Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman Considered a Top Coaching Option for NFL in 2025

Most of the other potential candidates for open positions already coach in the NFL.

Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman reacts to a play on the sidelines. / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

As the 2024 NFL season reaches past the halfway mark, insiders like SI's Conor Orr are thinking about who some of the top candidates for coaching positions could be.

So far, there will be at least two NFL coaching openings after the New York Jets fired Robert Saleh and the New Orleans Saints fired Dennis Allen. There's a couple other teams who have coaches on the hot seat, too.

Many of the possible candidates are coaches already working in the NFL as offensive or defensive coordinators, for instance—that tends to be the easiest pipeline to becoming a head NFL coach. However, one candidate specifically stood out in NFL Network's Tom Pelissero's list of options: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman.

It's not often that a college football coach comes directly from their program to the NFL—the most recent example being Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers. He had previous NFL coaching experience, though.

At age 38, Freeman has only worked at the collegiate level with Notre Dame being his first head coaching role. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2009, jumped around to two other teams, but never played in a single game.

Since taking over the Fighting Irish program in Dec. 2021, Freeman has posted a 28–9 coaching record. His team is poised to make the College Football Playoff this season, too.

It's definitely possible Freeman could be interested in coaching for an NFL team, although Notre Dame may put up a fight to keep him around.

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