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Marcus Freeman's coaching hires

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I believe this is a great time to look at Marcus Freeman’s coaching hires. This is a pivotal year for Freeman and nothing is going to determine his fate coaching at Notre Dame more than the people he surrounds himself with. By all accounts Freeman is a great person and mentor of young men. However, being a leader of an organization is a different ball game. Part of the reason the administration used for hiring him was keeping things the same and moving forward in the right direction. Well I think it is safe to say now that isn’t the case any longer. There has been a ton of turnover in the past year with more likely to come. So let’s evaluate who he has surrounded himself to this point. 

OC

Rees he inherited and stayed for a year. People can have their opinions, but Rees is going to be a head coach at a power 5 school and has Alabama playing pretty well at the moment. In replacing him he choose Parker which is likely going to ultimately determine his fate. I know what happened with Ludwig but at the end of the day he is the head coach and hired who he hired. Parker has a lot left to be desired right now.

DC

Golden has been very good for the most part. Some questionable play calls against Ohio St keep him from being a homerun hire.

ST

Mason was a home run hire, I don’t even think that is debatable. Biagi the jury is still out, but the special teams seemed to improve over the course of the year. They had some huge moments throughout the year which is very encouraging.

Qb

Guidugli the jury is still out, but you have to question the regression from Hartman. With reports of not letting him check at the line seems to be odd considering he was a 6th year qb. Guidugli is well regarded within the industry it seems and he has some great prospects coming in that could really show his worth.

RB

Deland is a home run hire without debate. If he leaves it will be a big hole to fill by all accounts.

WR

In hindsight hiring Stuckey over the current Washington coach was a major whiff. Getting rid of Alexander was a good choice by all accounts, but it seems to be looking like one step forward and two steps back. If he deferred to Rees on that decision, it was a major mistake and shows his inexperience/vision on offense.

TE

Parker was solid at that time, but he arguably walked into one of the most talented rooms in the country when he was hired. The fact that was parlayed into the OC job is highly questionable.

OL

Harry was a home run hire at the time and now they have moved on to Rudolph which the industry believed was a good hire. Rudolph seemed to have a good year and is moving in the right direction.

DL

Washington has taken a major step forward this year and seems to be a solid hire. But he still needs to land that major recruit or develop that major player to be a home run hire.

DB

Freeman inherited Mickens, but they played together I believe in high school so I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t have ended up at ND anyways. Mickens has been a home run, look at what they did to Marvin Harrison Jr compared to the rest of the year.

S

O’Leary has been solid especially considering Watts’ development. Losing Bowen and Hillman in recruiting have left a huge hole moving forward. You can’t continue to recruit cornerbacks and move them to safety or wide receivers. Sooner or later without safety recruits you will be exposed.

 

Overall, it seems he has done a solid job surrounding himself with qualified people. But there has been a lot of turnover in 2 years which is concerning. Defensively seems much better than offensively which isn’t surprising considering his background. But in the game today you can’t win without a high octane offense. His decisions on offense have been head scratching the last year. It seems to me they were unprepared for Tommy to leave and then did not have a solid plan moving forward or even a backup for that matter. I’d be interested to hear other thoughts on the matter.

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Baldy
Baldy

Exactly what I said, then I saw this! 😂   Denbrock is a Home run hire for Freeman and Notre Dame! 😝🤟🏼

Big23Head
Big23Head
mcgov12
mcgov12

Hell yes. Suck a fat one bk

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Baldy Heisman Winner

Baldy 1,225

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5 hours ago, BTC4 said:

I believe this is a great time to look at Marcus Freeman’s coaching hires. This is a pivotal year for Freeman and nothing is going to determine his fate coaching at Notre Dame more than the people he surrounds himself with. By all accounts Freeman is a great person and mentor of young men. However, being a leader of an organization is a different ball game. Part of the reason the administration used for hiring him was keeping things the same and moving forward in the right direction. Well I think it is safe to say now that isn’t the case any longer. There has been a ton of turnover in the past year with more likely to come. So let’s evaluate who he has surrounded himself to this point. 

OC

Rees he inherited and stayed for a year. People can have their opinions, but Rees is going to be a head coach at a power 5 school and has Alabama playing pretty well at the moment. In replacing him he choose Parker which is likely going to ultimately determine his fate. I know what happened with Ludwig but at the end of the day he is the head coach and hired who he hired. Parker has a lot left to be desired right now.

DC

Golden has been very good for the most part. Some questionable play calls against Ohio St keep him from being a homerun hire.

