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Respect for Marcus Freeman

I was here in 2016 when 80% of the fan base wanted Brian Kelly fired after going 4-8. Pete Bevacqua doesn’t give a shit what a handful of random fans feel about Marcus Freeman.
That wasn't my point. My point was that as soon as ND experiences its next setback, people will be calling for Freeman's head. Not that the university is going to rush out and can him.
 
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So you resent being put on the spot like this, it sounds like. I am in absolute good faith. I do not give a shit about your opinions and sentiments towards MF, no offense at all. To each his own. That's just what I distinctly remember. You got all kinds of fussy opinions about the coaches. BK, MF, Denbrock.... and it's great, it's just a fan being a fan. It's more than your right, it's what being a fan's all about. But that's definitely what I remember. But I guess I'm just wrong, you never expressed any significant misgivings or reservations, you were wholeheartedly convinced this guy was the real deal the whole season, unabashed, unreservedly. And in light of this exciting playoff run we're on, and everyone's all fired up and exhilarated, this is no different than how you've felt all year. Okay then! If you say so....

And I think I'm alone on many, many things on this message board. That's definitely for sure.

My whole conduct on this topic has been about my misgivings and reservations and how I was wrong. I said I capitulated and lost faith after the loss to NIU, that he was learning on the job...saying not to fire him, but that it would take 3-5 years to not be in over his head.

Pretty literal stuff, not sure how you misinterpret this.

:)
 
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That wasn't my point. My point was that as soon as ND experiences its next setback, people will be calling for Freeman's head. Not that the university is going to rush out and can him.


FWIW, I also defended BK from firing. Especially because he restored ND to competitiveness, something every coach since Holtz couldn't do. So many programs fire coaches and then hire busts.

Even when a transition is smooth, the next coach often has trouble. DeBoer at AL and Moore at MI come to mind. Because of that along, MF merits 5 years minimum, no matter what happens these playoffs...but he's also earned it and then some.
 
Over his head? Jack actually made an astute decision
This year's defense does not change the reality of the situation in 2021.

With Al Golden and Mike Denbrock...

Golden YES, not a fan of Denbrock. His playcalling against GA was baffling. Never attacked the perimeter like he should have, every outside run had 5-7 yards but he continued to run the F ing ball up middle. Did he even watch the GA Tech-GA game?
Yes this. We have one half of a good team. I did not see a single deep completion in the Sugar Bowl from us.
 
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Yes this. We have one half of a good team. I did not see a single deep completion in the Sugar Bowl from us.

We didn’t need to either though. You don’t just start chucking the ball all over the place just to do it. That wouldn’t have been a smart decision.
 
I was here in 2016 when 80% of the fan base wanted Brian Kelly fired after going 4-8. Pete Bevacqua doesn’t give a shit what a handful of random fans feel about Marcus Freeman.

No, but Swarbick definitely knew changes were in order and Kelly was basically forced to revamp his staff or probably go himself. BVG was gone immediately
 
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They certainly made the schedule more manageable for Kelly after that debacle.

Not really IMO. Schedules are made years in advance. You also don’t do home/homes with the likes of UGA, UTx, Michigan and OSU while trying to soften your schedule. Clemson /FSU were sprinkled in as a part time member of the ACC. Our schedule problem was more of a result of teams that normally are better being not so good anymore (USC etc)
 
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That wasn't my point. My point was that as soon as ND experiences its next setback, people will be calling for Freeman's head. Not that the university is going to rush out and can him.
Which means nothing. There is a lunatic fringe of people in every fan base.
 
Which means nothing. There is a lunatic fringe of people in every fan base.

Some posters throw in the towel during games ND eventually wins!

:D

I'd be surprised if posters attack MF, even for a suboptimal next game during this remarkable playoff run. Mind you, I don't expect ND to lay an egg. If on the off chance they do, MF will adjust and continue to improve on a remarkable season...and I will continue to support him.

