Speaker 1: Welcome to season five of Fowler. Who You Got? I
Speaker 1: hope your summer was fun and fulfilling. Mine certainly was.
Speaker 1: But what's got me excited now? Football season is here,
Speaker 1: and who I've got for the season's first episode is
Speaker 1: the first football coach guest we have ever had, the
Speaker 1: first year coach of the Fighting Irish, Marcus Freeman. Now
Speaker 1: to call him a fast rising star in the profession
Speaker 1: is understating it. At age thirty six, after just one
Speaker 1: season at Notre Dame, Marcus was promoted from defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: to head coach of the world's most famous college football
Speaker 1: program when Brian Kelly suddenly left for l s U
Speaker 1: right before the bowl game. We'll talk about what will
Speaker 1: define success for his team and for him, what being
Speaker 1: a new age players coach means to him, about growing
Speaker 1: up in a household of hard work, discipline, sacrifice, love
Speaker 1: and respect, and how he's balancing massive new responsibilities well
Speaker 1: he and his wife, Joanna are raising six kids. At
Speaker 1: the end of our conversation, another first, Marcus turned the
Speaker 1: tables and interviewed me. Marcus, I'm so grateful for your
Speaker 1: time and so much to cover, but I want to
Speaker 1: start with meeting the moment, because so many of us
Speaker 1: have moments to meet in our lives, and in some
Speaker 1: ways they define the course of our lives. If you
Speaker 1: have a moment as massive as the chance to prove
Speaker 1: yourself as worthy of being named head coach and Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: but what kind of qualities that you have helped you
Speaker 1: be able to meet that moment? In your conversations with
Speaker 1: father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame and Jack Swarbrick,
Speaker 1: the athletic director, to put you in the position to
Speaker 1: have this opportunity, person, I wish I could tell you
Speaker 1: it was one thing. Uh, you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: exactly what it was. I kind of go back and
Speaker 1: you reflect and you look at your journey and in
Speaker 1: um I tell coaches all the time because everybody's looking
Speaker 1: for that magical formula, what is it? What do you
Speaker 1: have to do to put yourself in that position? Man?
Speaker 1: And I think there's two things. You gotta work really hard, right,
Speaker 1: You gotta work really hard where you're at, no matter
Speaker 1: what you're doing. But I think you have to make
Speaker 1: good decisions. And you don't know sometimes what exactly are
Speaker 1: those good decisions until you can go back and reflect.
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to be the best g I
Speaker 1: could be when I was at Ohio State, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to be the best linebackers coach at Kinst State
Speaker 1: and Purdue, and I go to Cincinnati and you work
Speaker 1: really hard and you're focus, and then you always look
Speaker 1: at those opportunities that present themselves and you you justify
Speaker 1: whatever the reasoning is to yourself. Um, and I hope
Speaker 1: that it's a reflection of hard work. You you try
Speaker 1: to continue to gain knowledge, and you know you can
Speaker 1: try to continue to grow, but you make really good decisions.
Speaker 1: Well you're get nowhere, you funk the test if you're
Speaker 1: not prepared. Obviously preparation what you went through you have done,
Speaker 1: and then you have to have the presentation of that
Speaker 1: and you have to have the instincts probably to know
Speaker 1: what is the right thing in the moment, because as
Speaker 1: a thirty six year old guy who's not been a
Speaker 1: head coach before, that's not the model higher for Notre
Speaker 1: Dame as a head coach, at least historically has not been.
Speaker 1: So you have to convince people to trust you, to
Speaker 1: believe in you, and take a risk, because let's face it,
Speaker 1: you were a little bit of a risky higher just
Speaker 1: because the resume doesn't look the same as some other guys.
Speaker 1: A lot of it, that's a lot of bit of Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, I hope every day I was here, um,
Speaker 1: and maybe even before I was here, I was on
Speaker 1: a job interview, you know, I hope that no matter
Speaker 1: when somebody was observed in Marcus Freeman, that they said, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a man at some point and some day
Speaker 1: could could lead this program. And part of that is
Speaker 1: loving our players. Part of that is again as I
Speaker 1: said earlier, work entireslely but trying to do the best
Speaker 1: job I can. It is the deepest a coordinator of
Speaker 1: this place, treating people with respect and and um, hopefully
Speaker 1: those actions speak for themselves in terms of being able to,
Speaker 1: you know, not win the interview, but tell a story
Speaker 1: about who Marcus Freeman is wild here. You believe in
Speaker 1: self talk. You say you gain energy from self talk.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's out loud or it's just
Speaker 1: inside your head. What were the self talks like before
Speaker 1: you go into these these crucial job interviews, these opportunities
Speaker 1: where you can cement it or let's be honest, like
Speaker 1: all of us, you could blow it in the in
Speaker 1: those moments, what self talks did you have? Well, I
Speaker 1: think it goes for me. It will always run back
Speaker 1: to preparation, and so moments before and in days, before,
Speaker 1: hours however long it is that you have to prepare,
Speaker 1: You prepare, you prepare for, you prepare. But then when
Speaker 1: you go into that job interview to meet, you have
Speaker 1: to be yourself. You have to be the same person
Speaker 1: that got you into this chair. But you have a
Speaker 1: sense of confidence when you feel prepared. I always tell
Speaker 1: everybody try to mention young people. Preparation is confident, So
Speaker 1: it doesn't guarantee success, but it provides you that foundation
Speaker 1: to believe in yourself while still being humble. Humility and
Speaker 1: confidence balance. I think it's an interesting thing. So finally, Marcus,
Speaker 1: you get to share with your team what you've known
Speaker 1: for about a day and a half, which is you're
Speaker 1: gonna be the next head coach at the most world
Speaker 1: famous football program there is Notre Dame. They're told to
Speaker 1: report for a team run and then there's the big
Speaker 1: reveal and man, that video is just pure goal for
Speaker 1: any of this that love and appreciate sports, And you
Speaker 1: get to like bounce into the room and kind of
Speaker 1: bounce into their arms. And very few of us will
Speaker 1: get to experience that kind of a moment. Take us
Speaker 1: through it. Oh. I remember, probably about five minutes before
Speaker 1: I walked in there, I addressed um, the entire football staff,
Speaker 1: everybody that is involved with our football program, and you know,
Speaker 1: told him how humble and honor I am to be
Speaker 1: the leader. And then I remember we're walking back way,
Speaker 1: the back way through the tunnel, um to go into
Speaker 1: the locker room at Notre Dame Stadium, and uh, you
Speaker 1: know there was there was to say, There wasn't butterflies,
Speaker 1: I would be lying. And you know, as I heard
Speaker 1: Coach Bayliss our strength coach kind of a dressing the group,
Speaker 1: you know, I know my heart was beating and I
Speaker 1: wish I could go back and do it all over again, right.