ST

Mason was a home run hire, I don’t even think that is debatable. Biagi the jury is still out, but the special teams seemed to improve over the course of the year. They had some huge moments throughout the year which is very encouraging.

Qb

Guidugli the jury is still out, but you have to question the regression from Hartman. With reports of not letting him check at the line seems to be odd considering he was a 6th year qb. Guidugli is well regarded within the industry it seems and he has some great prospects coming in that could really show his worth.

RB

Deland is a home run hire without debate. If he leaves it will be a big hole to fill by all accounts.

WR

In hindsight hiring Stuckey over the current Washington coach was a major whiff. Getting rid of Alexander was a good choice by all accounts, but it seems to be looking like one step forward and two steps back. If he deferred to Rees on that decision, it was a major mistake and shows his inexperience/vision on offense.

TE

Parker was solid at that time, but he arguably walked into one of the most talented rooms in the country when he was hired. The fact that was parlayed into the OC job is highly questionable.

OL

Harry was a home run hire at the time and now they have moved on to Rudolph which the industry believed was a good hire. Rudolph seemed to have a good year and is moving in the right direction.

DL

Washington has taken a major step forward this year and seems to be a solid hire. But he still needs to land that major recruit or develop that major player to be a home run hire.

DB

Freeman inherited Mickens, but they played together I believe in high school so I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t have ended up at ND anyways. Mickens has been a home run, look at what they did to Marvin Harrison Jr compared to the rest of the year.

S

O’Leary has been solid especially considering Watts’ development. Losing Bowen and Hillman in recruiting have left a huge hole moving forward. You can’t continue to recruit cornerbacks and move them to safety or wide receivers. Sooner or later without safety recruits you will be exposed.

 

Overall, it seems he has done a solid job surrounding himself with qualified people. But there has been a lot of turnover in 2 years which is concerning. Defensively seems much better than offensively which isn’t surprising considering his background. But in the game today you can’t win without a high octane offense. His decisions on offense have been head scratching the last year. It seems to me they were unprepared for Tommy to leave and then did not have a solid plan moving forward or even a backup for that matter. I’d be interested to hear other thoughts on the matter.

Good overview.

OC: I will have to agree to a certain extent. Freeman was dealt a bad hand, and was forced to take a chance on Parker, so I won’t blame him for that. Parker did struggle against good defenses, but overall the offense did really well this season. I would give this hire a C+.

DC: Golden had a rough first season, but has the defense playing at an elite level. I would give this hire an A-.

ST: Mason really was an amazing hire, so Biagi had some big shoes to fill. I think he did a nice job of making the ST unit a factor. No punt blocks, but two field goal blocks, with one returned for a TD, one punt and kick return TDs, and an onside kick recovery. I would give this hire a B+.

QB: I think we need to give Guidugli more credit, considering Hartman went from a Slow Mesh RPO offense, to a Pro Style offense. Pretty different, so Hartman had a lot to learn and change his style entirely. I would give this hire a B.

RB: No argument there, so I would give this hire an A.

WR: Definitely not sure what happened here, but Freeman always says he’s not an offensive guy, and needs to trust that his offensive coaches are making the right decisions to line up with his goals/vision of what he wants. Obviously there was a major issue, yet to be made public, so I would give this hire a D.

TE: Not sure how Parker walked into one of the most talented rooms in the country last season? It was really only Mayer, because Evans and Staes were still developing, and Raridon was injured. I would give it to Parker for making the TE room better this season than what he inherited last season, because Evans turned out to be amazing, and Raridon played well to end the season. Staes and Flanagan shined at times as well. I would give that hire an A.

OL: Played well, but not great at times. We did see some good improvements with Craig and Schrauth to end the season though, so I would give this hire a B-.

DL: No argument there as well, but yes, need an elite recruit to take it to an even higher level. I would give this hire an A.

DB: I believe this is Freemans’s best hire, because Mickens is an amazing coach! I would argue he’s the best DB coach in CFB, so I would give this hire an A+.

S: A bit of a surprise considering the talent in the room, and took a former receiver in Watts to another level by making him elite, and DJ Brown shined too. I would give this hire a B.

Despite the one bad hire, I have no doubt Freeman is putting the right people around him to be successful and win a championship. It’s what great leaders do.

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Agree with much of this fro both BTC4 and Baldy. 
 

I think the coaching staff turnover hasn’t been all that much really. Sure there have been a few, nothing I would say is all that excessive.

OC: It looks like Parker will be back for another go of it. Not completely onboard with that, but I hope it works well. Many folks lament the Ludwig situation at OC, but Utahs O this year was anything but great, something like ranked 85 in the country. Not very impressive.

