Coaches / Head coach / Marcus Freeman
Form · last two seasons
86
performing to its level
Rating84recent
Peak86best 5 yrs
Career74whole career
confidence
Marcus Freeman
Head Coach · Notre Dame
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
68
continuity at Notre Dame · early
Seasons here6
Programs3
Stints3
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
Chemistry
vs every head coach since 2016 · 62 = typical
Tenure here
Seasons as head coach at his current school
Staff continuity
Seasons he and his offensive coordinator have worked together
Player retention
Players kept vs. the league norm for similar rosters (fewer transfers out)
Followers
Players and staff who followed him from his previous job
QB & coordinator
How long his quarterbacks have played for the same coordinator
Roster continuity
Share of starters returning from one season to the next under him
Dashed gold ring on the radar = average (62). Chemistry scale: 62 is typical, 20-50 is a warning sign, under 10 is a collapse.
As head coach
Rating84Form86≈ as usualPeak86Career74
2021–2026 · 6 seasonsRecord 43-12National titles 0Great seasons 4 (top ~7% of all teams that year)Career: too early to rank all-time (8+ seasons as a head coach)
- Rating 84: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.
- Peak 86: best five-season stretch, 2022–2026 at Notre Dame (43-11, 3 top-10 seasons by team strength), taking over already a national power.
- All of it at one program (Notre Dame) — unproven elsewhere; historically about half of a coach's lift carries to a new job.
Over expectation · 2016 on90Results against what his rosters' talent predicted (program lift, evaluation, recruiting, staff building, game management).
Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.
Program lift86
Evaluation75
Results92
Recruiting57
Staff building88
Game management52
| Season | Team | Record | Season rank | vs contemporaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Notre Dame | 0-0 | #2 | +2.08 SD |
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 10-2 | #3 | +2.08 SD |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 14-2 | #2 | +1.97 SD |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 10-3 | #11 | +1.67 SD |
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 9-4 | #24 | +0.95 SD |
| 2021 | Notre Dame | 0-1 | #7 | +1.53 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).
As defensive coordinator
Rating81Peak90
His defense against its preseason projection (value over expectation) and the unit's opponent-adjusted quality.
| Season | Team | Unit (EPA/play) | Over expectation | Season score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Notre Dame | 0.13 | 0.02 | 0.82 |
| 2020 | Cincinnati | 0.16 | 0.07 | 1.45 |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 0.10 | 0.01 | 0.62 |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 0.11 | 0.17 | 2.10 |
| 2017 | Cincinnati | -0.10 | -0.10 | -1.42 |
Season score: 0 = an average season in this role; positive = better.