Notre Dame Quickly Defends Marcus Freeman After Battery Claims Surface

A bizarre off-the-field story involving Marcus Freeman was reported Sunday, but the parts of the claim don't seem to make a whole lot of sense

Nov 8, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman looks to the scoreboard against the Navy Midshipmen during the first half at Notre Dame Stadium. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

The newscycle regarding Notre Dame football never seems to end and Sunday has felt very much like that.

What most thought would be an incredibly slow news day regarding Notre Dame, instead turned into quite the afternoon with a report out involving Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and an opposing assistant wrestling coach of his high school aged son.

The cliff notes version of the story is that an opposing wrestling coach filed a police report for an altercation at a high school wrestling match on January 3. The South Bend Tribune was first to report the news of the incident, which includes a statement from Notre Dame on the incident.

“Vinny Freeman, head coach Marcus Freeman’s son, was verbally accosted during and after his wrestling match by a local wrestling coach. Marcus and Joanna Freeman intervened and removed Vinny from the situation. At no point did Coach Freeman physically engage with anyone. We believe that the police report, which includes video evidence, fully exonerates Coach Freeman and makes clear these accusations are totally unfounded.”

Something Smells Really Fishy With This

How many times have you actually seen or heard an opposing coach get in the face of a competing athlete at the high school level?

Virtually none, or none altogether?

But now, when we do hear of it happening, it just so happens to occur with a former All-American wrestler from Purdue and the son of Notre Dame's head football coach.

And that's just by chance, right?

After a match that Freeman's son lost to a wrestler from a different school, Chris Fleeger, an assistant at New Prairie High School started chirping. That's when the report says Marcus Freeman stepped in and things began to get a bit heated.

I'm not saying I know for a fact what happened, but there are certainly a good amount of coincidences.

Also, factor in Notre Dame quickly making such a strong statement after the report came out, and that would indicate they probably have a pretty good idea that nothing is going to come from whatever the police report actually says.

My question is why is a coach who doesn't have a wrestler in the match that just took place, involving himself in such a situation?

To that I can't find a good answer.

I'll let the process play out before commenting any further, but...yeah.

We'll continue to follow and developments that come with this story in the coming hours and days as it certanly wasn't what I was expecting to be writing about this fine Sunday.