Marcus Freeman reacts to being linked to multiple college football openings

As more and more big jobs come open in college football -- it started when Penn State fired longtime head coach James Franklin two Sundays ago -- Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman is going to be a popular name tossed into high-profile coaching searches.

He understands this and at least acknowledged that he does hear the chatter.

Joining the popular "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast, with former NFL players Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, on Monday, Franklin shared how he reacts in those moments.

"The [simple] thing would be to say, 'Oh, I'm not interested, I got a great job.' And yeah, is that the case? Yes, but you know, when I do hear a little bit of the noise -- and I try to control the things I hear, but people know how to text you or say certain things -- it's a reminder of the gratitude that I have to have for the position this program's in, for the position I have," Freeman said.

"Like, that's what I reflect on is that, man, first of all, your name wouldn't be mentioned if your program wasn't doing really good things. And the reason why we're doing really good things is because everybody in the program, right? It's not one person.

"I always tell our guys, outside of this building, they're always going to point the finger at one person when you have success and one person when you have failure. And it's usually the head coach or quarterbacks, right? So I know the reality is it takes us all. It takes every person in this program to have success, so when you have that mentality, you understand, like, there's a gratitude to the program that I'm involved in and I'm a part of, but also the opportunity I have to be the head coach here, right, and this position that I hold. And so every time I hear something like that, I just remind myself of the gratitude I have to be in this position for sure."

Freeman secured his first head coaching job when longtime Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly unexpectedly left to become the head coach at LSU in late November 2021. Freeman had been the Fighting Irish's defensive coordinator for one season at that point after four years as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati.

It was a bold move for such a storied program to turn to a first-time head coach, but Freeman has rewarded Notre Dame's confidence in him by leading the Irish to 14 wins and a national championship game appearance last year. This season, Notre Dame is 5-2 after a 0-2 start and back up to No. 12 in the AP top 25 poll after a big win over USC last weekend.

There isn't much reason for Freeman to leave Notre Dame, but that won't stop his name from being linked to high-profile job openings.