Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame football team are two wins away from claiming the program’s first national championship since 1988, but Freeman is collecting hardware before the College Football Playoff semifinals can even begin.
Despite losing an early-season game vs. Northern Illinois, the Irish have been otherwise stellar. Notre Dame currently sports a 13-1 record and is slightly favored to beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl and reach the CFP national title game next week. For those reasons, it’s easy to see why Freeman has picked up his second award of the season.
Earlier today, Freeman was named the George Munger College Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club, making him just the second Notre Dame football head coach to earn the honor (Tyrone Willingham did so in 2002). Freeman previously won the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award, which is given to the head coach “of a team with a successful season on the field and equally as important, stresses the importance of academic excellence and desire to give back to the community.”
Leading by example
Coach Marcus Freeman has been named the George Munger Coach of the Year #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/A84inQLiih
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 8, 2025
Freeman is in his third season as Notre Dame’s head coach. After serving as Brian Kelly’s defensive coordinator in 2021, Freeman became the Irish’s head man when Kelly left to take the same job at LSU.
In his first year, Freeman led Notre Dame to a 9-4 record, the program’s worst record since 2016. However, Freeman and the Irish improved to 10 wins in 2023 and then, this year, up to potentially 15.
Notre Dame kicked off the 2024 season with a 23-13 road win in College Station vs. Texas A&M but then fell in a shocking upset loss to Northern Illinois in South Bend. While the Irish sank in the standings and there were questions if they would be able to get into the College Football Playoff with such a loss on their resume, Notre Dame proceeded to rout nearly every one of its remaining opponents.
Of the 12 games since the NIU loss, only one (Sept. 28 vs. Louisville) has been decided by single digits, including the Irish’s CFP wins vs. Indiana and Georgia.
Notre Dame has not played for a national title since January 2013 when Alabama crushed the Irish 42-14, coincidentally, in the same stadium they will play tomorrow in the Orange Bowl.
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