Speaker 1: I just wish you can wake up every day and
Speaker 1: relive that moment. But um, I just knew when that
Speaker 1: door open, UM, I wanted to embrace them. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to say a speech. I didn't want to,
Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden say hey, here's the
Speaker 1: new culture, here's what we're gonna do. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to embrace those guys because those are your players. Those
Speaker 1: it's you know, there's this misconception that you don't get
Speaker 1: your guys until you recruit them. No, the minute your
Speaker 1: name had coached, those are your guys, and so the
Speaker 1: ability to to embrace them, to be with them. My
Speaker 1: family was there in the background. Um, it was a
Speaker 1: surreal feeling that I'll never forget. Yeah, that's that is
Speaker 1: an unforgettable video which I would encourage people to seek
Speaker 1: out on YouTube if you haven't seen it. Look, most
Speaker 1: people who come in as new coaches inherit problems inherent
Speaker 1: rebuilding situations. They don't INHERIT eleven and one teams with
Speaker 1: a solid corps of leaders and veterans. And you did
Speaker 1: get that amazing opportunity nevertheless in Notre Dame. Yet you
Speaker 1: also had a team that felt to some degree, to
Speaker 1: verying degrees, angry hurt by Brian Kelly's departure. He made
Speaker 1: a position for himself. Players have a hard time sometimes
Speaker 1: coming to grips with that stuff, so there needed to
Speaker 1: be some I would think healing and mending done right
Speaker 1: away on the spot, with the Bowl game coming up
Speaker 1: and some seniors playing their last game in Notre Dame. Well,
Speaker 1: I wanted to make this about the seniors. I wanted
Speaker 1: to make it about Notre Dame because it it's really
Speaker 1: easily to associate a football program with a head coach, Um,
Speaker 1: but it's to me, it's about the program, and it's
Speaker 1: about these kids, and it's about the seniors that have
Speaker 1: been here four or five years and really um bled
Speaker 1: for this program. And so that's what I wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that this vocal the focus was is that, Hey,
Speaker 1: we wanted to finish that bowl game as as champions.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately didn't. We didn't we didn't win that game. But
Speaker 1: I think the process from the minute I was named
Speaker 1: head coach to um that bowl game was just to
Speaker 1: let's focus on the present, focus on the seams, focused,
Speaker 1: focus on finishing this season off the right way, and
Speaker 1: you know what we're going to change. We're gonna change,
Speaker 1: We're gonna do the things that I believe it takes
Speaker 1: to have success. Um. We're not going to erase Brian
Speaker 1: Kelly right here. He did amazing things for this program
Speaker 1: in eleven years. And as you said, you take over
Speaker 1: a team that finished last season before the bowl game
Speaker 1: number five in the country and so UM, it's unbelievable
Speaker 1: where this program is at. And and but now it's
Speaker 1: my opportunity to lead this program to in a way
Speaker 1: that that I feel as best to my leadership style
Speaker 1: and to UM the type of kids that we have.
Speaker 1: And so I'm gonna trust the things in the way
Speaker 1: I led to get me here. I'm going to continuously
Speaker 1: try to learn UM ways to enhance the way I
Speaker 1: as a leader, and uh, we'll see what results come
Speaker 1: from that. Let's talk about your leadership style. When the
Speaker 1: players have a player's only meeting and seven captains go
Speaker 1: to the a D and say we want coach Freeman
Speaker 1: and you are the player's choice. Players coach sort of
Speaker 1: the layer as a label that comes along with that,
Speaker 1: along with someone who's as young as you are now.
Speaker 1: Players coach means different things in college ball, the NFL,
Speaker 1: the NBA, old school college football coaches don't necessarily consider
Speaker 1: players coach a compliment. I know you have your own
Speaker 1: spin on that. What is players coach to? Well, it's
Speaker 1: not the definition that Lou Holtz dead. And the first
Speaker 1: time I met the hold Um, I remember the first
Speaker 1: thing he said was, Marcus, I can tell you one
Speaker 1: thing my players would never call me a players coach,
Speaker 1: And I said, oh, coach, you know, and I just
Speaker 1: started laughing. Um, but here's what I hope it it.
Speaker 1: I embrace being a players coach in my terms right,
Speaker 1: and that there is no great coaches without great players.
Speaker 1: And I tell these guys and I hope not just
Speaker 1: through my words, but through my action, and said, I'm
Speaker 1: a teammate. I'm a teammate, I'm the captain. I get it.
Speaker 1: I set the standards, I hold people accountable. I'm the
Speaker 1: guy that has to continue to evaluate our standards and
Speaker 1: different things that are gonna help us achieve our goals.
Speaker 1: But I'm in the fight with you. There is no
Speaker 1: one person that's more important than another. And when we
Speaker 1: have success, I want to be the first one that
Speaker 1: stance because of you, and we have failures, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be the first one to say, what didn't I do
Speaker 1: as an individual to make sure that we had a
Speaker 1: chance to have success. And that's what I hope those
Speaker 1: around me too. I hope our players do the same thing.
Speaker 1: I hope our coaches do the same thing. And so
Speaker 1: I am a player's coach. Um, I love them, I
Speaker 1: respect them, but my job is to help him reach
Speaker 1: their goals too, And in order to do that, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be very demanding. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: make sure that, um, you hold every person in this
Speaker 1: organization to the standards that you set and so um
Speaker 1: that to me is part of my role. You know what.
Speaker 1: My part of my role is to make sure that
Speaker 1: they reached their current goals and their future goals. So
Speaker 1: how can I make sure that I do everything in
Speaker 1: my power to help them become national champions, help them
Speaker 1: developed the NFL football players, but also help them learn
Speaker 1: um different opportunities that they could take advantage of while
Speaker 1: they're here that will help them in life after football.
Speaker 1: And so all those different things in compass to me
Speaker 1: what the players coaches, you've expressed that you have a
Speaker 1: lot to learn and you're gonna make mistakes. We all
Speaker 1: know that's a part of any growth curve, especially a
Speaker 1: job it is extremely demanding, like like head coach at
Speaker 1: Notre Dame, and that you need to learn from those mistakes.
Speaker 1: At what point can you hope to get to a
Speaker 1: place in this growth curve where mistake avoidance isn't the
Speaker 1: top thing and you can just kind of let it
Speaker 1: go and try to be as close to perfect as
Speaker 1: you can be. I mean that that's a high bar,
Speaker 1: but we all go through periods where I just I
Speaker 1: don't want to make this mistake, I don't want to
Speaker 1: screw this up. And that that's a tough place to
Speaker 1: kind of navigate through, isn't it. Yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 1: And um, I think you're always in a place where
Speaker 1: you're trying to avoid mistakes, you know, and that, um,
Speaker 1: but I think a part of it is is how
Speaker 1: can you prepare as hard as you can to learn
Speaker 1: some of those things that you don't have to learn um,
Speaker 1: post game right or post experience. And so that's gaining
Speaker 1: knowledge from other people that have done it, gaining knowledge
Speaker 1: from those that have wisdom to give you in in
Speaker 1: you know, really learning from other individual success and so mistakes,
Speaker 1: and that's something that I really, um, I try to do.
Speaker 1: But the mistakes are gonna happen. It's about learning from
Speaker 1: it's about growing from them in amount, not making them
Speaker 1: twice and not making too many of them. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: we never stopped making mistakes or trying to avoid them,
Speaker 1: but I think that sometimes we're just the top of
Speaker 1: mind is don't make a mistake. You don't want you
Speaker 1: don't want your players to be like that in the field.
Speaker 1: You can't go out in the field and worry about
Speaker 1: you don't make a mistake. And that's just out the
Speaker 1: way to succeed in football or anything else. So I
Speaker 1: hear what you're saying. The big finish, I think a
Speaker 1: big part is looking back reevaluate and say what didn't
Speaker 1: we do or what did we do that's going to
Speaker 1: help us in the future. That's something that we have
Speaker 1: to continuously do, right and that you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: looking at the Oklahoma State bleeding up to their saying
Speaker 1: what mistakes can I make? You know, with the negative mindset,
Speaker 1: and but when you look back and say, Okay, what
Speaker 1: things can we learn from that game, from that process
Speaker 1: of preparation? Right the game and so many different examples,
Speaker 1: and we gotta be able to go back and reflect.
Speaker 1: You want to be able to do that after wins, right,
Speaker 1: those are the best times that you can go back
Speaker 1: and reflect and learn from those um those moments after victories.
Speaker 1: But you don't want him defeat. I think you have
Speaker 1: to do it too. I want to talk about your background.
Speaker 1: It's a background where you were shown from day one.
Speaker 1: I guess hard work, discipline, commitment, and sacrifice. Your dad
Speaker 1: was in the Air Force, I think for twenty six years. Um,
Speaker 1: your mom arrived from Korea as an immigrant and seventy
Speaker 1: six and had to work. I heard you say, three
Speaker 1: different jobs. So describe what you saw from them and
Speaker 1: how that made you feel as a kid, and how
Speaker 1: you've carried that fourth into adulthood and as a coach. Yeah. Still,
Speaker 1: my father was forty three, um when my mother had me,
Speaker 1: and he was retired, and um, he was a coach.
