Marcus Freeman’s First Regular Season Game As Notre Dame’s Head Coach Will Be At Ohio State

Freeman played for the Buckeyes from 2004-08 and served as a graduate assistant in 2010.

Author:
Andrew Lind
Dec 3, 2021 12:18 PM EST

Notre Dame officially promoted former Ohio State linebacker Marcus Freeman from defensive coordinator to head coach on Friday morning.

It’s been a rapid ascension through the coaching ranks for Freeman, who played for the Buckeyes from 2004-08 and was a graduate assistant with the program in 2010.

He also spent time as the linebackers coach at Kent State (2011-12) and Purdue (2013-16), as well as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati (2017-20) before joining the Fighting Irish ahead of this season.

With Brian Kelly leaving for LSU before the end of the season, Freeman’s first game as head coach will be in a major bowl game – quite possibly the College Football Playoff if a few things break Notre Dame’s way.

His first regular season game as head coach, meanwhile, will be against his alma mater. The Fighting Irish are set to come to Columbus to take on Ohio State on Sept. 3, 2022.

The game was already one of the most anticipated non-conference matchups of next season. It’s now added another intriguing layer.