OL: Rudolph is good.

RB: Deland is great.

TE: Continued stellar play.

WR: Chances are we’ll never know the whole story here. Trust MF will make another good hire. Chansi certainly improved the WR group. I’d give a 2 steps forward, 1 step back rating. 

DC: Golden is great.

DL: Al Washington showed out this year, much better than his 1st season. 

DB: Mickens is great. If Al Golden leaves, and I really hope not, Mickens would be my choice for DC. 

S: Much improvement in the play and recruiting of the safeties this year.

ST: Impossible to improve on Mason, but it wasn’t a big step back either.
 

I think if Golden leaves, it would be for the NFL, not another college job.

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BTC4 Redshirt

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We will see on this hire, I’m not educated enough to offer an opinion. Although the timing sure makes it seem like this has been in the works. Especially considering how quickly Stuckey was fired and then replaced. I have a hard time believing this all happened this week.

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On 12/1/2023 at 2:05 AM, Baldy said:

Good overview.

OC: I will have to agree to a certain extent. Freeman was dealt a bad hand, and was forced to take a chance on Parker, so I won’t blame him for that. Parker did struggle against good defenses, but overall the offense did really well this season. I would give this hire a C+.

DC: Golden had a rough first season, but has the defense playing at an elite level. I would give this hire an A-.

ST: Mason really was an amazing hire, so Biagi had some big shoes to fill. I think he did a nice job of making the ST unit a factor. No punt blocks, but two field goal blocks, with one returned for a TD, one punt and kick return TDs, and an onside kick recovery. I would give this hire a B+.

QB: I think we need to give Guidugli more credit, considering Hartman went from a Slow Mesh RPO offense, to a Pro Style offense. Pretty different, so Hartman had a lot to learn and change his style entirely. I would give this hire a B.

RB: No argument there, so I would give this hire an A.

WR: Definitely not sure what happened here, but Freeman always says he’s not an offensive guy, and needs to trust that his offensive coaches are making the right decisions to line up with his goals/vision of what he wants. Obviously there was a major issue, yet to be made public, so I would give this hire a D.

TE: Not sure how Parker walked into one of the most talented rooms in the country last season? It was really only Mayer, because Evans and Staes were still developing, and Raridon was injured. I would give it to Parker for making the TE room better this season than what he inherited last season, because Evans turned out to be amazing, and Raridon played well to end the season. Staes and Flanagan shined at times as well. I would give that hire an A.

OL: Played well, but not great at times. We did see some good improvements with Craig and Schrauth to end the season though, so I would give this hire a B-.

DL: No argument there as well, but yes, need an elite recruit to take it to an even higher level. I would give this hire an A.

DB: I believe this is Freemans’s best hire, because Mickens is an amazing coach! I would argue he’s the best DB coach in CFB, so I would give this hire an A+.

S: A bit of a surprise considering the talent in the room, and took a former receiver in Watts to another level by making him elite, and DJ Brown shined too. I would give this hire a B.

Despite the one bad hire, I have no doubt Freeman is putting the right people around him to be successful and win a championship. It’s what great leaders do.

Baldy only one I’ll disagree on is the safety spot. I feel that spot has been an enormous wildcard since Hamilton has left. And I think it many problems were covered up by his greatness while he was here. I thought DJ Brown was a prime example for Notre Dame of the gap between being elite and being in the next tier. On elite teams he is a backup and rotation player, not someone starting. If you look at big plays over the course of his career, he always seemed to be on the wrong side of them. The drop int at the end of the OSU game. I can’t remember how many times he took the wrong angle and gave up a huge run when he was the last line of defense. Hopefully Watts returns and  the recruits will turn the corner. O’Leary seems to be well liked and thought of so hopefully it he turns a corner. 

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Baldy Heisman Winner

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50 minutes ago, BTC4 said:

Baldy only one I’ll disagree on is the safety spot. I feel that spot has been an enormous wildcard since Hamilton has left. And I think it many problems were covered up by his greatness while he was here. I thought DJ Brown was a prime example for Notre Dame of the gap between being elite and being in the next tier. On elite teams he is a backup and rotation player, not someone starting. If you look at big plays over the course of his career, he always seemed to be on the wrong side of them. The drop int at the end of the OSU game. I can’t remember how many times he took the wrong angle and gave up a huge run when he was the last line of defense. Hopefully Watts returns and  the recruits will turn the corner. O’Leary seems to be well liked and thought of so hopefully it he turns a corner. 

All great points, so I would have to agree! Well said!

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