Speaker 1: He he was our youth league coach. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: but he was tough. He's a tough guy, very um,
Speaker 1: discipline oriented, was was a firm believer. And you just
Speaker 1: outwork your competition. You love your family, You treat people
Speaker 1: with respect, but you you're you're never outworked. And um
Speaker 1: sometimes his leadership wise was by example. And he woke
Speaker 1: me and my brother up early in the morning and
Speaker 1: while he was finishing his workouts, we were running in
Speaker 1: place and uh, you know, our workouts began finished and
Speaker 1: so placed in the room there and I heard I
Speaker 1: heard you say the dad had a weight bench in
Speaker 1: the dining room. That is a snapschat that says a
Speaker 1: lot about the family. It's actually, uh, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: a there's a stegment on college game day that I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna try to get back and show up
Speaker 1: a picture of it. I'm sure there's some evidence around
Speaker 1: he he says, it wasn't as as strict as as
Speaker 1: I make it seem to be. But um, I beg
Speaker 1: to differ. I know how I remember it, you know,
Speaker 1: versus how he may remember it. And and but then
Speaker 1: you look at my mother, you know, and and she
Speaker 1: to me spoke good English. But now that you go back,
Speaker 1: sometimes you say, hey, it might have been broken English.
Speaker 1: And and um, but she just worked tiresly and she
Speaker 1: loved her family, and she would remember go to work.
Speaker 1: She was probably here on her way to work or
Speaker 1: leaving shortly after. We were up at five thirty working out.
Speaker 1: And you know, on weekend she had another job with
Speaker 1: her Korean friends, and then a night job being a custodian.
Speaker 1: And I remember when she came home, she would always
Speaker 1: cook an American meal for my father and sometimes for us,
Speaker 1: me and my brother, and then she would make a
Speaker 1: Korean mail for her and you know, me, I was.
Speaker 1: I was bigger back then, and so I would probably
Speaker 1: some of the American meal and some of the Korean
Speaker 1: male and that's how I got to where I was.
Speaker 1: But the sacrifice, the sacrifice you would make, the selflessness
Speaker 1: that she had, the love she had for her family
Speaker 1: is something I always remember. Yeah, you said that she
Speaker 1: made everyone feel important, and that's something you tried to
Speaker 1: carry across. I like a My Angelo quote where people
Speaker 1: will remember primarily how you made them feel more even
Speaker 1: than what you did or what you said to them.
Speaker 1: And obviously you had to make people feel comfortable in
Speaker 1: yourself to get this job. College football coach probably manages
Speaker 1: more people than any other coaching job in the world
Speaker 1: that I can think of, just because the roster sizes
Speaker 1: double that of the NFL, etcetera. How do you strive
Speaker 1: to make everyone on that group in that organization feel important? Well,
Speaker 1: I think it starts with treat people with respect. And
Speaker 1: you can be demanding, you can be clear on expectations,
Speaker 1: you can address issue us um with honesty and openness,
Speaker 1: and still treat people with respect. You know, please and
Speaker 1: think I stay at all the time to our staff
Speaker 1: saying please and thank you. UM it shouldn't be a
Speaker 1: reminder that I have to give to others, but it's
Speaker 1: something that we have to do, you know, to be
Speaker 1: respectful of others. And that's just the way I was raised,
Speaker 1: you know. Now, I think the other part of it
Speaker 1: is being very clear on your standards and very clear
Speaker 1: on it what you expect. And to other part is
Speaker 1: we have to meet right now. Being fresh, Brian new
Speaker 1: we have to meet constantly so everybody understands exactly what
Speaker 1: the expectations are. We cannot assume I cannot assume everybody
Speaker 1: knows exactly what I want. We have to meet daily
Speaker 1: to make sure we're on the same page. We address
Speaker 1: any issues that may arose from the day before, and
Speaker 1: everybody's clear on the responsibilities, and so that's something I've
Speaker 1: been doing. It's probably a little bit different than when
Speaker 1: coach Kayla was here, being here eleven years, you know,
Speaker 1: his expectations were very clear, you know, and and everybody
Speaker 1: knew exactly what he expected. Whereas with me, I think
Speaker 1: being new to being the first year head coach, we
Speaker 1: all have to meet day. We have to make sure
Speaker 1: we we visit what happened the day before, we're on
Speaker 1: the same page. On what's going to happen today and
Speaker 1: where we are moving forward. You're an excellent college football
Speaker 1: player at Ohio State, four year letterman, three years as
Speaker 1: a starter at linebacker, among the top tacklers, and the
Speaker 1: team you go to the league give it a chance.
Speaker 1: But then your career suddenly ends with a physical with
Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Colts when they discover an enlarge valve in
Speaker 1: your heart, and right away your dreams of playing football
Speaker 1: are taken away instantly. How does that shape how you
Speaker 1: are as a coach and how you relate to young
Speaker 1: people who believe that football will last forever. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you know. The biggest thing is is I remember
Speaker 1: back to when I was playinger or be even before
Speaker 1: I was college. My only focus was on playing the
Speaker 1: game at the highest level, trying to go to the NFL,
Speaker 1: trying to win national championships. You didn't think about life
Speaker 1: after football, because I think there was this misconception that hey,
Speaker 1: if you start to think about life after football, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna give yourself the best chance to have success.
Speaker 1: And I tell our players off, that's a crazy wind thing, right,
Speaker 1: And then you can work tiresly, you can do everything
Speaker 1: in your power to make sure you're the most successful
Speaker 1: football player you can be. But it's a shame if
Speaker 1: you don't utilize this network and utilize this degree and
Speaker 1: utilize the opportunities you have while you're here. And so
Speaker 1: I spend enormous amount of time of telling them it's okay,
Speaker 1: use it. It's encouraged use your network because at some moment,
Speaker 1: it's a guarantee the game of football is gonna be over,
Speaker 1: and it's not it's scary to kind of try to
Speaker 1: figure out what you're gonna do after football when it's
Speaker 1: already over. You know, utilize this opportunity to kind of
Speaker 1: figure out what passions you have, what connections you have
Speaker 1: that can help you in that transition when you're done.
Speaker 1: And so I love being head coach here because you're
Speaker 1: able to offer so many different opportunities for these young
Speaker 1: guys to have um opportunities connect with other people, to
Speaker 1: connect with the network, especially this older day net work,
Speaker 1: and kind of just figure out at different times, um,
Speaker 1: what passions you might have outside of football. We're not
Speaker 1: going to cheat football now, We're not going to cheat that.
Speaker 1: We have no way to to maximize who we are
Speaker 1: as a football team. If we do that, but there's
Speaker 1: time that you can truly um network and figure out.
Speaker 1: But that transition terms of think, that's you're passionate about
Speaker 1: you Ohio State because your dad grew up in Columbus
Speaker 1: and as a huge Ohio State fan I've read wasn't
Speaker 1: even able to afford go into games, but that didn't
Speaker 1: lessen his passion. But the buck eyes, you know you're
Speaker 1: growing up in the state of Ohio. That's it's a
Speaker 1: powerful seductive thing. So you go to Ohio State and now,
Speaker 1: in one of those scripts that sports provides, it's even
Speaker 1: crazier than anything a writer could come up with. You
Speaker 1: have your first regular season game at Notre Dame back
Speaker 1: in the Horseshoe in Columbus against Ohio State, where you
Speaker 1: also began as a g a where Jim Trestle was
Speaker 1: your coach remains a mentor. I mean, the story kind
Speaker 1: of writes itself, man, I mean, you're trying to win
Speaker 1: a game. But for those of us that set up
Speaker 1: these plot lines, it's incredible, really, and I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you all in the media run with that plot line
Speaker 1: and to make a great story because I know that's important.
Speaker 1: Fortunate for me. I get to try to control the
Speaker 1: narrative in this building, and and that's what I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do and tell these players and make sure everybody in
Speaker 1: this program I understands this is about Notre Dame and
Speaker 1: this is about this football program getting a chance to
Speaker 1: go play a great opponent in Ohio State. What better
Speaker 1: way to see where we're at as a football program
Speaker 1: to play a team like that week one? And that's
Speaker 1: the beauty. We're going back. I've been going back studying
Speaker 1: last year and um we it took us a little
Speaker 1: bit of time, but we were a much better team
Speaker 1: towards the end of the season in terms of what
Speaker 1: we were going and how we were executing. And you
Speaker 1: can't start slow versus opponent like Ohio State. And so
Speaker 1: we have to prepare and we have to make sure
Speaker 1: in training camp this team is ready to go September three.
