The relationship between Ohio State and Marcus Freeman runs deep, and not just because Freeman’s Notre Dame squad faces OSU in the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night.
The matchup is the ninth-ever meeting between the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish, with Ohio State leading the series 6-2. The teams first faced Nov. 2, 1935, with Notre Dame winning 18-13 in Columbus.
The Irish declared victory in the second-ever matchup in 1936, but it’s been all Buckeyes since. Ohio State took down Notre Dame in the 2006 and 2016 Fiesta Bowls and won the last two regular-season matchups in 2022 and 2023.
Freeman, who was on the 2006 Ohio State team, helped lead the Buckeyes to a 34-20 Fiesta Bowl victory.
Here’s what we know about the Notre Dame head coach.
Marcus Freeman chose Ohio State over Notre Dame for college
Freeman had options when it came to selecting a college in the 2004 recruiting class.
According to 247Sports, Freeman was the No. 66 overall player and the No. 5 inside linebacker in the country out of Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio.
He held offers from various well-known college football programs, such as Florida, Miami, Oklahoma, Tennessee and even Notre Dame. Freeman ultimately chose Ohio State, playing for the Buckeyes from 2004-2008.
“In the end what it came down to was Ohio State or Notre Dame. And I chose Ohio State. I loved Tyrone Willingham. I thought he was a great coach, and to be honest, he reminded me a bit of my father,” Freeman wrote in December 2021 for the Players’ Tribune. “Fast-forward to last year, and you might have heard that I was being considered for a couple of coaching jobs. … I can’t tell you exactly what it was that told us to come to Notre Dame, but there was something. We all know there’s something different about Notre Dame. We all know it’s something special. And I just thank God that I didn’t make the wrong decision twice.”
He played in national championship games with Ohio State
Freeman had two chances at a national championship during his collegiate career. Both of his Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national title game appearances ended in losses, when the Buckeyes fell to the Florida Gators in 2006 and the LSU Tigers in 2007.
In 51 games for the Buckeyes, Freeman had 268 tackles, 21.5 tackles-for-loss and six sacks, finishing as a second-team All-Big Ten member in 2008. He also helped lead Ohio State to four conference titles and three BCS bowls.
Freeman briefly played in the NFL
Freeman went to the Chicago Bears as a fifth-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft, but his professional career didn’t last long. He was waived by the Bears on Sept. 4.
He then spent a brief stint on the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad in 2009 before signing with the Houston Texas in November of that same year. He officially retired from football due to a medical condition May 1, 2010.
His coaching career began at Ohio State
Freeman’s coaching journey began at his alma mater, as he joined Jim Tressel’s coaching staff in 2010 as a graduate assistant. He helped lead the Buckeyes to a Sugar Bowl win against Arkansas.
After Ohio State, Freeman went to Kent State, where he coached linebackers. He served as the Purdue Boilermakers’ co-defensive coordinator in 2016 before becoming the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at the University of Cincinnati from 2017 to 2020.
Freeman joined Brian Kelly’s staff at Notre Dame in 2021 as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He became the school’s interim head coach in the Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State before becoming the team’s permanent head coach ahead of the 2022 season.
Freeman is married and has seven children
Marcus Freeman married his wife, Joanna Freeman, in 2010. According to Us Weekly, the two met during Marcus Freeman’s time at Ohio State University, with Joanna Freeman attending another college at the time.
A former news reporter at WBNS-TV in Columbus, Joanna Freeman is now a full-time mother to the pair’s six children: Vinny, 17, Siena, 12, Gino, 11, Nico, 9, Capri, 7, and Rocco, 6. Freeman also has another daughter, Bria, who is 18 and from a previous relationship, per Us Weekly.
