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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Will Notre Dame Coach Marcus Freeman Join The 3-Year Elites or Failures?

Notre Dame football coaches are ultimately revealed as successes or failures in their third season.

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Nov 5
Nov 5

By Rock Westfall

Notre Dame football coaches are ultimately revealed as successes or failures in their third season. Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, Lou Holtz, and Brian Kelly made it. Charlie Weis, Tyronne Willingham, Gerry Faust, and Bob Davie did not. In 2024, Marcus Freeman enters his third season and a fork in the road. 

A Coaching Three Leaf Clover – Playing for a Natty or Career Survival

One of the first things you learn when studying the rich history of Notre Dame football is that the third year is the most important in judging if a coach will succeed or fail.

The modern GOAT of Notre Dame coaches, Ara Parseghian, set the Year 3 standard when he went 9-0-1 in 1966 and won the school’s first national championship since 1949. Parseghian finished as a beloved legend and won an additional natty in 1973. He retired after a 10-2 1974 campaign that ended with an Orange Bowl championship.

Dan Devine is often overlooked among Notre Dame coaching greats, but shouldn’t be. In his third season, 1977, he went 11-1 to win the national championship. He retired on his terms in 1980 with a Sugar Bowl appearance.

After going 5-6 and 8-4 in his first two seasons, Lou Holtz went 12-0 to win the 1988 national championship, the last one in Notre Dame history. Holtz retired (before his comeback at South Carolina) in 1996 after slowing down with marks of 6-5-1, 9-3, and 8-3 in his final three years. Holtz produced five AP Top 6 or better rankings from 1988 through 1993.

After stumbling out of the gate, with 8-5 marks in his first two campaigns, Brian Kelly went 12-1 in 2012, taking Notre Dame to the national championship game. Kelly finished strong with three of his final four teams ranked inside the CFP Top 5. In fact, he walked out on a 2021 Notre Dame team still in the playoff race for LSU.

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Also, we’d be remiss in not mentioning larger-than-life Notre Dame legends Knute Rockne (9-0 in his third season) and Frank Leahy (9-0-1 in his third year). Rockne and Leahy are on Notre Dame’s coaching Mount Rushmore. 

No Lucky Charms – Third Year Tells of Failure 

The unfortunate Gerry “Oust” Faust never should have been hired out of Moeller High School in Cincinnati, where he went 178-23-2. But athletic director Moose Krause wanted to go outside the box after Devine left. Faust went 5-6 and 6-4-1 in his first two years and went 7-5 in Year 3 with a Liberty Bowl win. But that was as good as it was going to get. Faust went 7-5 and 5-6 before his contract was not renewed. Faust never approached anything near greatness at any time in his tenure.

Bob Davie was Lou Holtz’s defensive coordinator and had big shoes to fill upon being elevated to the HC position. Davie was not quite as bad as he is made out to be, but he was nowhere near iconic. After going 7-6 and 9-3 in his first two years, Davie went 5-7 in his third season. That third year was prophetic. Davie would last but two more years.

Davie was followed by Tyronne Willingham, who started out gangbusters with a mark of 10-3. However, Willingham quickly slid to 5-7 and then a final campaign of 6-5 in his third season.

And then there was the King of the Buyout, Charlie Weiss. After a 5-2 start in his first season, Weiss was extended for a new 10-year contract estimated to be worth $40 million. Notre Dame seemed prescient after Weiss began his career with records of 9-3 and 10-3. But a 3-9 catastrophe in his third season was the beginning of an end that came two years later with a $19 million buyout. Weiss later put the University of Kansas on the hook for roughly $7 million after he was fired there. It’s not a bad living if you can get it.

This history leads to Marcus Freeman’s make-or-break 2024 campaign.

Can Freeman Break Through With Another One-And-Done QB? 

After records of 9-4 and 10-3, Marcus Freeman begins his third season at Notre Dame with his third different starting QB, two of which were transfers. Duke senior transfer Riley Leonard is number one on the depth chart entering spring camp.

After leading Duke to a 9-4 season capped off with a Military Bowl win in 2022, Leonard was injured most of 2023, playing in only seven games. But he will always be remembered at Duke for engineering its epic 33-17 national TV win over Clemson in Week 1. He threw for 175 yards and ran for 98 more, including a TD.

Last year, Sam Hartman was the Notre Dame starter after a stellar career at Wake Forest. In 2022, Drew Pyne started after two years on the Notre Dame bench. Subsequently, after his only season as the number-one quarterback, Pyne transferred to Arizona State.

This one-and-done pattern started in Kelly’s final season, in which Freeman was the defensive coordinator. In that 2021 campaign, Jack Coan transferred in from Wisconsin to nearly lead the Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff.

Ian Book may go down in history as Notre Dame’s last three-year starter at QB. He won more games than any other Notre Dame QB in history (30). And he was the last man to provide stability at the position.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule recently said that he would only take a one-and-done quarterback if no other options were available. Rhule said it is important to have continuity in the position. Freeman has not had the luxury, and Notre Dame fans are getting the itch for one of their own to lead the offense for multiple seasons. 

Freeman Gets Full AD Support, But Recruiting Remains Stagnant  

Soon-to-be retiring athletic director Jack Swarbrick is maximizing efforts to have the football program and Freeman fully set up for clinching a 2024 CFP berth before he departs. Notre Dame coordinators are getting unprecedented multi-year deals, and recruiting coordinator Chad Bowen chose to stay after Michigan contacted him. Notre Dame is strong at NIL and continues to acquire quality transfers.

Notre Dame’s tradition and academics still resonate with prospects in this era of the portal and NIL. And the Irish are building on a tradition of sons of NFL players coming to play under Touchdown Jesus.

Freeman was hired because he was thought to be a potentially strong recruiter. His 2024 class finished 11th ranked compared to 10th last year. However, Kelly’s final class ranked 6th best in the country. And while not at a Georgia or Alabama level, Freeman’s recruiting classes would be the envy of over 90% of college football.

Freeman has made his share of on-the-job-training mistakes in his first two seasons, most noteworthy in last year’s loss to Ohio State. But with experience comes polish. Notre Dame fans and the administration have been incredibly patient and supportive.

But it is Year 3 for Marcus Freeman. History shows there are two ways this can go. We’ll know in a year.

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