What Marcus Freeman's Esquire Shoot Reveals About Notre Dame Football

Marcus Freeman knows his players are going to let him hear about it over his photoshoot for Esquire magazine

Nov 22, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman greets fans while walking to the stadium before facing the Syracuse Orange at Notre Dame Stadium. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

If you needed any further proof that the stuffiness around the Notre Dame football program is no longer a thing, look no further than the latest move Marcus Freeman pulled.

Really, do it. It's not difficult to find.

Freeman spent some brief time this winter doing an interview and photoshoot for Esquire magazine, which the author titled "How Marcus Freeman Tamed the Wild West of College Football".

The interview doesn't include anything too groundbreaking regarding Freeman, despite the author seemingly trying to talk a move to the NFL into existence.

It's not the interview as much as the photoshoot that screams about this being a new Notre Dame, though.

Notre Dame is Cool Again - And Dangerous

Marcus Freeman, the head coach of Notre Dame football, successfully rebuilt the team into a powerhouse. Naturally, the NFL came calling.

🔗: https://t.co/6aOkKCUCy9 pic.twitter.com/bg4DKK31vz

— Esquire (@esquire) April 14, 2026

Freeman admitted that he knows his players and fellow coaches are going to be giving him a hard time over the photoshoot, but like it or not, this screams new Notre Dame.

The stuffy, stiff, and often bland football program that has a rich tradition but hadn't done a whole lot in terms of playing for national championships pre-Freeman, is in a new era.

Freeman being on display for the photo shoot might be a too much for old-timers (something I realize I'm becoming more and more by the day), but it speaks to what Notre Dame football is for the first time in ages:

Cool.

Of course I asked Marcus Freeman about his new Esquire photo shoot.

Can't wait for the locker room to see these :) pic.twitter.com/bSkFkDce8B

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) April 14, 2026

Like it or not, Notre Dame football has a reputation that it's above fun, all about business, and spends its time living in the past.

Not anymore.

With Freeman, Notre Dame football is pounding on the door of national championship contention, and that wasn't supposed to happen anymore.

You see, things were fine with Notre Dame from average college football fans because it wasn't a threat to actually win anything of consiquence. Now that Notre Dame is among the best programs going annually, you see the takes that it needs to join a conference, and has all these unfair advantages emerge.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

I won't lie, growing up in Chicago I've been used to big-time coaches getting a little too camera friendly, and being convinced it ultimately hurt their respective franchises.

Mike Ditka (Bears), Ozzie Guillen (White Sox), and Joe Maddon (Cubs) all come to mind with the coach getting the shine, and at first that's where my thought went with Freeman.

But when thinking about it, what college head coach wouldn't want this?

Heck, Dan Hurley of UConn basketball was recognized the same way by Esquire a year ago, and he's perhaps the last guy you would associate with doing such a thing.

Lou Holtz wouldn't have been asked to do it back in the day, but you can bet your bottom dollar he would have been ticked when Jimmy Johnson was.

And I can only imagine how ticked off Lane Kiffin is in his Baton Rouge office that he didn't get asked to partake.