The Catholic convert who is hoping to lead the University of Notre Dame to its first national championship in football since 1988 credits his players – and his faith – for the Fighting Irish’s success, he told reporters this weekend.
Marcus Freeman took over the program in 2021 after the man who hired him, predecessor Brian Kelly, left for Louisiana State University.
Freeman had come to Notre Dame that same year to serve as Kelly’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He had a choice: Follow his boss to LSU or remain at Notre Dame, it was reported at the time.
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Promoted to Notre Dame’s head coach on Dec. 3, 2021, Freeman reinstated a team tradition of attending Mass together before each home game. That was before he became a Catholic.
“I remember being a recruit and coming to a Notre Dame football game – I was in high school – and watching the team come out of the basilica for pregame Mass, and I thought that was the coolest thing,” Freeman told reporters on Saturday in Atlanta, where the Irish are preparing to face Ohio State University in the College Football Playoff National Championship. “I remember seeing movies about it.”
The 39-year-old Ohio State graduate reflected on his first year at Notre Dame, recalling that there was no pregame Mass.
“So, when I was made head coach, it was something that I had talked to the administration about, about when that decision was made to not have pregame Mass and what we had to do to change it … It was … important to me to change that,” Freeman said.
Although raised as a Christian, Freeman was not a Catholic when he arrived at the campus in 2021.
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Freeman was baptized into the Catholic Church and received his first Holy Communion the following year, according to a Sept. 11, 2022, bulletin at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Granger, Indiana.
The team chaplain, Father Nate Wills, helped prepare Freeman for his Catholic conversion.
“I think being at the University of Notre Dame — it’s a place where growing your faith is encouraged,” Freeman said.
“It’s not only in Catholicism. It’s the reality of you having a faith and a belief in something bigger than yourself.”
Players also share in that faith, among them quarterback Riley Leonard.
Leonard began at Duke University, starting for the Blue Devils in 2022 and 2023. But an injury in 2023 forced him to the sideline, and he soon announced he was transferring to Notre Dame for his final season of eligibility.
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“Notre Dame in the transfer portal was my first visit and last ever,” Riley told reporters Saturday.
Riley has been outspoken about his faith. He said he believes God had a plan for him to come to Notre Dame.
“I remember sitting in my room and praying at night, like, ‘Jesus, Lord, would you please just give me something, give me an offer?’” Riley said.
“The next day, I woke up and He delivered.”
Riley said Freeman is a humble man who doesn’t shy away from his faith.
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“Our players have Bible study,” Freeman told reporters. “I have a strong faith and … you have to trust beyond having evidence, trust beyond knowing, which is another motto for having faith. We’re not shy about it. They’re not shy about it, and it’s important for us.”
That faith apparently will be on display Monday night as Freeman seeks to become the first Notre Dame coach since Lou Holtz, a devout Catholic himself, to hoist a national championship trophy.
As the sign reads above the door to the east entrance of Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart, where the team’s pregame Masses are held, “God, Country, Notre Dame, In Glory Everlasting.”
