Freeman says it was ‘wrong decision’ to play for OSU
New Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman wrote this week that he made the “wrong decision” to play at Ohio State.
Freeman, a Buckeyes linebacker from 2004-2008 who started 37 games, wrote on The Players Tribune website that if he had to do it over again he would have played at Notre Dame.
“I visited this university for the first time when I was about 16 or 17 years old and was recruited to play here,” he wrote. “I had a choice to make, and in the end what it came down to was Ohio State or Notre Dame. And I chose Ohio State. I loved (Notre Dame coach) Tyrone Willingham. I thought he was a great coach, and to be honest, he reminded me a bit of my father.
“Fast-forward to last year, and you might have heard that I was being considered for a couple of coaching jobs. During that time, me and my wife, Joanna, took a trip down to Louisiana and then up here to South Bend — and when we got back home, it was another tough decision. 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.”
Freeman promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach Dec. 3 after Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU.
Freeman was a Parade All-american coming out of Huber Heights Wayne and was one of the top three prospects in Ohio. He finished his Ohio State career with 268 tackles and was a secondteam All-big Ten selection his senior season.
Freeman was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 2009 NFL draft and also played for the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans.
He retired in 2010 due to an enlarged heart condition.
He started his coaching career as the linebackers and assistant coach for Kent State in 2011 before moving to Purdue,
where he served as the linebackers coach in 2013 and was promoted to codefensive coordinator in 2016.
Freeman was hired as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati in 2016, and his unit led the AAC in scoring defense in 2018 and 2019. He was a finalist in 2020 for the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant in college football. He was hired as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator before this season.
Joe Harrington contributed to this story.