Marcus Freeman Signs Extension with Notre Dame: Why He's Better Than You Think

Notre Dame locked in head coach Marcus Freeman to a contract extension. It's the right move at the right time.

Nov 9, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman stands with his players for the Notre Dame Alma Mater after defeating the Florida State Seminoles at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman agreed to a four-year contract extension that should make him one of the highest paid head coaches in college football.

For those of you still trying to get past that Northern Illinois loss early in the season - or the past sins of losing to Stanford and Marshall - and for others worried about what could happen if Indiana catches fire in the cold of the first round of the upcoming College Football Playoff, and to those with the reaction of wanting to see something really big first before committing to this type of a deal ...

Marcus Freeman is a better head coach than you think

Sometimes schools and segments of fan bases who can't accept any loss of any kind (cough ... OHIO STATE ... cough ...) forget how impossible it is to find someone who has done what Freeman has in his first three seasons. More on that in a moment.

Sure, this contract is a bit of a risk, but the bigger gamble is to mess in any way with what's working.

The Freeman Era continues ☘️#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/qrhe4tROKH

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 16, 2024

I will fully admit to despising college football head coach contract extensions, especially at huge football schools like Notre Dame. And why? Again, Northern Illinois, and if a team loses its first round College Football Playoff game at home - which I don't think it will, by the way.

More times than not, you show me a massive college football head coach contract extension and I'll show you a whole lot of bad paper being used to politely make that head coach go away.

(As if the University of Notre Dame athletic department knows what that is like.)

But in this case, at 38, Freeman is a long-term investment in the potential of consistent success.

The Irish have a good one, and a possible great one, and the illusion that agents usually sell, in this case, is real when it comes to the market out there for Freeman's services.

Does this mean the Irish will win the national title on a regular basis? Does this mean there won't be another misfire of a loss to an inferior team?

No and no, but this season, considering all the injuries, and with zero margin for error after the early hiccup, he's done a phenomenal job this year, and overall, he's just getting started.

Marcus Freeman is exactly what everyone is looking for in a new era college football head coach

He's young, he's a former player, he relates, he gets the transfer portal, and he gets how to play the game with social media and all the parts of the puzzle.

After three years he has worked within the constraints of being the Notre Dame head coach, he's handled the adversity, and yeah, the gaffes against Northern Illinois, Stanford, and Marshall all likely made him and the program better in the learning process.

And now the Irish should be past any sort of breaking in period. Even with those lumps taken along the way, Freeman has been far better than you probably think because ...

Marcus Freeman vs the current college football superstar head coaches

Let me put it this way. How many college football head coaches at the jobs they're currently at since at least 2022 have a better winning percentage than Freeman?

Four.

Kirby, Dabo, Ryan Day, and Dan Lanning.

Freeman is 30-9 in his first three seasons, and that first throw-him-in-there bowl loss to Oklahoma State in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl gets a bit of a free pass.

You think this is easy? You think every head coach should win 30 games in his first three years at a powerhouse like Notre Dame?

LSU has a better football program than Notre Dame - at least in terms of national championship success over the last several years - and is bound by nothing. Brian Kelly has won 28 games in his first three seasons as the Tiger head coach.

And, by the way, Kelly - even with a trip to the BCS Championship - won 28 games in his first three seasons with the Irish.

No one has more money or resources than Texas. Steve Sarkisian won 25 games in his first three seasons in Austin.

Lincoln Riley has won 25 games at USC in three years. Brent Venables took over for Riley at Oklahoma and won 22 games since 2022, and Florida's Billy Napier won 18 games so far.

In their first three seasons with their respective programs, Mike Norvell won 18 games at Florida State, Josh Heupel won 27 at Tennessee, and the now-legendary Dabo Swinney won 25 games in his first three full seasons at Clemson.

And it's been long forgotten after the last few seasons, but Jim Harbaugh won 28 games in his first three years at Michigan.

That's great, Marcus Freeman, now win more

But yeah, you really are supposed to win a lot at Notre Dame. You're supposed to play for national titles and have teams good enough to a least be in the hunt every single season.

And yeah, as harsh as the reality is, you're supposed to win 77% of your games, especially considering Notre Dame doesn't have a true full Power Four conference slate with its friends-with-benefits deal with the ACC.

But in today's coaching world, you do NOT mess with a good thing. You do NOT look to trade it all for a little bit more.

You do try to lock up a coach like Marcus Freeman to see what he can do next.

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