Marcus Freeman clears the air on 'misconceptions' during offensive coordinator search

by:Austin Brezina•02/20/23•

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Notre Dame named Gerad Parker their new offensive coordinator, and Marcus Freeman spoke on Monday to clear the air on their hiring process. Parker was hired after a coaching search that saw two good candidates for the job decline the position — leaving multiple rumors and reports that Notre Dame’s unwillingness to buyout their contracts was part of the reason.

Freeman clarified that anybody who declined the job did so because they felt the job was not a good fit for them, and that it had nothing to do with Notre Dame keeping their checkbook closed.

After a lengthy search for a new offensive coordinator, Notre Dame chose an in-house candidate for the position with Parker taking over the role to replace Tommy Rees. However, the Fighting Irish also interviewed Kansas State’s Collin Klein and Utah’s Andy Ludwig during their hunt and both chose to stay put instead of joining Notre Dame.

Freeman’s comments on Monday shined some light on the how the hiring process went from the Notre Dame side of things — indicating that money was never the issue for his search.

“During this process I was made aware of some misconceptions of what was being said out there,” Freeman said. “Obviously most of it is just not true. My wife even showed me a picture of me, somebody out there asking for money for a buyout, and it had my head on it. I told my wife, ‘That ain’t my job now.’ And said I thought it was pretty funny.

“But the misconception of obviously the support… at no time during this process did I not have the support of [athletics director] Jack Swarbrick and the administration. I want to be very crystal clear about that. At no point during this process or since my time that I’ve been here do I not feel that I’ve had the support of our administration and Jack. He’s offered to pay whatever buyout there has been. That’s a part of college football. That’s a part of business. There are certain buyouts for different people. Jack Swarbrick has never shied away from paying a buyout.”

“I just don’t want the narrative to be that somebody didn’t choose Notre Dame because of a buyout because it’s not true. And I’ll say it again and again, that is not the truth.”