Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman Experiencing Many 'Firsts' In Year Five
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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is heading into his fifth year at the helm, and he's pieced together a pretty impressive resume throughout his time in South Bend. From 2022 to 2025 he has an overall record of 43-11, played for a national title, ended Notre Dame's 30-year major bowl win drought, gone undefeated in the months of October and November the last in 2024 and 2025 and is 5-1 in the post season since 2022.
Not many coaches with that resume and that level of experience head into a season where they have a lot of 'firsts' to go through. But for Freeman, the 2026 season will be a different type of experience, in a good way.
For the first time in his tenure, Freeman has a returning starting quarterback. Redshirt sophomore CJ Carr returns to South Bend and is being regarded as one of the top returning signal callers in the country. He helped engineer the 10-game win streak the Irish finished the 2025 season on and threw for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns along the way. He's now a preseason Heisman favorite and a projected captain for this year's program.
Up this point in Freeman's tenure, he's had a one-and-done quarterback. In 2022, they rotated between Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne due to injuries; both players transferred during the 2023 offseason when Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman assumed the role of the No. 1 guy. In 2024, the Irish went back to the portal and got Riley Leonard who helped engineer their magical 2024 season but since he exhausted his eligibility, Leonard was also a one-and-done.
This is also going to be the first year Freeman has all three coordinators returning to his staff. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock is headed into his third year with the offense, defensive coordinator Chris Ash is headed into his second year and special teams coordinator Marty Biagi is entering his fourth season.
In 2022, Freeman has former Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees as his offensive coordinator along with Al Golden who was in his first year in South Bend. In 2023, Rees left paving the way for former tight ends coach Gerad Parker to assume the role of offensive coordinator; Golden remained with the defense. In 2024, Denbrock stepped in at offensive coordinator and was with Golden for one season. In that one season, the Irish ripped off 13-straight wins and made the trip to the national title game.
This past season, Denbrock remained on the offensive side of the ball but Golden left for the NFL, paving the way for Ash to assume the role as defensive coordinator. Thankfully, all three coordinators return this year which has put this team in a position to start the offseason off quicker and have a more 'football oriented' start to the offseason which is something we saw on the first day of spring practice.
Freeman also has two returning captains for the first time in his career. Middle linebacker Drayk Bowen and safety Adon Shuler both return to the 2026 roster after being named team captains in 2025. The last time Freeman had a returning captain was from 2022 to 2023 when middle linebacker JD Bertrand was named a captain in back to back seasons. Bowen and Shuler are the heart and soul of this Notre Dame defense and both players will be needed in this forecasted 15 to 16 game season.
All of these 'firsts' for Freeman are a good thing. Now, it's about elevating and using all three coordinators, a returning starting quarterback and two returning captains to your advantage. This is Freeman's most experienced and arguably his most talented roster since he took over in South Bend and he returns the right people in the right spots to make this a special season.
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