Marcus Freeman
Marcus Freeman went 49–13 as a head coach, 2021–2026, at Notre Dame. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 6–0); by them his record is 49–12. Share
- Record
- 49–13 career
- Seasons
- 6
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 3 seasons
- Born
- Jan 10, 1986
- Best season
- 2024 14–2, No. 2
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Notre Dame bowl game | 0–1 | Fiesta Bowl L | 8 | ||
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 9–4 | Gator Bowl W | 18 | ||
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 10–3 | Sun Bowl W | 14 | ||
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 14–2 | CFP First Round W; Sugar Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal W; Orange Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship L | 2 | ||
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 10–2 | 10 | |||
| 2026 | Notre Dame | 6–1 (Wikipedia: 6–0) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
.jpg){kind=link}
Leonard MooreConsensus All‑American, 2025- Jadarian PriceNo. 32 pick, 2026
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 25 | 16–9 | 64% |
| Against top-10 teams | 12 | 5–7 | 42% |
| Against rivals | 22 | 20–2 | 91% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 7 | 5–2 | 71% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 16 | 7–9 | 44% |
| At home | 29 | 24–5 | 83% |
| On the road | 20 | 14–6 | 70% |
| At neutral sites | 13 | 11–2 | 85% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 59 | 48–11 | 81% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
His own 62 games on file, 2021–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Riley 2022–2025 | 3–1 | USC | 4 | |
| Brian Newberry 2023–2025 | 3–0 | Navy | 3 | |
| Mike Elko 2023–2025 | 2–1 | Duke, Texas A&M | 3 | |
| Ryan Day 2022–2024 | 0–3 | Ohio State | 3 |
Marcus Freeman’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Stanfordseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Navyseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| USCseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Purdueseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| Ohio Stateseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Boston Collegeseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| NC Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| North Carolinaseries | 2 | 2–0 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2024 Notre Dame: Bear Bryant Award and Bobby Dodd Award
How he was hired
- Hired by Notre Dame for the 2021 season from Notre Dame, where he was defensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Also a player: Marcus Freeman’s playing career.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Ohio State | Graduate assistant | |
| 2011–12 | Kent State | Linebackers coach | |
| 2017–20 | Cincinnati | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2021–26 | Notre Dame | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included. Head-coaching seasons the infobox leaves out come from our records.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Jim TresselOhio State
- Darrell HazellKent State
- Luke FickellCincinnati
- Brian KellyNotre Dame
Assistants who became head coaches
- Brian PolianNevada, John Carroll
- Jeff QuinnCentral Michigan, Cincinnati, Buffalo
- Lance TaylorWestern Michigan
- Al GoldenTemple, Miami
- Gerad ParkerPurdue, Troy
- Joe RudolphPittsburgh
- Trent MilesGeorgia State, Indiana State
- Chris AshRutgers
- Charlie PartridgeFlorida Atlantic
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Tressel | Ohio State | 2010 | Graduate assistant | |
| Darrell Hazell | Kent State | 2011–12 | Linebackers coach | |
| Luke Fickell | Cincinnati | 2017–20 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Brian Kelly | Notre Dame | 2021 | Defensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (9)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Polian | Notre Dame, 2021: special teams coach and assistant head coach | Nevada, John Carroll | |
| Jeff Quinn | Notre Dame, 2021: offensive line coach | Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Buffalo | |
| Lance Taylor | Notre Dame, 2021: running backs coach and running game coordinator | Western Michigan | |
| Al Golden | Notre Dame, 2022–24: defensive coordinator | Temple, Miami | |
| Gerad Parker | Notre Dame, 2022: tight ends coach; 2023: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | Purdue, Troy | |
| Joe Rudolph | Notre Dame, 2023–26: offensive line coach | Pittsburgh | |
| Trent Miles | Notre Dame, 2024–26: senior offensive analyst | Georgia State, Indiana State | |
| Chris Ash | Notre Dame, 2025–26: defensive coordinator | Rutgers | |
| Charlie Partridge | Notre Dame, 2026: defensive line coach | Florida Atlantic |
Other assistants under him (9)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| John McNulty | Notre Dame, 2021: tight ends coach | |
| Kerry Cooks | Notre Dame, 2021: defensive assistant | |
| Tommy Rees | Notre Dame, 2021–22: offensive coordinator | |
| Harry Hiestand | Notre Dame, 2022: offensive line coach | |
| Gino Guidugli | Notre Dame, 2023–26: quarterbacks coach | |
| Max Bullough | Notre Dame, 2023: graduate assistant; 2024–25: linebackers coach | |
| Mike Denbrock | Notre Dame, 2024–26: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Ja’Juan Seider | Notre Dame, 2025–26: assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| Aaron Henry | Notre Dame, 2026: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Cincinnati | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $45,833 | $280,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Freeman’s teams went for it on 30% of fourth downs and on 51% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 45% of plays and took 28.1 seconds a play, 2022–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 13 g | 16 of 84 19% | 39% | 42% | 28.2 | +0.07 | |
| 2023 13 g | 16 of 75 21% | 38% | 46% | 28.7 | +0.15 | |
| 2024 16 g | 30 of 103 29% | 63% | 47% | 27.8 | +0.15 | |
| 2025 12 g | 31 of 63 49% | 62% | 46% | 27.6 | +0.24 | |
| 2026 7 g | 16 of 41 39% | 57% | 47% | 28.2 | +0.24 | |
| All 61 g | 109 of 366 30% | 51% | 45% | 28.1 | +0.16 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.