Speaker 1: And so listen, I love because there's no lack of
Speaker 1: motivation for these guys in training camp these days. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be hot and it's gonna be hard to listen. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: all we gotta do is show you who who we're
Speaker 1: playing September three, and that motivation will be there. So
Speaker 1: I'll let the story be about Marcus Freeman going back
Speaker 1: to Ohio State UM from the media point of view,
Speaker 1: But I can't wait to take this football team into Columbs,
Speaker 1: Ohio and go compete against a team that's one of
Speaker 1: the best in the country. Well, the story is about
Speaker 1: a lot of things, but that you can't ignore that fast. Listen.
Speaker 1: You strike me as someone who's worked hard to know
Speaker 1: themselves very well. But it's a brand new experience to
Speaker 1: run out not as an insistent coach that as a
Speaker 1: g A, but as the guy in front of the
Speaker 1: team into the horse shoe. Have you envisioned that. Do
Speaker 1: you have an expectation from yourself how that's gonna feel.
Speaker 1: I would hope it doesn't feel that much different than
Speaker 1: it was in in Arizona for the bowl game, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's the best part about it. I've in it
Speaker 1: as an opponent Ohio State. When we're at Cincinnati, I
Speaker 1: know it's the assistant coach wh I've done it there.
Speaker 1: I know where the away locker room is. I ran
Speaker 1: out my first game versus Oklahoma State in Fiesta vot
Speaker 1: So there's should that the focus for me should be
Speaker 1: preparation and what matters to help us have a chance
Speaker 1: to be victorious in this game. And so um, again,
Speaker 1: it's not September three. I don't know what the emotions
Speaker 1: will be um when I get there, but I just
Speaker 1: tell myself, I've already ran out as the head coach.
Speaker 1: I've already done that. I've already been to Ohio State
Speaker 1: as an assistant coach on the opposing team. And so
Speaker 1: let's focus on the things that really matter, and that's
Speaker 1: to making sure this team is really to execute well
Speaker 1: an x Ohio State coast. Of course, as Jim trust
Speaker 1: Soll won a championship there, and you you've talked about
Speaker 1: him being an important mentor to you and you're learning
Speaker 1: things from him. I guess I get either the blame
Speaker 1: or the credit for for dubbing him Senator Trestle because
Speaker 1: of the way he used to hold those press conferences
Speaker 1: in a tie in a sweater of ass with an
Speaker 1: American flag and Ohio flag, and you used to deflect
Speaker 1: questions and try to answer as blandly as possible, which
Speaker 1: a lot of coaches do. And so I felt that
Speaker 1: he was he was Senator Trestle. And I know you're
Speaker 1: a different person than that. But you've taken a lot
Speaker 1: from him, I don't. I don't see your style though
Speaker 1: in dealing with all the peripheral stuff of a program
Speaker 1: being quite the same as him. Yeah, listen, he's still
Speaker 1: the same way. I still asking questions and he gives
Speaker 1: me every answer except for the answer then I'm looking for,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's like he doesn't do every certain
Speaker 1: thing except for Hey, if I asked him about a
Speaker 1: media or I asked him about you know, a scrimmage,
Speaker 1: He'll give me every answer to step for the answer
Speaker 1: that I'm really looking for. But um, I love him.
Speaker 1: He's the best. And uh, you know, Chris. For me,
Speaker 1: I gotta be who I am. That's the one thing
Speaker 1: I've learned more than anything is be who you are. Now.
Speaker 1: You have to be smart in terms of the things
Speaker 1: you say. You know. I've learned that at an early
Speaker 1: stage of being a head coach that you know, you
Speaker 1: don't want to give anybody added motivation, you know, and
Speaker 1: you've got to be very um intentional about what you
Speaker 1: say because it can be twisted and you know, kind
Speaker 1: of put out in other ways that that individuals see
Speaker 1: is good for them, you know, And so um, I
Speaker 1: think you learn every day. You're learning every day. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be who I am. I want to be
Speaker 1: authentic because if I'm not, I think people will see
Speaker 1: right through it. But um, you've got to be calculated
Speaker 1: in the messaging and the things that you do. Say
Speaker 1: no doubt you always impressed me as a player and
Speaker 1: as an assistant coach, and I thought of you when
Speaker 1: you did get the head coaching job is about the
Speaker 1: same time that I was trying to juggle calling four
Speaker 1: games in eleven days and the time management challenge. Listen,
Speaker 1: I'm old, but I think you always have to figure
Speaker 1: ways to improve and enhance your time management, Like until
Speaker 1: your last day on Earth, How in the world have
Speaker 1: you had to adjust and grow on the fly Marcus?
Speaker 1: In terms of time manage. Where you go from being
Speaker 1: a daily concern is stop the other team's offense. That's
Speaker 1: what you do as a defensive coordinator to suddenly being
Speaker 1: the guy at Notre Dame and the amount of people
Speaker 1: pulling at you for time and the demands it grows exponentially.
Speaker 1: How did you keep your head clear in the static
Speaker 1: as quiet as possible? And how do because it's still ongoing? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want I had to learn to use the Google calendar. UM.
Speaker 1: I've never had a calendar before. I never had to
Speaker 1: put things on the calendar, and now I have to
Speaker 1: use that to give me reminders of what I've agreed to,
Speaker 1: what I have coming up, what's important. UM. But but
Speaker 1: right now for me Christmas, I look back on this year. UM,
Speaker 1: I've said yes to a lot of different things, and
Speaker 1: it's been very intentional because I have to figure out
Speaker 1: what truly needs my time and what doesn't. Right when
Speaker 1: it comes to football time, when comes to training camp,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna trust me, I'm gonna be all in its
Speaker 1: football football. But I've said yes to a lot of
Speaker 1: different things that you get um asked to do as
Speaker 1: the head coach of this this prestigious program. And so
Speaker 1: I did that very intentionally. So now after this year,
Speaker 1: you can go can reflect and say, Okay, these are
Speaker 1: the things that are truly important to making sure that
Speaker 1: your players have success. Ultimately, that's why I'm in this year.
Speaker 1: Every day I come into work, it's making sure that
Speaker 1: I'm doing everything in my power to make sure this
Speaker 1: program and these players have as much opportunity to have
Speaker 1: success as they can. And so UM, part of that
Speaker 1: of saying yes with a lot of people. Part of
Speaker 1: that is is UM being in the office and and
Speaker 1: and having a pulse for my team. You know, this
Speaker 1: is July and and a lot of people are supposed
Speaker 1: to be off and on vacation, and we have family time.
Speaker 1: We went on Disney cruise, which people say, oh, you
Speaker 1: took a vacation. I said, I was out of the office.
Speaker 1: I wasn't on vacation at six kids on a cruise ship.
Speaker 1: But um, and my wife has been great, she's been amazing. UM,
Speaker 1: she's saying, go go go figure it out. UM. The
Speaker 1: one thing you're not gonna do is fail because you
Speaker 1: didn't put enough effort into it. But I hope after
Speaker 1: this year I can go back and reflect and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: here's where I can have, UM an opportunity to maybe
Speaker 1: spend more family time or opportunity to really be respectful
Speaker 1: of my time in terms of my family, in terms
Speaker 1: of this football program and what's necessary. So time management
Speaker 1: is an everyday learning process. Um. You know, you have
Speaker 1: to try to be organized, but try to organize in
Speaker 1: terms of what's important and what's not. Six kids in
Speaker 1: a cruise ship sounds like a reality show name that's
Speaker 1: that's a whole another podcast on that. Mark. Hey, let's
Speaker 1: talk about you know you you've talked about the drive
Speaker 1: to be prepared, and that takes planning, and I know
Speaker 1: you're a planner and that's one of the things that
Speaker 1: that Jim Trussell was so superbaut and still is. But
Speaker 1: you've also talked about presents. So for busy people out
Speaker 1: here who juggle lots of things, including your family, how
Speaker 1: do you play it off the preparation versus the presence
Speaker 1: where you're not looking ahead, you're right in the moment um,
Speaker 1: whether it's to a player or one of your kids
Speaker 1: or your wife. No, it's an everyday battle. It's an
Speaker 1: everyday battle, and uh as you go because part of
Speaker 1: it being an organized and being a leader is thinking ahead.
