Marcus Freeman is Notre Dame’s 30th head football coach, hired at 35 with no head coaching experience when Brian Kelly left for LSU in December 2021, and now 43 and 12 with a national championship game appearance, three College Football Playoff seasons and a contract through 2031 after turning down two NFL teams last winter. He is 40 years old, the youngest coach with a top five program, and the calm on the sideline is the thing everyone mentions first.
| Born | January 10, 1986, Huber Heights, Ohio |
| Playing career | Linebacker, Ohio State, 2004 to 2008; two time second team All Big Ten; drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round in 2009 and retired after a heart condition was found |
| Coaching stops | Ohio State GA (2010), Kent State (2011 to 2012), Purdue (2013 to 2016), Cincinnati defensive coordinator (2017 to 2020), Notre Dame defensive coordinator (2021), Notre Dame head coach (December 2021 to present) |
| Awards | 2024 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year, George Munger Award, Bear Bryant Award |
| Family | Wife Joanna, six children; converted to Catholicism in 2022 |
| Contract | Restructured in December 2025, runs through 2031, compensation in the top tier of college coaches. Details on Marcus Freeman salary and contract |
Season by Season
| Season | Record | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 (interim) | 0 and 1 | Lost the Fiesta Bowl to Oklahoma State after Kelly’s exit |
| 2022 | 9 and 4 | Opened with losses to Ohio State and Marshall; won the Gator Bowl |
| 2023 | 10 and 3 | Sun Bowl win over Oregon State |
| 2024 | 14 and 2 | Lost to Northern Illinois in September, then won 13 straight to reach the national title game, losing to Ohio State |
| 2025 | 10 and 2 | Both losses (Miami, Texas A&M) by four points combined; controversially left out of the 12 team playoff |
| 2026 | Opens Sept. 6 | Preseason No. 4; opener vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field |
The Arc
Notre Dame promoted Freeman because the players asked for him. He had been the defensive coordinator for one season, hired from Cincinnati where his defenses carried the Bearcats to the 2021 playoff, and when Kelly left for LSU the locker room made its preference clear. The start was rough: the interim Fiesta Bowl loss, then Marshall in Week 2 of 2022, the first time a Notre Dame coach lost his first three games. The turn came with the 2024 team, which lost at home to Northern Illinois as a 28 point favorite, then did not lose again until the championship game in Atlanta, beating Indiana, Georgia and Penn State in the playoff along the way.
The 2025 exclusion, a 10 and 2 team left out with two losses by a combined four points to Miami and Texas A&M, is the backdrop for this season, and it is why Notre Dame’s independence gets argued every November. Freeman’s answer was to stay: after the Giants and at least one other NFL team pursued him in December, he posted “2026, run it back” and signed the restructured deal.
The Bottom Line
Marcus Freeman is 43 and 12 at Notre Dame with a national title game appearance, a Bear Bryant Award and a contract through 2031, four years after being handed the job at 35. The people pages around him: CJ Carr, his salary and contract, and the live Notre Dame score page.