"We have to utilize these connections" - When Marcus Freeman shared importance of building relationships en route to greatness

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman recently made history as the first Black coach to lead an FBS team into the national championship game. Although the Fighting Irish lost to Freeman's former team, the Ohio State Buckeyes, he earned plaudits for taking the team to new heights.

During a 2023 segment of the "Pivot" podcast, the charismatic Freeman revealed how he utilized his connections to get the graduate assistant's job at Ohio State in 2010 after prematurely retiring from the NFL, emphasizing the importance of building relationships.

"It would have been totally different. I probably would have called Gene Smith who was the athletic director at Ohio State," Marcus Freeman said (16:00). "I actually GA (graduate assistant) in my fifth year at Ohio State. I was already graduated so I was a GA for Smith.

"He (Smith) would have been my second call and said, 'Hey, I've already GA for you,' and I wanna go into this sports management/administration side. But, we have to utilize these connections that we have.

"That's what I tell my players now. I can talk about this Notre Dame network and the people that we have and the connection. But, if we're not tapping into it, really utilizing it, it's gonna be for waste. And sometimes I think about it to myself and it's like, you don't want to, you don't wanna seem vulnerable. You wanna act like you have all the answers, like I'm good, I don't need help."

How Marcus Freeman went into coaching

Marcus Freeman was a star linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes between 2004 and 2008 and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft. The Dayton, Ohio, native bounced around between the Bears, Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans before his playing career came to an end in 2009.

"Fifth-round pick, went to the NFL, and you know, I got cut after training camp and being in Chicago was the first time that I was homesick," Freeman said (4:30). "I grew up in Dayton, Ohio which is around 50 minutes from Columbus and I was never homesick and then all of a sudden you go to the NFL, and I've got a fiancee and a son, and this is the first time that I miss being home."

Marcus Freeman had a medical with the Indianapolis Colts, during which his enlarged heart condition was discovered, forcing him to retire immediately. He called Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who invited him to join his staff as a graduate assistant, starting his path to coaching.

"So, the Colts called me and I'm like, 'Imma go to Indianapolis and keep chasing this dream,'" Freeman said, "and they found an enlarged heart valve. I called coach Tressel (Jim) that day, and I said 'I can't play anymore,' and he said 'Be here the next day,' but I never grew up wanting to be a coach, I really thought that I wanted to be an athletic director."

Marcus Freeman went on to become the linebackers coach at Kent State (2011-2012) and Purdue (2013-2015) before climbing the ranks as the Boilermakers' defensive coordinator (2016) and moving on in the same capacity as the Cincinnati Bearcats' DC (2017-2020).

Freeman was hired on coach Brian Kelly's Notre Dame staff in the same capacity in 2021 before succeeding him later that year when he took the LSU Tigers job.