Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman amid latest NFL speculation: ‘That isn’t my noise’
SOUTH BEND — For a second straight November, Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman is hearing his name mentioned in NFL coaching rumors.
A year ago, it was the Chicago Bears’ opening that Freeman was tied to in regular speculative reports before Ben Johnson was hired away from the Detroit Lions.
This week, with the New York Giants firing Brian Daboll after a 2-8 start, multiple New York outlets are including Freeman’s name as one to watch, mainly because there is reportedly “some high regard for him in the Giants building,” according to the New York Post.
That should be no surprise considering Joe Schoen, the Giants’ general manager since 2022, is an Elkhart native who played at the former Memorial High School and later DePauw University. At 46, Schoen is a rough contemporary of Freeman, 39.
Tim McDonnell, Giants’ director of player personnel since 2021, joined the organization in 2013 as a scout after eight years in various roles with the Notre Dame football program. McDonnell, who worked under both Charlie Weis and Brian Kelly, spent his final six years in South Bend as director of player personnel/football personnel.
McDonnell, who played wide receiver at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., is the grandson of late Giants co-owner Wellington Mara.
Marcus Freeman blocks out the ‘noise’
Asked Thursday on his weekly media conference call whether he is proactive in addressing outside rumors with his team, Freeman said it’s a case-by-case situation.
“If I feel like it’s necessary, I do,” he said. “A lot of times, in things I say to the team, it may come out. … A great example is, ‘What’s the noise you’re putting in your head?’ Just because the noise in somebody else’s head is one thing doesn’t mean it has to be your noise.
“As I’m sure I’ve said before, just because somebody else might be saying my name’s up for whatever job or being considered, that isn’t the noise that I’m going to put in my head. That isn’t my noise.”
Daboll, who went 11-33 over his final two-plus seasons, was reportedly the fourth-lowest paid coach in the NFL with a five-year contract in the $25 million to $30 million range.
Freeman, who signed a multiyear extension through 2030 last December, is believed to average around $9.5 million a year on his new deal. With Indiana recently extending Curt Cignetti’s deal to make it an eight-year, $93 million pact averaging $11.6 million a year, Freeman could be in line for another salary bump with the Irish.
Notre Dame (7-2) takes a No. 9 College Football Playoff ranking into Saturday’s noon road game against No. 22 Pittsburgh (7-2).
Speculation at the college level portrayed Freeman as a dream candidate for openings at Penn State and Florida, but that buzz has died down as the fourth-year coach points his team toward a second straight appearance in the College Football Playoff.
“I can address it directly, indirectly, but if I’m going to spend time talking about something like that, I have to make sure it’s in a way that it’s beneficial for the players,” Freeman said. “Your time in front of the players is so limited. If I can use it as an example, I will. But also, more than anything, I want to make sure I can give them some type of message to make sure that they’re doing something positive for themselves.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
