Notre Dame football: Breaking down Irish fan fears of Freeman
WhenMarcus Freeman was named the new Notre Dame head coach, spirits were high amongst most of the Fighting Irish fan base. The idea, in theory, was that what Freeman lacked in coaching experience when compared to his predecessor, he would quickly make up for with instant and consistent elite recruiting and off to the races we go. In practicality, Irish fans are confronting the harsh reality that it’s going to be much harder for Freeman to land said elite classes and win at an elite level than anyone had hoped.
This realization has Irish fans feeling vulnerable at the moment. They now have a coach learning on the job under a giant microscope at Notre Dame that is known as an elite recruiter but that isn’t getting commensurate practical results in this area combined with a four-loss record his first year at the helm. But why is this the case? Let’s examine some reasons.
Notre Dame Administration
Notre Dame’s reluctance to “get modern” in many areas holds back the football program. It just does. Certain hurdles will always exist in this area at Notre Dame, such as stringent GPA and test score requirements for admittance of recruits. This is understood and accepted, but there are other areas the Irish brass could have more flexibility in with little to no effect on “the brand”.
For instance, Notre Dame not having a reasonable path for undergraduate transfers to gain entry to the school are archaic and a major detriment to football success. Not having a robust and public NIL setup does the same. Not hiring a new Offensive Coordinator your young new coach wants due to money is yet another example of this. As is lack of adequate space for football activities, a long-time Brian Kelly-era complaint.
Notre Dame is in many ways its own biggest impediment to success by being unwilling to bend on all of the aforementioned items that could all be accomplished in my opinion without sacrificing core values.
Pay For Play
Practical Realities
The practical realities of the struggle towards elite for Notre Dame don’t prevent them from getting there, but they do make the path harder. The reality is that without bending on academics, accepting undergraduate transfers, and offering upfront money to players and families, Notre Dame has a much smaller margin for error to work with.
Can or will Notre Dame begin to adapt with the times more than they have? Can the Irish thread the needle between adapting to modernity to be more competitive without sacrificing its core values? This is the question that has Notre Dame fans tossing and turning as the clock winds down to the start of another season.
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