Speaker 1: How can I make sure I'm prepared for next week
Speaker 1: when the coaches get back, or how can I be
Speaker 1: prepared for week one and versus week three, versus week six?
Speaker 1: And And you have to think ahead as the leader
Speaker 1: because everybody needs a calendar, everybody needs a vision. But
Speaker 1: part of being a great leader is being in the
Speaker 1: moment and being around your players and being around your staff.
Speaker 1: And figuring out what's important for today. So I don't
Speaker 1: have a great answer for that. I know it's it's both.
Speaker 1: You have to as a leader always look ahead and
Speaker 1: always playing, but also in order to be really effective,
Speaker 1: you gotta make sure you're accomplishing once you need for
Speaker 1: that day. You and your wife Joanna have have six kids,
Speaker 1: four boys, two girls ranging from three to fifteen. Under
Speaker 1: the roof there for at the time being anyway and
Speaker 1: your Vinnie Siena, Gino, Nico Capri and Rocko strong theme
Speaker 1: there somebody loves Italy. But listen, I mean being a
Speaker 1: dad to six. That's a number, right. It's a concept
Speaker 1: that not not having any kids that I can't even
Speaker 1: wrap my head around. But it's not six. It's six individuals, right,
Speaker 1: who are different people. Despite some share DNA, they have
Speaker 1: very different personalities. I would imagine they have different needs
Speaker 1: from a dad at different stages in their life. How
Speaker 1: do you make that work? Man? How do you possibly
Speaker 1: give everything? Because you people will say, hey, listen, if
Speaker 1: everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority, Right's right,
Speaker 1: That's right. And it's it's really tough because because when
Speaker 1: you have six, you're and you're a football coach. When
Speaker 1: you have the chance to get home or a chance
Speaker 1: to be around your family and bring your family here,
Speaker 1: you want them, all right, You just want to be
Speaker 1: be around them all But as you said, they're all different,
Speaker 1: they all have different needs, and so you have to
Speaker 1: be intentional, um, with the little time that you have
Speaker 1: that you can spend with them, you have to be intentional.
Speaker 1: My fifteen year old needs different attention in a different
Speaker 1: father than my three year old, you know. And so
Speaker 1: an example is how can I, hey, bring the fifteen
Speaker 1: year old here to work, to get a work out,
Speaker 1: Come get a work I'll be around you. I'll have
Speaker 1: a chance to talk with you, connect with you late
Speaker 1: at night after we get to the little kids to bed.
Speaker 1: The three year old Ryan, he can be the most needy,
Speaker 1: but his time might be when he comes to the
Speaker 1: mom and Dad's bet, right. And and and that's something that
Speaker 1: we've always said, no kids allowing our bet with the
Speaker 1: three year old. He's the baby, he's always allowed. And
Speaker 1: then we got we got the nine year old, the
Speaker 1: nine year old boy with gino. You know, he's a
Speaker 1: thicker kid. He's a thicker kid, um, And so I
Speaker 1: make him take the dog on walks with me. So
Speaker 1: if I can ever take the dog on the wall,
Speaker 1: that's me in Geno's time. And so I keep saying,
Speaker 1: there's you have to be intentional in terms of being
Speaker 1: a parent to him all but given every individual kid
Speaker 1: in their own time. Man, I admire that that that
Speaker 1: has to be a daily challenge. But it seems like
Speaker 1: you and your wife are up to it. You know.
Speaker 1: One of the things that have impressed me is that
Speaker 1: you went around and spoke to every living Notre Dame
Speaker 1: X football coach, which seems like, okay, no brain here,
Speaker 1: but not many people would have maybe the humility or
Speaker 1: the wisdom to do that. One of them is to,
Speaker 1: of course, is Taryn Willingham, who recruited you when you
Speaker 1: were considering strongly to go to Notre Dame. You said
Speaker 1: he reminded you of his dad. What did you take
Speaker 1: from his conversation, because obviously he was the first black
Speaker 1: head coach at Notre Dame in any sport, so has
Speaker 1: a perspective there that maybe um was valuable to you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think every person you've talked to, every former coach
Speaker 1: that have been here, coaches that maybe haven't been here,
Speaker 1: they all give you third knowledge. They all give you
Speaker 1: their advice, you take what you want right and and
Speaker 1: you know, Coach Willingham gave me a lot of different um,
Speaker 1: you know, examples from when he was here and why
Speaker 1: they didn't have success or why they did have success. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: the thing I got from him is you have to
Speaker 1: make sure your staffs the line. You have to make
Speaker 1: sure that um, everybody outside of your players. You're gonna
Speaker 1: spend time to your players. I'll take care of your play,
Speaker 1: but everybody outside of your players has to be on
Speaker 1: the same page. And you have to be clearing communication
Speaker 1: and um. That's something that I remember taking for him
Speaker 1: in our conversation, amongst many other things that I'll leave
Speaker 1: between and him, but it was a very important conversation
Speaker 1: to have. It helped me learned some lessons maybe that
Speaker 1: I didn't know before talking to him. But I think
Speaker 1: the the overwhelming theme that every person that I've talked
Speaker 1: to has given me see who you are doing your way.
Speaker 1: Here are some things that I did that I would
Speaker 1: maybe read do or I wouldn't do. You have to
Speaker 1: do things your way. And I take all that advice
Speaker 1: I get and I said, okay, this I might have
Speaker 1: two pages of notes. This is the thing I got
Speaker 1: from him that I'm going to try to incorporate, and
Speaker 1: it's something from every person I talked to. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: powerful sense of self and the need to be yourself
Speaker 1: I think serves us all well, but even more so
Speaker 1: when you are a representative. You are a representative by
Speaker 1: taking this job of not just a lot of coaches
Speaker 1: in all sports, a lot of people who have felt
Speaker 1: rightfully so under represented, and so the responsibility, the pride
Speaker 1: that goes along with that, but also the responsibility. And
Speaker 1: you're just sort of begetting your journey as head coach.
Speaker 1: But I'd be surprised if you haven't gotten letters of
Speaker 1: communications from people saying, coach, you are representing so much
Speaker 1: your feelings on that it's it's real, it's real. And
Speaker 1: the things that you've just said that all those things
Speaker 1: that happened, all those communications have happened. Um. I've got
Speaker 1: a reminder from a coach yesterday that I highly respected.
Speaker 1: He said, you have the single most important minority head
Speaker 1: coaching job in all sports, and it was something you
Speaker 1: just go, Okay, Now that's a reminder, right, We all
Speaker 1: need reminders. What is my daily motivation? Every day to
Speaker 1: wake up and to come and work and work as
Speaker 1: hard as I can. It's for these players. It's to
Speaker 1: help them reach the goals. And I say that, Chris,
Speaker 1: because yeah, I gotta work hard, man, I gotta understand it.
Speaker 1: I have to have success. I want to have success
Speaker 1: for that next way that the representation of others. But
Speaker 1: I come to work in the way I'm going to
Speaker 1: have successes to server players is to work tiresly to
Speaker 1: help them reach their goals. As I said earlier, what's
Speaker 1: one of their goals to be national champions. So every
Speaker 1: day I come in the office, how can I do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to make sure this program is it's
Speaker 1: close to that level that we can win every game
Speaker 1: we play, right? How can I make sure we put
Speaker 1: the people around them that help them develop the NFL
Speaker 1: football players, because that's what they all want to do,
Speaker 1: that's their goals, right. How can I make sure that
Speaker 1: we're doing things to help prepare them for life after football,
Speaker 1: because that's something Maybe some of them have goals of
Speaker 1: that right now, but they will at something. Right Maybe
Speaker 1: not all of them think about that right now, but
Speaker 1: they will at some point. So that is my motivation, Chris,
Speaker 1: is that I want to make sure these guys have
Speaker 1: success now, in the present and long throughout their life.
