The Gould Standard: Soul-Searching Time for Notre Dame's New Coach

With a sputtering offense and a restless fan base, Marcus Freeman is learning on the job. And he has no time to waste.

 In 1997, when times were simpler and football coaches hosted golf outings to get acquainted with media, I attended Bob Davie’s inaugural tee-it-up event on the eve of his first season as Notre Dame football coach.

Davie was following Lou Holtz (100-30-2) one of three men to win a Rockne-like 100 games at ND. The first one, of course, was Rockne himself (105-12-5).

On one longish, but wide-open par-3, I happened to skull a 5-wood—remember 5-woods?—to about six feet. The ball just screamed up there, where I could write my name on the closest-to-the-pin sheet.

On a shortish par-3 over a marsh, I happened to catch an 8-iron just right and the ball nestled in for another closest-to-the-pin entry. Davie, who was watching from a cart behind the green, erupted in cheers.

At the post-golf lunch, I picked up my awards—some meal certificates to South Bend restaurants—and gave them to an assistant coach or two. This was back in the day when assistants could use assistance.

After lunch, Davie was working the crowd. When he got to me, he said, ``So you’re a stick, huh?’’

` ``No,’’ I said. ``I just got lucky today.’’

``No, you must be a stick,’’ he said, winking at me.

I thought about telling him I was just another bogey golfer, but let it go. As a Chicago cop once said, ``Don't beef on yourself.''

The point is, even at Notre Dame, judging talent is an imprecise business. With amateur golfers or college football coaches, there is an element of luck.

At this mid-point in his first season under the Golden Dome, Marcus Freeman must be well aware of that. An injury here, a missed block there. These things add up.

As noted here, this isn’t the first time that Notre Dame has elevated a promising young defensive coordinator to succeed a coach who won a Rockne-like number of games.

Davie, who looked like a good choice at the time, went an unappetizing 35-25 before departing for ESPN and the University of New Mexico. Remember when college coaches got five years—talk about ancient history—to recruit their own players and prove themselves? Even Gerry Faust. I was there for Gerry Faust’s fourth year—when everyone knew he would need to part Lake Michigan to attain a sixth year.

And now, Marcus Freeman (3-3) is following Brian Kelly (113-40).

Despite a couple of ugly losses, it’s way too early to start drawing conclusions. The Stanford disappointment on top of the Marshall shocker is producing grumbles. But so far, the fingers are being pointed at offensive coordinator Tommy Rees—who is either not using his talent well enough, or simply doesn’t have enough talent to use.

Notre Dame’s 16-14 loss to a Stanford team that had lost its previous four games is the second slap of the season for Freeman and the Irish faithful, who were shocked and embarrassed 26-21 by Marshall. after what seemed like a competitive opening loss at Ohio State.

Right now, a great deal of the venom is directed at Rees, the young offensive coordinator who lost young starting quarterback Tyler Buchner to a season-ending shoulder injury in the Marshall game. That left Drew Pyne as ND’s QB. Pyne is gritty, but lacks the upside a Notre Dame needs to compete against its toughest opponents.

And now, whether Pyne can guide a flawed Notre Dame against remaining opponents that everyone expected the Irish to beat is an open question.

The second-half schedule: UNLV, at Syracuse, Clemson, Navy in Baltimore, Boston College, at USC.

Before the season began, No. 5 Clemson and No. 12 USC looked problematic. At this point, No. 14 Syracuse can be added to that list. And honestly, ND needs to buckle up against everyone, given its current state.

What’s missing?

Clearly, the talent gap is not that great, even against the Marshalls of the world. The other thing is, the cliche that Notre Dame takes everyone’s best shot may be a cliche, but it’s also true.

As it turns out, Stanford had lost to four decent teams—USC, Washington, Oregon and Oregon State. For Notre Dame to be a 16-point favorite was a mistake in perception. But bettors expected the Irish to roll.

Instead, the Irish are under the microscope.

Everyone wants to know what’s wrong.

Rees is in the crosshairs for inept offense. Except for world-class tight end Mike Mayer, he has a quarterback and receivers with limited upsides. The offensive line is bumping along, too, at this point.

It won’t be long, I expect, before the discontent will start pointing more squarely at Freeman. That will be even more true if Kelly keeps goading LSU up the voracious SEC food chain.

How huge is that 24-23 special-teams loss to Florida State now? If LSU had finished that comeback, it would be 6-1 right now, with its only loss to rising-star Tennessee—and attracting more attention. 

With Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M still in front of him, Kelly still has a mouthful on his plate. But so far, so good.

At 5-2, the Tigers remain a bit under the radar. But you can bet that Irish fans are saying, ``We’d be 5-1 right now if Kelly had stayed.’’

The one thing that brand-new head coaches have to learn is the ability to anticipate problems and snuff them out, whenever possible, before they undermine the won-lost record.

That takes experience. Coaches like Holtz and Kelly had it long before they got the Notre Dame job.

Freeman is getting it now.

Can he learn fast enough to put the Fighting Irish on safer ground? Time will tell. A 6-6 record and a minor bowl looks likely right now. Anything more is a bonus. Anything less is. . . a cause for angst.

The Rees/offense question needs to be addressed. ND needs a confidence-building win against UNLV this week. And then it needs to play a very tight game at Syracuse.

Clearly, this season isn’t going to be the kind of debut that Notre Dame devotees envisioned for Marcus Freeman.

But when a coach, no matter how gifted, becomes a head coach for the first time, there’s a learning curve. When that first job is at Notre Dame, he needs to learn fast.

That won’t be easy. Even at Notre Dame, judging talent is an imprecise business.