Turning the Page: Notre Dame Gears Up for Another Playoff Run Under Marcus Freeman

Notre Dame’s run to the national title game is in the past.

It’s easy to tell the loss still stings within the Fighting Irish program and Notre Dame will likely use January 20th as motivation over the next six months.

On Wednesday, Marcus Freeman officially turned the page from last season and is now all in on preparing his 2025 team for another long run.

“Today,” Freeman responded to a question asking when he moved to 2025. “There's just been a lot of stuff to do and handle from the end of the season until now. You have to plan for spring weeks or months ago, but the reality is I really didn't focus on the practice until we got out there today. It was good to be out there and really to turn all your attention to actual practice.”

The ability to focus on the spring football has been an easy one. It’s a daily occurrence for head coaches as they have to put the positive and negative in the past to prepare their team for the next day.

For Freeman, it’s been a balance of accepting postseason awards, hiring new personnel, recruiting and making sure his team is taking the right steps mentally and physically following the longest season in college football history.

“You take off one hat and put on another,” explained Freeman. “That's the reality of the profession of a coach, but a head coach is that you don't have much time to recalibrate. You've got to move to the next thing. We've been obviously really busy from the end of the season until the first day of spring ball.

“It's understanding what things you need to address on that day and the ability to direct your attention to those things that need to be addressed. I'm recalibrated enough and ready to go. I'm excited for spring practice.”

The offseason brings about change. Perhaps the most significant change for the Notre Dame program is a new face running the Irish defense.

Chris Ash will fill the void left by Al Golden, and Freeman feels confident about what Notre Dame will get in its new defensive coordinator.

“I've known Coach Ash for quite a while,” stated Freeman. “When he was defense coordinator at Ohio State with Luke Fickell, I got to know him. We spent some time together after his tenure as head coach at Rutgers. I got to know him personally before we hired him as a defensive coordinator.”

Ash has made the transition into The Gug with ease with the players and the staff. In fact, Freeman made sure to go out of his way to highlight Ash’s ability to connect with other members of the coaching staff to build rapport.

“I've been extremely pleased, probably more than anything with the leadership,” Freeman said. ‘The ability to get three position coaches that have been here to be teammates. I've been really pleased with that. Our coaching staff is close. Our defensive coaching staff has spent a lot of time together.

“We are going to do the similar things that we've done in the past and maybe some things that are different. In order to get on the same page, you have to spend time together and I'm really pleased with the leadership coming from that defensive staff, the camaraderie, the unity. It's all going to reflect in the way our defense plays. I'm really, really happy with that entire defense, but especially what Coach has done.”

The hiring of general manager Mike Martin also created waves across the program. The former Detroit Lions director of scouting advancement will be tasked with taking Notre Dame’s program into the next phase of NIL while continuing to enhance a roster that played for a championship two months ago.

It’s a perfect match on paper. Martin helped build a roster in Detroit with many of the same qualities Freeman has emphasized over the first three seasons of his tenure. Yet, it was much more than roster development that caught Freeman’s eye.

“Probably before his competence was the things I heard about his character, who he is to work with and work for,” explained Freeman. “I think that was extremely important to me, that you fit the culture we have in our football program. That's probably what attracted me to him more than anything.

‘Then the ability to understand the competence he has for his position and the value and experience he has in evaluation. As you see college football moving forward, the value you put in individual players financially and those types of things. I think it was important to have somebody in that role who understands that and has experience doing that. He does and he's done a tremendous job. But you know what? He's a really good recruiter, too. He's a great communicator, and he takes a lot of pride in making the people who work with him and around him better. That's a part of leadership. You make those around you better. And I love that part of him.”

The spring will likely be important for Martin and the staff to figure out who the best players are for the program, as the NCAA is expected to limit rosters to 105 scholarship players.

This means Notre Dame and every team will need to have a plan to balance out talent to win a national title while also having players who can help in practice.

But Freeman doesn’t expect his players to be looking over their shoulder this spring.

“You should be focused on being the best version of you,” said Freeman. “I don't care if you're worried about being on the 105, you're worried about being a starting quarterback or you're worried about being the backup tackle and you're a true freshman, stop wasting time on things that don't matter.

“The future's uncertain, so focus on being the best version of you today. That's all that matters. Don't worry about what group you're going with. Focus on being the best version of you and the rest will take care of itself.”