Why Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman attended Dallas Mavericks shootaround
While his assistant coaches are busy on the road making their final recruiting stops during the spring evaluation period, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman trekked down to Dallas. The trip, for at least a significant portion of Tuesday, didn’t have anything to do with football.
Freeman made an appearance at the American Airlines Center during Dallas Mavericks shootaround prior to tonight’s Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Freeman is friends with Mavs assistant coach Sean Sweeney, a Notre Dame fan and South Bend resident in the offseasons according to Dallas Morning News sports reporter Callie Caplan.
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Sweeney is a Notre Dame season ticket holder. He even travels to away games before NBA training camp starts in the fall, per Caplan. An Ohio native, Freeman probably isn’t as all in on the Mavs as Sweeney is on the Irish. Still, it’s quite clear from Caplan’s photo that he’s supportive of his friend and the Mavericks’ attempt to be the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in an NBA Playoff series.
You could say the Mavericks need some luck of the Irish.
Freeman has been all over the country since Notre Dame spring practices ended with the Blue-Gold Game on April 23. He was in Las Vegas to watch former Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton get selected with the No. 14 overall pick in the NFL Draft. He attended the NBC Sports Summit in New York City with Notre Dame football players Avery Davis, JD Bertrand, Isaiah Foskey and Jack Kiser the following weekend.
Freeman met major Notre Dame donor Dick Corbett in Tampa, Fla., earlier this month. He ran a 5K with Hilton Head (S.C.) Island High School coach BJ Payne the weekend after that. Payne coached five-star class of 2022 Notre Dame signee Jaylen Sneed at Hilton Head. Freeman was the keynote speaker at the 2022 Rockne Gala in Chicago in mid-May, too. He was interviewed for nearly an hour by former Notre Dame defensive lineman and 1988 Fighting Irish national champion Chris Zorich.
At some point soon, Freeman’s agenda will switch back to football. Notre Dame has an important summer ahead going into Freeman’s first season at the helm. But for the time being, it appears Freeman is still making the rounds. His life has been hectic from the moment he accepted his new job in December.
Clearly, it hasn’t slowed down any.
