notre dame’s new defensive identity

In 2009, upstart coach Brian Kelly from the University of Cincinnati was hired by Notre Dame. Twelve years later, another Cincinnati coach is hired, and Marcus Freeman is bringing a new defensive identity in contrast to the previous coach’s high offensive mentality. Freeman’s history in defense starts back to his playing days as a linebacker at Ohio State, where he became a graduate assistant leading to a job as a linebacker coach at Purdue. He and Luke Fickell reunited in 2017 becoming the defensive coordinator of Cincinnati. Here he was able to show his impressive defensive coaching skill. As a defensive coordinator at Cincinnati Freeman was key in the development of defensive players, with numerous examples of which include Sauce Gardner, Coby Bryant, and Myjai Sanders to name a few. Not only was Freeman a great developer of talent but he was also a key part of recruitment. Freeman’s defensive adaptability and planning are is perhaps his strongest asset as a coach, with Freeman’s history explained we can see his strengths and why Notre Dame is and should change its philosophy. This doesn’t mean that offense will be ignored or put on the back burner, with the coaching change only small a handful of coaches followed Brian Kelly to LSU, many to their surprise one of the coaches staying is Notre Dame’s current Offensive coordinator. Retaining your offensive play-caller and one of your biggest recruiters is no small feat and will help keep the offense for Notre Dame as good as it has been. Freeman started at Notre Dame as a defensive coordinator tasked with repairing and strengthening a defense that has had some issues throughout the last few years. With his promotion as head coach, we will see a flip in Notre Dame’s philosophy of being an offense-heavy team to perhaps a more balanced middle ground with high defensive pressure and adaptability that we have seen on his previous teams like Cincinnati.