Marcus Freeman inherited a Power Program I Notre Dame and won with it.
I've got a lot of respect for him
He comes in here and he prepares in a way I haven’t seen many people prepare
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 1st career season — faster than 57% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #1 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
6–2 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Ryan Day.
Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim
The way ND’s defense always seem to dominate these triple options so well since Freeman has been coach
Based on 1 comment from 1 poster across 1 thread · Sep 12, 2026 · via CFB
11th-best Notre Dame tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
| Season | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 11–1 | 9–4 | 10–3 | 14–2 | 10–2 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | Title game L | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #9 | #7 | #12 | #9 | #12 | #5 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||
| Pass rate | 49.9 | 38.9 | 43.4 | 44.1 | 43.5 | 49.2 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||
| OC | Tommy Rees | Tommy Rees | Gerad Parker | Mike Denbrock | Mike Denbrock | Mike Denbrock | |
| DC | Marcus Freeman | Al Golden | Al Golden | Al Golden | Chris Ash | Aaron Henry / Chris Ash | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||
| Offense | 74 | 62 | 94 | 99 | 95 | 74 | |
| Defense | 95 | 67 | 100 | 94 | 95 | 79 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 48.9 | 37.6 | 38.9 | 39.7 | 41.1 | 55.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 35.0 | 35.5 | 37.2 | 29.9 | 28.3 | 33.3 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 29.3 | 22.0 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 66.7 | — | |
Barely touches the portal — recruits and develops his own.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
33 NFL Draft picks: Liam Eichenberg (2021), Aaron Banks (2021), Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (2021), Tommy Tremble (2021), Robert Hainsey (2021), Ian Book (2021), Daelin Hayes (2021), Adetokunbo Ogundeji (2021) + 25 more
14 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Kyle Hamilton (2021), Isaiah Foskey (2022), Michael Mayer (2022), Michael Vinson (2022), Joe Alt (2022), Xavier Watts (2023), Joe Alt (2023), Xavier Watts (2024) + 6 more
AI Narratives — “Notre Dame's 2025 season ends at 10-2” and 12 more on the team page.
Defensive coordinator across 3 programs, 3 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.