"She was making good money": When Marcus Freeman revealed how his wife gave up her job to follow him on coaching path

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman might be at the top of the profession now, but to get there, he had to go through his fair share of struggles. Ahead of the National Championship Game on Jan. 20, we run it back to when Freeman talked about his early coaching struggles.

In 2023, Marcus Freeman opened up about his coaching career in “The Pivot Podcast”. While talking about his early days in coaching, Freeman remembered how his wife, Joanna, supported him from the beginning, after his forced retirement as a player and during his early coaching career.

“We got married one month after they found the enlarged heart valve, and she had a job, she was making good money, she was a news reporter in Columbus Ohio," Freeman said. "And she was able to support kind of all of us when I was making GA money, which is no money. And you know, I gotta give her credit, because the next year I go to Kent State. I’m hired as a linebackers coach. Division One program, you think we’re gonna make good money like, we’re good.

“I remember I got my salary; it was 42,000 and my wife would make almost double that. And I said, ‘you stay in Columbus and I’m gonna go to Kent State, which is two hours away. She said no, ain’ no way we’re gonna do this thing apart, so she gave up her job, came and moved up so we figured it out,” he added.

Freeman’s playing career ended after Indianapolis Colts’ doctors found an enlarged heart valve during a physical exam. That pushed him to start his coaching career.

As time’s gone by, the gamble paid off. Freeman is now the head coach at one of the most important programs in the nation and is considered an ascending head coach. Freeman and Joanna are still married and have six children together.

Marcus Freeman, from scarlet and grey to blue and gold

Marcus Freeman (1) was a leader in Jim Tressel's Ohio State. - Source: Imagn

One of the main storylines this week has been Marcus Freeman, not just because he’s become a hot coaching candidate but also because he played college football at Ohio State.

The current Notre Dame head coach was a linebacker for the Buckeyes from 2004 to 2008. He played in 51 games and ended his career with 268 tackles. He was part of the Buckeyes’ team that played for the 2006 national title.

That year, he became a leader on a defense that had lost Anthony Schlegel, Bobby Carpenter, and AJ Hawk. Ohio State fell one game short of getting the second national title of the Jim Tressel era.

Now, he will be on the other sideline, looking to end the Irish’s championship drought that dates back to 1988, when Lou Holtz was the head coach.