Are Notre Dame Football and Duke Basketball Really Doing the Impossible?

Are third-year head coaches changing the narrative on both powerhouse programs?

Mar 21, 2025; Raleigh, NC, USA; Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer with his son, Jett, after the game against the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Lenovo Center. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Duke enters this weekend as the favorite at the Final Four as the Blue Devils are led by Cooper Flagg and a team overloaded with star power. Under the direction of third-year coach Jon Scheyer, the Blue Devils are also doing something that college sports fans largely aren't used to.

In fact, its the same thing Notre Dame did under Marcus Freeman during its run to college football's national championship game back in January.

Both, Duke basketball and Notre Dame football right now are, dare I say:

Likable.

How Duke Basketball and Notre Dame Football Are Likable

It's not hard to look at Notre Dame football historically and see why a large part of the nation doesn't like it.

A rich history mixed with national prominence and academic standards that few can compete with all blended in with a huge chunk of the fanbase that didn't attend school there.

That sounds a lot like Duke basketball, too.

But between Marcus Freeman and Jon Scheyer, it's really hard to have anywhere near that same disdain for the Fighting Irish on the gridiron or Blue Devils on the hardwood.

Young Coaches Replacing Coaching Greats

In both Duke basketball and Notre Dame football this year, you have third-year coaches that replaced record setting head coaches at their respective programs.

Sure, Brian Kelly didn't win any national championships at Notre Dame, but he did win more games as head coach than anyone else in the long history of the program. He also came across being as likable as a debt collector.

Mike Krzyzewski won more games than any college basketball coach in history, turned Duke from being a very good program into the nation's finest, and did so with what was largely perceived as a "better and smarter than you". He acted and spoke as if every word of his own was gospel and that anyone who challenged it.

In part, simply by being different than their predecessors, both Freeman and Scheyer were instantly more likable than Kelly and Krzyzewski, but their attitudes also reflect their teams.

Perhaps the moment that best encapsilates it regarding Freeman was in this past January's Orange Bowl. In a dramatic back-and-forth affair against Penn State, Notre Dame was called for a highly questionable pass interferance call that negated an interception in a very key moment. Instead of blowing a gasket and turning purple like his predecessor would have, Freeman literally laughed the call off. Yes, that drive wound up in a Penn State touchdown, but if Freeman reacts differently than does his team get tighter and not end up winning that contest?

I won't go as far to claim Scheyer doesn't try to influence officials as any good coach does but he's refreshing for college basketball fans compared to the legend that proceeded him. That's not to say Krzyzewski was responsbile for all of it as the majority was a media creation, but he didn't shy away from it either. Scheyer being younger is someone plenty of basketball fans remember vividly helping lead Duke to the 2010 national championship as a player, and someone that was incredibly respected by his peers all the way back in high school as Patrick Beverley discussed on his podcast recently.

Krzyzewski is still plenty connected to the Duke basketball program, but the DNA of this team is infinitely more reflective of its current head coach than it is of college basketball's all-time wins leader.

College sports teams are more a reflection of their head coaches than any other major sports league and both Duke basketball and Notre Dame football are benefitting from that in a big way these days.

It'll be a strange Final Four for myself and I'm sure a lot people this weekend as Duke will play and some regular haters (myself included) really won't mind if it wins.

That feels very similar from afar to how it did when Notre Dame was making its College Football Playoff run a few short months ago.

feed