Why Marcus Freeman’s Job Rumors Are Actually Good for Notre Dame

Penn State and Florida are not better jobs than Notre Dame

Marcus Freeman has spent four seasons building Notre Dame up in his vision for success. He's recruiting diligently, fought for better facilities, more NIL money, alignment from the AD and academic wings of the school, and of course, a contract extension and raise that he received less than a year ago. While Penn State and Florida are big brand-name jobs in the two best conferences of the sport, they are not better football jobs right now than Notre Dame.

With the recent extension, Marcus Freeman is a top ten paid coach, who has converted to Catholicism, and has a large family that has laid roots down in South Bend. How would it make sense for him to uproot for Florida or Penn State and have to rebuild these programs when he has already done so at Notre Dame and has the Irish nationally competitive yearly?

This makes no sense. And I know this is hard for Florida and Penn State fans to hear and accept, but these jobs are not better than the Notre Dame one. Period. In my mind, the only job that I could see Freeman leaving Notre Dame for is the Ohio State job when Ryan Day's tenure is over. This job is an upgrade in proximity to championships yearly, and Freeman, as a former Buckeye, understands the culture in Columbus and would be accepted by the rapid Ohio State fan base.

How Notre Dame can benefit from the Freeman rumor mill

Marcus Freeman and his agent are smart. They know they can leverage the interest in Freeman to improve Notre Dame's program. Rather than asking for a selfish raise in order to stave off interest, Freeman can leverage the Irish for more NIL money, perhaps an academic exemption or two, or for higher assistant and support staff pay. In this way, interest in Freeman being lured away from South Bend can actually be flipped to make the Irish better.

Marcus Freeman is invested in Notre Dame. He wants to win a title at Notre Dame. This type of leverage can help him accomplish that.