Speaker 1: And and that's all that's always in the forefront of
Speaker 1: my heads. I kind of yeah, I mean I can,
Speaker 1: I can hear the Priday, and I can also understand
Speaker 1: that that must be a daunting feeling. You know, I've
Speaker 1: been at this a long time. I've had conversations with
Speaker 1: lots of black head coaches over over three decades of time,
Speaker 1: and and many have had very different opinions. But one
Speaker 1: of the themes that does come through is that part
Speaker 1: of being unrepresented and not getting opportunities is that giving
Speaker 1: the same chance to rebuild, which you don't have to
Speaker 1: do thankfully, or completely change around an incredibly difficult situation,
Speaker 1: or be given the patients to sort through those things,
Speaker 1: or be given a second chance if that doesn't work
Speaker 1: out the first place is frankly not the same for
Speaker 1: minority coaches and hasn't been, and and there are lots
Speaker 1: of facts to back that up. Um where are you
Speaker 1: with that worked tirely to try to make sure I
Speaker 1: have as much success as I can as fast as
Speaker 1: I can, right, and then I'm in a unbelievable situation
Speaker 1: as as we've talked about earlier, where this program is
Speaker 1: and and um, I believe I have every resource to
Speaker 1: make sure that we continue to excel. And so that's
Speaker 1: my focus on how do we continue to enhance? How
Speaker 1: can we continue to get better? You know what, one day,
Speaker 1: I'm sure I am going to look back and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe this was something different I could have done to
Speaker 1: help or maybe you know what, I'm not a last
Speaker 1: half MP guy, right, I look at this and that
Speaker 1: we have everything in these walls that we need to
Speaker 1: be successful. If we're not successful, I'm gonna look at
Speaker 1: myself and say, what didn't I do to make sure
Speaker 1: we have success? And I'm just speaking about Marcus Fringer.
Speaker 1: I'm not speaking about anybody else. What didn't I do
Speaker 1: to make sure we have success? And so that's to me,
Speaker 1: my focus verstans to make sure that I believe we
Speaker 1: have everything in our power, everything we need to be
Speaker 1: the most successful program in the country. So our job,
Speaker 1: my job is to make sure we find a way
Speaker 1: to to that. Something you said and my preparation hit me,
Speaker 1: and you talked about leadership obviously being high on the
Speaker 1: list for your players, and that is true a lot
Speaker 1: of places for a lot of coaches. But you said
Speaker 1: leadership by example isn't enough. That made me pause and think.
Speaker 1: I like to think that I've done things pretty decent
Speaker 1: over my career, but I haven't maybe been enough of
Speaker 1: the vocal leaders to other people. It's been, Hey, I
Speaker 1: will try to set the example and do what I
Speaker 1: can do. You want people to do more than that,
Speaker 1: And I think it's useful for people who are involved
Speaker 1: in all walks of life. Leadership by example, to you
Speaker 1: is only a part of it, it seems, and I
Speaker 1: and I use that in terms of our players, and
Speaker 1: that when we think of a leader by example, we
Speaker 1: think about a guy that does usually performs really well, right,
Speaker 1: He's usually a really good performer. Um, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: say anything. And so I'm not saying you have to
Speaker 1: be the raw, raw motivational guy. That's not what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I'm saying it's everybody in our football programs um to
Speaker 1: hold each other accountable to our standards. And so if
Speaker 1: you see somebody not doing but not performing up to
Speaker 1: our standards, if there's greatest example, if they're supposed touch
Speaker 1: the line, they don't touch the line. If they're supposed
Speaker 1: to turn right, they don't talk, but you don't say anything,
Speaker 1: then you're just letting that become the new standard. And
Speaker 1: so that's what I'm trying. When I say those things
Speaker 1: leadership by example, I'm talking about the guys that don't
Speaker 1: say anything, the guys that allow others to under achieve
Speaker 1: and underperformed. And we can't have that because it's everybody's job,
Speaker 1: from the secretary to the head coach, to the straight coach,
Speaker 1: to the starting tight end to the scouting guy, to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, this is a family. If you underachieve
Speaker 1: or you don't do what it's expected, hey man, I
Speaker 1: want to call you. Hey touch the line, you know,
Speaker 1: or or hey finished through whatever it is that we're
Speaker 1: looking for, whatever the standard that has been said, we
Speaker 1: all have to hold each other accountable. And if you
Speaker 1: don't right, which we said, Hey, that's the leader by extample.
Speaker 1: You're not the guy that says anything that you're allowing
Speaker 1: us all to underperform. You talked a lot and lived it,
Speaker 1: putting others before self. You'd like your players to do
Speaker 1: that too, And many would say, hey, yeah, good luck
Speaker 1: with the generation Z because this generation is selfish, This
Speaker 1: generation is soft. This generation is concerned about their own
Speaker 1: success and not the collective. It's a bad rap. I've
Speaker 1: done talks and posts about this. But it's also a
Speaker 1: generation that that it isn't enough to just tell them
Speaker 1: what to do and don't give them the reasons behind
Speaker 1: it and say, hey, it's all about the name in
Speaker 1: the front of the jersey and not the back, because
Speaker 1: that's not how they've grown up, that's not their framework
Speaker 1: for their existence. How challenging, Marcus is it to get
Speaker 1: a bunch of guys to put others before themselves. Well,
Speaker 1: for me, the challenges to get them to care about
Speaker 1: each other. That's where it starts for me. Let's get
Speaker 1: them to care and get them to choose to love
Speaker 1: each other. And that is an everyday mission of mine
Speaker 1: is too. How do I get these guys to make
Speaker 1: the choice to love each other? And I believe the
Speaker 1: love is a choice and you have to choose to
Speaker 1: love your teammate. And how can I put you in
Speaker 1: situations or give you examples where this is going to
Speaker 1: help this program have success, which in turn will help
Speaker 1: you have individual success. Team success comes first. With team
Speaker 1: success comes an individual success. But we have to get
Speaker 1: them to care first. We've got to get them to
Speaker 1: truly choose to love each other every day, choose to
Speaker 1: love each other, choose to be a team, choose to
Speaker 1: care about each other. And then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you'll say, Okay, it's about team, because I will get
Speaker 1: mine when I we have team success, I will get
Speaker 1: my individual success. Man. That's powerful that It reminds me
Speaker 1: of a study I saw done where they talked about
Speaker 1: the qualities that defines success for combat soldiers whose lives
Speaker 1: are on the line every day, and what is important
Speaker 1: for them, and what ranked ahead of courage and bravery
Speaker 1: and strength and toughness was love. Love was the number
Speaker 1: one thing that was important because if they didn't have
Speaker 1: love for the guy next to them, they couldn't do
Speaker 1: their job. And it was more about at than it
Speaker 1: was the bravery to jump in a grenade. Right. That
Speaker 1: that is so powerful. I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1: That is exactly the point I'm trying to hit with
Speaker 1: these players in this program is that if we don't
Speaker 1: love each other, if we don't choose to love each o,
Speaker 1: doren't care about each other. The opponent doesn't matter because
Speaker 1: we're not going to sacrifice when we need it most.
Speaker 1: You've called yourself a dynamic recruiter, um. Others have said relentless.
Speaker 1: You've hired seven new coaches to add to a staff.
Speaker 1: You want all them to be dynamic recruiters. Have that
Speaker 1: tremendous early return success on that. This is a different
Speaker 1: kind of recruiting though, I mean being a relentless recruiter
Speaker 1: now in the era of free agency via the transfer
Speaker 1: portal N I L means a different thing because it's
Speaker 1: a three seven thing um above board and below board.
Speaker 1: But what what do you in the context of this
Speaker 1: current climate. What is a relentless dynamic recruiter mean hard work?
Speaker 1: It means out working other coaches, and that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: aways me, you're gonna win, right there's that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: always gonna win. But it's not gonna be because of
Speaker 1: a lack of effort. And so, how can we make
Speaker 1: sure that kid and that family knows who we are,
Speaker 1: knows we're recruiting moren't anybody else because we care about
Speaker 1: an authentic relationship. We have to get these players to
Speaker 1: feel that these coaches and this coaching staff care about it.
