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If the National Football League is going to get Marcus Freeman, that day might eventually come.
It's not going to happen in 2026.
What we know:
Freeman announced on X Monday that he's staying at Notre Dame, and will coach the Fighting Irish football team in 2026.
"2026…run it back," Freeman wrote on X. "Go Irish."
Sports Illustrated reported earlier that Freeman informed two NFL teams he would remain at Notre Dame.
This ends the speculation that Freeman would leave South Bend for an NFL coaching job. His coaching candidacy in the NFL had been picking up steam in recent weeks, including with the New York Giants.
This came after Freeman's name was tossed around for the vacancies at LSU, Florida, Penn State and Michigan. It remains to be seen how serious of a candidate he was for those jobs.
However, it became more likely that Freeman would remain at Notre Dame in the days after the Irish's final game of the 2025 season against Stanford.
"I would never say we wouldn’t match anything when it comes to Marcus," Bevacqua said days after Notre Dame was left out of the College Football Playoff. "Everybody has eyes on Marcus. College has eyes on Marcus. NFL has eyes on Marcus."
Freeman also appeared on the TODAY show and was asked directly if he would be back in South Bend in 2026.
"Oh yeah," Freeman said.
By the numbers:
Freeman has enjoyed a wonderful four-season start to his head coaching career at Notre Dame.
He has a 43-12 record in those four seasons, and had Notre Dame on the cusp of a national championship after his third season.
Running it back with Freeman also means following through on the high momentum Notre Dame has had in its recruiting under Freeman's staff. Notre Dame has the same number of five-star signees as the entire Big 12 and ACC combined.
With the transfer portal opening on Jan. 2, Freeman will have a chance to build his 2026 team further as they look to move on from 2025 and contend for a national title in 2026.
While it won't be the same, the Irish can find ways to move on from stars like Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. They could not afford to lose Freeman at this time.