets that, it's why he hired Bowden, and as long as Notre Dame can keep this crew together the Fighting Irish are going to be a major, major force on the recruiting trail. The 2023 and 2024 classes are evidence of that, but this group is just getting started.
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