Speaker 1: Right on top of what this university provides for and
Speaker 1: the opportunity that it offers him. Because we have to believe,
Speaker 1: I believe, as the head coach and our assistants have
Speaker 1: to believe that there is no greater opportunity for a
Speaker 1: young person to come play for about the highest level,
Speaker 1: get at the highest level of education in a network
Speaker 1: that will truly open so many doors from You have
Speaker 1: to believe that first, then you have to do the
Speaker 1: things necessary to get that young person in his family
Speaker 1: to understand that. Too many times until our staff all
Speaker 1: the time don't just recruit the player. We have to
Speaker 1: recruit this families, you know. And if you're recruiting my son,
Speaker 1: guess what My job as his father's to help guide
Speaker 1: him to make the right decisions. So we have to
Speaker 1: have relationships with the families and and but it takes time.
Speaker 1: That's not one conversation. And and that's to me when
Speaker 1: I say relentless recruiters that we will not stop daily
Speaker 1: of communicating in building a relationship with these young people.
Speaker 1: I want you to tell me if you disagree with this,
Speaker 1: but I've said this, and I do believe that because
Speaker 1: the sport is so hot, heavy and because the same
Speaker 1: team seemed to be competing for the championship every year.
Speaker 1: There are really two groups of programs at the top
Speaker 1: of the sport, and one of them states very clearly
Speaker 1: and backs it up with dollars commitments. Whatever it takes.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying breakthroughs, but within reason, whatever it takes
Speaker 1: to win a championship, we will do. And we know
Speaker 1: what the programs are because they're the same ones that
Speaker 1: are battling for playoff positions. The other ones who believe
Speaker 1: they're not going to go that far, they're not going
Speaker 1: to state that would ever it takes, We're gonna have
Speaker 1: a championship caliber football program L S G was or
Speaker 1: whatever it takes program I don't know have Notre Dame
Speaker 1: has been in the past. I think they would not
Speaker 1: like that label, certainly, But but where do you see
Speaker 1: the Irish in fitting into that or even if you
Speaker 1: buy my my dichotomy, I believe Notre Dame's committed um
Speaker 1: to supporting this football program to become national champions and
Speaker 1: and that's my belief, And again that comes from a
Speaker 1: guy that's been a head coach for seven and a
Speaker 1: half months. And but I believe and I have a
Speaker 1: strong belief and I hope everybody in our program believes
Speaker 1: that Notre Dame has supported us and will continue to
Speaker 1: support us to do everything it takes to win a
Speaker 1: national championship. My job is continue to grow, figure it out, reevaluate,
Speaker 1: look back and say, okay, do we have what it takes.
Speaker 1: I believe right now and I feel like we have
Speaker 1: the full support of this administration UM, our athletic director
Speaker 1: are president, that they are committed to doing whatever it
Speaker 1: takes that we need to win the national championship. And
Speaker 1: Notre Damn has been in the playoff and has been
Speaker 1: close other years, including last year in Cincinnati, UM coach
Speaker 1: by Luke Vickl, who's the godfather of of your youngest child.
Speaker 1: I mean, they had a tremendous season. They were in
Speaker 1: the bracket of four. But to do it year in
Speaker 1: year out, to be there competing and able to win
Speaker 1: two playoff games, not just get in the bracket and
Speaker 1: take home the trophy? Is it? Is it daunting to
Speaker 1: try to chase down and keep up with the Alabama's
Speaker 1: and the Clemsons and the Georgis and the Ohio States
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma's et cetera. The teams that have dominated that
Speaker 1: playoff bracket so far daunting. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: would say, don, I would say, what is in your opinion,
Speaker 1: what do you believe that it takes to get to
Speaker 1: that level? And I think my opinion is it starts
Speaker 1: with talent. It starts with continuing to get the best
Speaker 1: players in the country that the fit Notre Dame, but
Speaker 1: are the best football players in the country. And that's
Speaker 1: what we have to continue to do and and we
Speaker 1: every year. Every year, you got to say, okay, you're
Speaker 1: not looking at your current roster as much as okay,
Speaker 1: let's evaluate these high school or college portal guys and say, okay,
Speaker 1: who are the best ones in the country through our
Speaker 1: evaluation that fit Notre Dame that can help us win
Speaker 1: a national championship. So it starts with recruit It starts
Speaker 1: with getting the right players. The second part is to
Speaker 1: continue to have a culture. Right is that's the buzzword,
Speaker 1: But what is your culture and it and is your
Speaker 1: culture strong enough to when your talent is there to
Speaker 1: help you win a national champion So it's an everyday
Speaker 1: focus on everyday struggle. But to me, that is our
Speaker 1: formula to continue and to improve is continue to acquire
Speaker 1: the best talent that we feel is out there through
Speaker 1: our evaluations and convince them or or get them to
Speaker 1: realize Noted Dame is the place they want to go
Speaker 1: to school when they want to play college football at
Speaker 1: And then too, we have to continue to enhance every day,
Speaker 1: Enhance our culture, enhance this team, enhance this program. You
Speaker 1: talked a lot about hoping that your players appreciate the
Speaker 1: work they put in and also the wisdom that they're
Speaker 1: gaining while in school and the wisdom they have the
Speaker 1: potentially game because I don't want to sell like an
Speaker 1: old person again, but you know, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people in college aids don't fully appreciate the opportunity
Speaker 1: they have and don't and don't view education as a
Speaker 1: really multifaceted, horizontal thing, and they think I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: to class, listeners to the professor, whereas education can happen
Speaker 1: I think much more effectively just bym learning from the
Speaker 1: students that are around you, especially in a place like
Speaker 1: Notre Name where there's just a lot of really impressive
Speaker 1: people from varied backgrounds. What message do you drive home
Speaker 1: to your players about it's tough for young people to
Speaker 1: appreciate what you have and know that there's so much
Speaker 1: value every single day of your college experience. Yeah, again,
Speaker 1: I try to. I try to preach that message. But
Speaker 1: that's what the head coach is supposed to do, right.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to say it's important to go to the class.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to say, hey, you're it's value, there's valuable
Speaker 1: rewards and getting an education. But part of that also
Speaker 1: is bringing in real life examples or showing them examples
Speaker 1: of what the education at Notre Dame provides for them.
Speaker 1: And so I often try to do that to remind
Speaker 1: them the privilege they have to go to school here. Uh.
Speaker 1: We had a week where it was discretionary. They didn't
Speaker 1: have to work out this summer. Um. They were here
Speaker 1: on campus. Um. And what I did was we we
Speaker 1: invited people individuals that could remind our players that wasn't
Speaker 1: the head coach of the privilege they have to go
Speaker 1: to school here. Here's a real life example of a
Speaker 1: person that went to school here, got an education here,
Speaker 1: that's one of the most successful people in this world.
Speaker 1: This is why you have to strain and go to
Speaker 1: class and study and and do the things that it's
Speaker 1: necessary to obtain this degree. Here's another example of a
Speaker 1: guy working with a Notre Dame man that wasn't a
Speaker 1: football player that you know what, they made a connection.
Speaker 1: Now they're working together and now they're really successful businessman.
Speaker 1: Here's Justin Tuck. We have Justin Tuck come back and um,
Speaker 1: you know and say, okay, here's a person that did it.
Speaker 1: He's done everything you wanted to. He's played great college football.
Speaker 1: He was an NFL draft pick, super Bowl champ, all Pro,
Speaker 1: all these things. Now he's a successful businessman. Let him
Speaker 1: come back and tell you what the Notre Dame experienced
Speaker 1: UM did for him. And so I think it's constant reminders.
Speaker 1: It's not just the head coach speaking but giving them
Speaker 1: real life examples that you know what, Okay, I gotta
Speaker 1: go to class. Here's why, here's why I'm doing what
Speaker 1: I do. You believe in in process of a result,
Speaker 1: which I think is smart, the path being more important
Speaker 1: than the destination. But this is a results based thing.
