On Thursday night, Penn State’s James Franklin and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman met in a clash to determine who would advance to the National Championship.
More significantly, the winner would make history as the first Black head coach in FBS history to make the Championship.
In the end, Freeman became the history-maker as the Fighting Irish kicked a field goal with under 10 seconds remaining to win the Orange Bowl and advance to the championship game.
It was a moment not lost on Freeman.
"It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn't matter, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this."
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025
Marcus Freeman on becoming the first Black and Asian American head coach to make the FBS national championship ???? pic.twitter.com/KHMksJUNdK
“It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this,” said Freeman after being asked how it felt to be the first Black coach to make the championship.
Freeman, Notre Dame’s second Black head football coach behind Tyrone Willingham, was a popular choice for the position.
When he was given the job after Brian Kelly left for LSU, players swarmed the then-defensive coordinator and celebrated.
He was a four-year letterman at Ohio State who played one season in the NFL before returning to the Buckeyes in 2010 to begin his college coaching career.
Over a decade later, he was hired as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and became the full-time head coach in 2022.
Under his leadership, the team has improved each season, going 9-4 and 10-3.
This year, the Irish went 12-1 in the regular season. More impressively, after a stunning week 2 upset by Northern Illinois, the Irish reeled off 11 straight wins to make the playoffs, where they’ve won three straight over Indiana, Georgia and Penn State.
What Freeman has accomplished at Notre Dame has been somewhat overlooked as most paid attention to teams from the SEC and Big 10, particularly after signing massive media deals. Some have even started to complain that the Irish have an easier path to the CFP as they’re an independent; they even critiqued them for a weak schedule and for pocketing the full $20 million that other teams have to share with their conference.
That belittles what Freeman has accomplished and ignores Notre Dame’s media deal with NBC.
