Marcus Freeman Can Learn from Ryan Day’s Ohio State Path

Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman can take valuable lessons from Ryan Day's journey leading Ohio State to sustained success.

Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts after losing against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Ryan Day is further down the path than Marcus Freeman

Sure, Notre Dame's loss to Ohio State stings. It will take time to recover from for both the folks inside the Irish program and the fan base as well. When the dust settles and the immediate emotions subside, there will be some bigger-picture perspectives taken out of this painful moment for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame wants to get where Ohio State is. Ryan Day's journey at Ohio State is more similar than it is different from Marcus Freeman's journey as the head man at Notre Dame and there are some lessons to be learned from this overlap that can help Freeman grow his team and add trophies to his tenure.

"I think they sent a strong message about being selfless."

Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman reflects on his players' spectacular season ☘️ @notthefakeSVP pic.twitter.com/lHZRpK3XOe

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 21, 2025

It's not easy taking over a premier program, it takes time to get over the ultimate hump

Ryan Day is in his sixth year as the head coach of the Buckeyes. And in his sixth year, he won the national title. The process to get there wasn't easy. For as good as his 70-10 record was, he didn't win the championship until 2024, a frustration for Buckeye fans who hold the highest of expectations yearly.

Like Day, Freeman himself was a young head coach taking over a brand-name program with high expectations. Where will Freeman's Irish team be once he has three more years of experience and more time to develop his program? The Irish fell short of winning a title in 2024, but major progress was made.

Ryan Day's journey at Ohio State from talk of him getting run out of Columbus to becoming the national champion shows just how hard it is to get over the ultimate hump. How long it takes to get things just right at a brand-name football school.

Freeman is on a similar path as Ryan Day, and hopefully, with some more time to further build his program, he can someday achieve similar results in a similar timeframe or sooner.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.

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