Speaker 1: And you know a lot of smart coaches have said
Speaker 1: you are what your record says you are. So if
Speaker 1: you're allowed to talk to think about where the path
Speaker 1: could lead and focus on the destination for yourself with
Speaker 1: this program. What is the destination? What is the result
Speaker 1: a Notre name that will make you feel like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is successful for me, it's it's given these players
Speaker 1: in this university what they want, and that's their twelfth
Speaker 1: national championship, right, And that's to me, that's not why
Speaker 1: I come to work every day, right, It's it's what
Speaker 1: I want for this place, and it's what I want
Speaker 1: for these players because that's why they chose the other day.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm sure a lot of the noted name
Speaker 1: chose me because there's the belief of of getting that
Speaker 1: twelfth national championship and and so on, and so that
Speaker 1: to me is something that we we don't shy away from.
Speaker 1: We we want to be national champions. The process of
Speaker 1: getting there is where we need to focus that and
Speaker 1: to really focus on. But that's that's that's to me,
Speaker 1: definitely a goal. If you get there, I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: gonna be by doing it your way and being yourself
Speaker 1: and and and doing it the right way. So it'll
Speaker 1: be fascinating to see how this unfolds. Definitely fired up
Speaker 1: for for the opening game and what's to what's to
Speaker 1: come in your first full season as head coach. Any
Speaker 1: any final thoughts or anything we haven't covered. No, this
Speaker 1: has been great. Um dude, it's my sort And if
Speaker 1: I was gonna pick your brain for a while, Hey, listen.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever comes with questions, but this is better when
Speaker 1: it's a conversation. I'll ask. I don't answer anything you want. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know just I mean from your experience or
Speaker 1: where you started to where I guess here's the one
Speaker 1: question I love to ask people are really successful in
Speaker 1: the BILS, like yourself. If you can go back and
Speaker 1: talk to thirty six year old Chris Fowler in in
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know where were you at with
Speaker 1: thirty six, but to where you're at now, what advice
Speaker 1: would you give the thirty six year old Chris Powler
Speaker 1: m hmm um, Well, I was already at ESPN for
Speaker 1: a dozen years, and I think that you know, we
Speaker 1: all go through phases, man, we I think that it
Speaker 1: took me a while to figure out gratitude and acceptance
Speaker 1: of what the universe deals with us and getting beyond
Speaker 1: anger and frustration and resentment. Those are all human emotions,
Speaker 1: they're all they're part of all of us, right, But
Speaker 1: if you can practice acceptance, I think you can get
Speaker 1: beyond that. And and I would tell myself that because listen,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot tougher businesses than this, but
Speaker 1: this is not the easiest thing when it comes to, um,
Speaker 1: you know, operating in a fish bowl. So that would
Speaker 1: be one thing just to remind myself to be grateful.
Speaker 1: But I think you're already there, man, I you don't
Speaker 1: need any help being involved, especially where you are thirty
Speaker 1: six years old, thank you. Um what about with you
Speaker 1: and Kirk? I mean, how YouTube have grown together as
Speaker 1: a partnership. You know, over how many years have YouTube
Speaker 1: been in the booth ago? But blow you away. I
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be year twenty seven on on fall Saturdays,
Speaker 1: which would include game Day, uh, some Thursday games and
Speaker 1: then ABC Prome. So it isn't then crazy that we
Speaker 1: we we hit a point where we're we've done that
Speaker 1: longer together than the players recovering it been alive by
Speaker 1: quite a few years at this point. Wow, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: How have you too, I mean, what intentional things that
Speaker 1: YouTube have done over your career to help that cohesiveness
Speaker 1: amongst the two of you. You like each other, you
Speaker 1: share a passion for the sport. Fundamentally, that's what it is.
Speaker 1: Um authenticity. I think that's the key behind game day
Speaker 1: success fans. As you point out, players especially this generation
Speaker 1: can sense and smell inauthenticity better than any generation. And
Speaker 1: they're also they feel the freedom to express that when
Speaker 1: they sense it, maybe more than other generations. So we
Speaker 1: authentically love the sport, UM love being around it. UH
Speaker 1: great affection for each other and that extends also to
Speaker 1: Desmond Howard and the Corso and others who have been
Speaker 1: a part of game Day when I was there. But
Speaker 1: I think that you know, it's a tremendous amount of
Speaker 1: trust and we we are sort of hardwired together at
Speaker 1: this point. I know how he sees football. I think
Speaker 1: he knows what I'm gonna do. So we we we
Speaker 1: speak shocking a little about the matchup. We'll talk before
Speaker 1: your game with all House said, I promise you, but
Speaker 1: not as much as you might think, because, um, you know,
Speaker 1: in inc and something that sort of innate takes over.
Speaker 1: So and also just being open and honest and how
Speaker 1: you communicate sometimes it is tough love. Um. We're very
Speaker 1: different people. We have a shared passion for the sport,
Speaker 1: but maybe the way we process that. I've never been
Speaker 1: a player, so um, you know, his experience is going
Speaker 1: to be different and deeper than mine in some ways.
Speaker 1: But um, you know, I think we learned from each other,
Speaker 1: respect each other, and also try to communicate as clearly
Speaker 1: as we can't, even when the messages aren't that pleasant
Speaker 1: to deliver or here you know, yeah, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 1: How do you deal with time management? I was, I
Speaker 1: was looking through it a couple weeks ago year over
Speaker 1: the woman, and now you're here, and I mean, how
Speaker 1: do you deal with your time demands? Man? You said
Speaker 1: something very smart and I might prefer this. You try
Speaker 1: to slow things down, you know, I've read some smart
Speaker 1: people say you don't have too little time, You just
Speaker 1: have too much. That's that's on your mind. So trying
Speaker 1: to clear away some of the static and be in
Speaker 1: the moment and figure out what is most important when
Speaker 1: it's right in front of you, and what can get
Speaker 1: shuffled a little bit farther back, what can spend less
Speaker 1: time on? And also I think too that listen for
Speaker 1: any job like yours or anything else, sometimes being the
Speaker 1: best prepared It doesn't mean spending the most hours grinding
Speaker 1: on my chart or your game tape. You know, it's
Speaker 1: important to prepare that way, but ultimately, how you are
Speaker 1: in front of your players on Saturday afternoon, and how
Speaker 1: I am when I go and you know, with a
Speaker 1: headset on in the booth, that's what's super important. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what at least in my that's what you're judged by.
Speaker 1: So I could prepare like crazy if I have a
Speaker 1: shitty show because my mind isn't in the right place
Speaker 1: that I prepare well. So learning I think that that
Speaker 1: sometimes the best preparation doesn't mean the most time grinding
Speaker 1: on the details, but getting yourself in the proper frame
Speaker 1: of mind to do the best job that you can.
Speaker 1: That's I don't know if it is. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to you. You're a hell of an interviewer.
Speaker 1: This has gone a fun direction, but I am respectful
Speaker 1: of your time. That's good. That's really good. That's really good. No,
Speaker 1: this has been great. This has been great. Obviously, respect
Speaker 1: what you've done and uh followed your career. I told
Speaker 1: you at the top Marcus. My wife Jennifer as a
Speaker 1: co executive producer of this podcast and in researching this interview.
Speaker 1: She told me this morning, I have a team to follow.
Speaker 1: I'm a name fan, I'm a Marcus Freeman fan. So
Speaker 1: take that that. Jennifer has really good judgment and instincts.
Speaker 1: So you have a fan in my household from now on.
Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you. This has been great. Now,
Speaker 1: this has been great. Marcus Freeman has always impressed me
Speaker 1: during my visits with him as a player and assistant coach,
Speaker 1: and more so now as CEO of Notre Dame Football.
Speaker 1: I love what his example represents about hard work and
Speaker 1: preparation to be ready to meet your moment. And I
Speaker 1: hope you're aspired up as I am for the Fighting
Speaker 1: Irish against the buck Eyes in the Horseshoe. It kicks
Speaker 1: off our ABC Saturday that football season September three. I'm
Speaker 1: also fired up about season five of Foul Who. You
Speaker 1: got another wide range of compelling guests and topics. I
Speaker 1: enjoy every one of these conversations. I always learned a lot,
Speaker 1: and I think you will too. As always, thanks to
Speaker 1: my co executive producer Jennifer Dempster and editor Jason White Celtz.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you soon.