Marcus Freeman's FBS national championship appearance with Irish marks first for Black coach
When Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal sailed through the uprights with seven seconds remaining in regulation, Notre Dame was able to secure a 27-24 victory against Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9, capping off a thrilling clash between two of college football’s most iconic programs.
The win sent the Fighting Irish to the national championship game for the first time in 12 years, where they’ll face off against another preeminent Big Ten power, Ohio State. A victory there would deliver Notre Dame its first national title since 1988.
By merely getting to the playoff championship, though, Irish coach Marcus Freeman was able to break a notable historical barrier.
When Freeman faces off Monday in Atlanta against the school where he once was a standout linebacker, he’ll become the first Black man to coach in the FBS national championship game.
Heading into Monday night’s showdown, here’s a closer look at Freeman’s accomplishment:
Marcus Freeman first Black coach in national championship
Heading into the matchup earlier this month between Notre Dame and Penn State, it was guaranteed that the national championship game would feature a Black coach, with Freeman on one sideline and James Franklin on the other.
Now, with the Irish’s win, Freeman will get to be that trailblazing figure.
His achievement comes long after Black coaches in other sports competed for, and won, championships.
At the NFL level, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith became the first Black coaches to make it to the Super Bowl in 2007, with Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts beating Smith’s Chicago Bears. In men’s college basketball, Georgetown’s John Thompson was the first Black coach to compete in a national championship, doing so in 1982, four years before Freeman was born. That same year, C. Vivian Stringer was the first Black Division I women’s basketball coach to make it to the national championship game. Cito Gaston was the first Black manager to make the World Series, in 1992. In the NBA, Bill Russell coached the Boston Celtics to a championship all the way back in 1968.
After decades of its champion being decided by national polls, FBS (then Division I-A) football instituted a national championship game ahead of the 1998 season. No teams that made the BCS championship game during its 16 seasons of existence had a Black coach. The 10 years of the four-team College Football Playoff also never included a team with a Black head coach.
At least some of that can be attributed to the broader college football coaching landscape, where Black men are still relatively underrepresented. At the start of the 2024 season, only 12.9% of major-conference programs (a group that includes Notre Dame, an independent) had a Black head coach. That figure was slightly lower, at 12.7%, across the 134 FBS programs. During this offseason, only three of the 25 FBS coaching vacancies went to a Black coach.
The programs that historically compete for national championships haven’t typically hired Black coaches. Of the 11 programs that have won a national championship since 2002, just one, Florida State, has had a Black coach. Even in that instance, the Seminoles fired that coach, Willie Taggart, just 21 games into his tenure.
Of the 15 winningest programs in FBS history, five have had a Black coach, including Notre Dame. Those 15 programs have combined to have 80 full-time head coaches over the past 30 years, with only six of them, or 7.5%, being Black. The SEC, long regarded as the best conference in the sport, didn’t have a Black head coach until 2003 and has had only five in its 93-year history. Barring a late coaching change, the league will be without a Black head coach for the fifth consecutive season in 2025.
Over the past two weeks, Freeman has on multiple occasions addressed the historical significance of the national championship game including a Black coach.
“This isn't about one person,” Freeman said at the pre-Orange Bowl news conference on Jan. 8. “It takes a team. It takes a program. It takes a lot of people committing to something bigger than themselves to put your team in a position to be here, and I understand it, and I'm very grateful for it. If this creates more opportunities for other coaches, other minority coaches, great. It's great. It is great for the future generations of coaches, of college football coaches, of leaders. I am all for it, and I'm grateful to be a part of that.”
Is Marcus Freeman the first Black coach at Notre Dame?
Though he’s making history in Monday’s game, Freeman is not the first Black football coach at Notre Dame.
That distinction belongs to Tyrone Willingham, who coached for three seasons at the school, from 2002-04. Willingham went 21-15 and was fired after the 2004 regular season.
Of the 15 FBS programs with the most all-time wins, Notre Dame is the only one that has had more than one Black head coach.
Marcus Freeman family
Freeman is the son of Michael and Chong Freeman. Freeman’s father is Black while his mother is of South Korean descent.
When he was hired at Notre Dame in December 2021, Freeman became just the second FBS head coach of Asian descent ever, joining former Hawaii coach Norm Chow.
During his time at Notre Dame, beginning as a defensive coordinator during the 2021 season, Freeman has coached several mixed-race players who have an Asian American parent, including former safety Kyle Hamilton, now a Pro Bowler with the Baltimore Ravens, and former quarterback Kyle Buchner.
“I hope they don’t just see me as an African American head coach,” Freeman said in 2022. “(I hope) they see me as the Asian American head coach and embrace that. Everybody can see the African American side of you. But when you have that Asian American connection, that’s unique. I embrace it and I love it.”