Marcus Freeman Embraces Parents' Diverse Background as Notre Dame Coach Makes History

"They married in 1977 and moved to Abilene, Texas, around 1979. When Michael left for a year on assignment in Turkey, Chong stayed in Texas to work at Texas Instruments and took classes to learn English."

Marcus describes his story as one with "a whole bunch of diversity" as a result of the experience of his family. 

"I don't think when I was young, I was really not much aware of, you know, I had a minority mother, a mother that wasn't from the United States," Marcus told Notre Dame's official website. "And I just knew her as mom and I think as you get older, you start to see it.

"You know, that hey, my mom's Korean, not every mother is Korean. But it kind of helped me evolve to who I am, I was around a whole bunch of diversity."

Now, Marcus' parents will be in attendance as the coach attempts to make more history with Notre Dame battling the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national title. It is a rare move from Marcus' mother and father who do not frequently attend games. 

"The only thing different about this game is that my mom and my dad are going to be there, which they haven't been to many games," Marcus explained on Saturday at the media day ahead of the national title. "And I thought it was great that they made the decision to want to come down here. 

"I didn't know if my dad was really going to come, but he said he wanted to come. I won't see them; they'll be in a box or somewhere. But the normal [routine], my wife and the kids, my brother and his wife, and that's probably about it."