Minimally on a 5 year tenure. Minimally. Fingers crossed for continued success...that we can debate a repeat of a championship! Now that would be fun to argue about next season!

;)
 
Some posters throw in the towel during games ND eventually wins!

:D

I'd be surprised if posters attack MF, even for a suboptimal next game during this remarkable playoff run. Mind you, I don't expect ND to lay an egg. If on the off chance they do, MF will adjust and continue to improve on a remarkable season...and I will continue to support him.

Minimally on a 5 year tenure. Minimally. Fingers crossed for continued success...that we can debate a repeat of a championship! Now that would be fun to argue about next season!

;)
Attack /=/ criticism.
 
This year's defense does not change the reality of the situation in 2021.




Yes this. We have one half of a good team. I did not see a single deep completion in the Sugar Bowl from us.
I can't tell if you're an idiot or just trolling.

So you want deep completions? That's what would make us a "full good team"?

We've had few "deep completions" all year.

Yet we're 13-1, and have beaten ranked teams in every month of the season.
 
I can't tell if you're an idiot or just trolling.

So you want deep completions? That's what would make us a "full good team"?

We've had few "deep completions" all year.

Yet we're 13-1, and have beaten ranked teams in every month of the season.
That's what I'm hoping we do, at least a couple times, just as a surprise tactic, given how overtly PSU appears to want to take away a team's strength, as they did with Boise St. and AJ, and make you beat them with the pass. And we should totally go long. Like if we had an 80 yard TD pass they totally weren't expecting, and it was a brilliant play call, and we're immediately ahead and PSU's already demoralized. And we do it again in the 3rd quarter. Pull out all the stops....
 
Coach Marcus Freeman is the real deal and ideal for being the football coach at Notre Dame. I hope he's the coach a long long time! Coach Kelly brought back some respect, but Coach Freeman has brought Notre Dame spirit back to Notre Dame football.
 
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I think what I love about Freeman is he know who he is and he doesn’t deviate from it. This football team has an identity. Every time I hear media pundits talk about the Irish, I always hear the word “physical.” He’s aggressive and never shies away from going for it on 4th down. He’s committed to running the football and wearing teams down.

Physical, aggressive, we run the football and we stop the run. This team is fundamentally sound and disciplined. I am shocked this man is in his 3rd year as a head coach.
 
I can't tell if you're an idiot or just trolling.

So you want deep completions? That's what would make us a "full good team"?

We've had few "deep completions" all year.

Yet we're 13-1, and have beaten ranked teams in every month of the season.
I can't tell if you are either. If you want to be the best then you have to throw the football. It's not 1988 anymore.
 
I wonder how MF compares to like, Alexander the Great? You think if he could have switched places, or been alive back then he could have conquered half the known world, and spread the gift of western civilization by means of enlightened military conquest with similar or even greater vanquishment? I think so. Considering of course his undeniable powers and gifts for leadership of men. Men who will be trained in the martial disciplines, and impose their lethal will on all who oppose them. But they need training and leadership, otherwise they're just a bunch of raw recruits. Uninspired, and likely to fall well short of their proper destiny and true potential. Football of course being sort of a vicarious peacetime stand in or proxy for such violent military domination. Unlike other sports, which are more removed from such primal aggression, and tap into other talents, shall we say, innate to the human animal.

I mean we already knew MF was charismatic, and he pretty much is a total Boy Scout, the genuine article, and thus is a natural for ND in that regard. And I don't think there's any doubt, unless his strategic, tactical and preparatory prowess was so lacking so as to fail to inspire and produce sufficient confidence and skill, that players are going to be stoked play for him, and energized, more so than BK or most coaches. Moreover that any young coach, in his thirties, who almost in a pinch looks as if he could still get out there and play himself, is likely to get his players more naturally fired up. That is not a revelation. It's just that in our ploddingly hierarchical, bureaucratic society, a 'slave' society as Nietschze might consider it, you don't tend to get a lot of young coaches, on account of the long, patient slog often required to work your way up the ladder, and they're already fairly old and have lost the bloom of youth by the time they finally arrive. Additionally that they're younger and stupider and football can be a daunting sport to master the knowledge and nuances of. But it's not that hard, Lane Kiffin has proven that much.

