Marcus Freeman Hits All The Right Notes With His First Coaching Staff

It's going to take time for us to see if Marcus Freeman has what it takes to bring a national title to Notre Dame, but the early returns for the first-year Irish head coach are outstanding. His recruiting prowess is well known, but Freeman showed he also knows how to put together a strong coaching staff.

Freeman upgraded many positions on the staff, at the very least hired a coach that was just as good as the recent departures, and there should be no debate that Notre Dame will now have a better recruiting staff top to bottom than it had at any point of the previous 12 seasons.

His final hire was Al Golden as Notre Dame's next defensive coordinator, which is an intriguing hire when you consider that Golden is being tasked with replacing Freeman. As a listener to the Irish Breakdown podcast mentioned during yesterday's show, it says a lot about Freeman that he hired such an experienced and proven coach for that job. It shows Freeman is not afraid to surround himself with great minds and strong personalities, which is a trait all great coaches I've seen possess.

It also says a lot about Golden that he was willing to come to Notre Dame and work for a coach that is 15 years his younger and held the job he is now taking. When you also consider the reputation Golden acquired as an outstanding recruiter the future looks very, very bright for the Irish defense on and off the field.

When looking at the staff as a whole, Freeman combined a unique blend of veterans with youthful energy. He landed two veteran coaches on offense that are considered among the very best in the business (Harry Hiestand, Deland McCullough), he upgraded the special teams (Brian Mason) and he also showed he's willing to take a chance on an unproven coach with legitimate talent and potential (Chansi Stuckey).

Freeman then replaced Notre Dame's longest tenured and most respected assistant - Mike Elston - with a talented up-and-coming coach in Al Washington that sources I trust insist will be one of Freeman's best hires, if not his best.

Landing Golden gives him a veteran with 10 years of head coaching experience, which Freeman absolutely needed needed. Golden has been through this before, and having a coach like that on staff to use as a sounding board for more than just defensive game planning and play calls is incredibly important for Freeman.

Landing Hiestand and McCullough gives him two veterans coaches that also have NFL experience. Landing Gerad Parker to coach tight ends gives Freeman at least one assistant on both sides of the ball that he has a long-standing relationship with (Mike Mickens being the other), which means his "new" staff will have coaches who know him well and can help other assistants learn how to work with him.

That significantly helps with the transition for the entire staff.

Freeman made sure the defensive staff continued being excellent, and he played a very important role in making sure that offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has the coaching resources needed to build an elite unit on that side of the ball as well. Rees also played a vital role to putting the offensive staff together, and with him also now having more experience the offense should be much, much better coached throughout than it was in recent seasons when it was good at some positions but not others.

The new Irish head coach has already made two off-field hires that could prove impactful, landing Chris Watt to work with the offensive line and James Laurinaitis to work with the defense. Watt is a former NFL and Notre Dame player that was a teammate of Rees, which gives Rees a strong ally and an understudy to Hiestand. Laurinaitis is a former teammate of Freeman's, which gives him yet another ally on staff. Being able to work with Freeman and Golden should also be incredibly impactful for Laurinaitis as he enters his first year as a coach.

This has the potential to be an outstanding coaching staff, and it shows Freeman's willingness to work quickly when needed, to take his time when needed, and to do what it takes to make sure he has a deep and talented coaching staff. This is a staff filled with coaches with reputations as strong teachers and excellent recruiters.

One common theme I hear when talking to former players of these coaches, or people who covered these coaches, is that the players love them and love playing for them. I keep hearing that they truly value establishing trust and strong relationships with players, and it's clear this was intentional on Freeman's part, which is an incredibly important and savvy strategy.

Of course, Freeman and the staff need to prove that they can work as one cohesive group. If everyone gets on board, if all the coaches are willing to work towards one common goal, if the communication is strong and if everyone buys into Freeman's vision this is the kind of group that can quickly become one of the best staffs in the country.

It's the kind of group that Notre Dame needs to develop, teach and recruit at the level needed to get over the hump and get that elusive championship that has escaped the program for over 30 years.

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Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
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Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board

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