Anyway, since BK bashing has become a cultural meme in the CFB world, with ND and it's new young buck of a coach, who did not overthrow or depose his erstwhile boss, now so deeply reviled, indeed anathema to the ND fanbase, with some war-room intrigue after receiving the full support of the rank and file who demanded his ascent.... but who got the job to a certain degree almost by happenstance, able to circumvent the slog with the help of some pretty good fortune, some might call it 'destiny'... and so now you get interviews with ex-BK players who are encouraged to effectively diminish and reconsider their former coach, in a less flattering light, almost against their will in a sense by having invidious questions put to them basically asking them how much more awesome MF is than BK. Really so that CFB media and all its many little outlets and manifestations can cash in on the meme, and get hits to their website or YT channel. And ND fans get to eat that shit up! They'll come for second and third helpings.

And I would've cited the the crusades as a historical point of reference, only I don't know if they were led by any boy wonder generals, and they largely only met with mixed success. But they were catholic!
 
I wonder how MF compares to like, Alexander the Great? You think if he could have switched places, or been alive back then he could have conquered half the known world, and spread the gift of western civilization by means of enlightened military conquest with similar or even greater vanquishment? I think so. Considering of course his undeniable powers and gifts for leadership of men. Men who will be trained in the martial disciplines, and impose their lethal will on all who oppose them. But they need training and leadership, otherwise they're just a bunch of raw recruits. Uninspired, and likely to fall well short of their proper destiny and true potential. Football of course being sort of a vicarious peacetime stand in or proxy for such violent military domination. Unlike other sports, which are more removed from such primal aggression, and tap into other talents, shall we say, innate to the human animal.

I mean we already knew MF was charismatic, and he pretty much is a total Boy Scout, the genuine article, and thus is a natural for ND in that regard. And I don't think there's any doubt, unless his strategic, tactical and preparatory prowess was so lacking so as to fail to inspire and produce sufficient confidence and skill, that players are going to be stoked play for him, and energized, more so than BK or most coaches. Moreover that any young coach, in his thirties, who almost in a pinch looks as if he could still get out there and play himself, is likely to get his players more naturally fired up. That is not a revelation. It's just that in our ploddingly hierarchical, bureaucratic society, a 'slave' society as Nietschze might consider it, you don't tend to get a lot of young coaches, on account of the long, patient slog often required to work your way up the ladder, and they're already fairly old and have lost the bloom of youth by the time they finally arrive. Additionally that they're younger and stupider and football can be a daunting sport to master the knowledge and nuances of. But it's not that hard, Lane Kiffin has proven that much.

Anyway, since BK bashing has become a cultural meme in the CFB world, with ND and it's new young buck of a coach, who did not overthrow or depose his erstwhile boss, now so deeply reviled, indeed anathema to the ND fanbase, with some war-room intrigue after receiving the full support of the rank and file who demanded his ascent.... but who got the job to a certain degree almost by happenstance, able to circumvent the slog with the help of some pretty good fortune, some might call it 'destiny'... and so now you get interviews with ex-BK players who are encouraged to effectively diminish and reconsider their former coach, in a less flattering light, almost against their will in a sense by having invidious questions put to them basically asking them how much more awesome MF is than BK. Really so that CFB media and all its many little outlets and manifestations can cash in on the meme, and get hits to their website or YT channel. And ND fans get to eat that shit up! They'll come for second and third helpings.

And I would've cited the the crusades as a historical point of reference, only I don't know if they were led by any boy wonder generals, and they largely only met with mixed success. But they were catholic!
Maybe you can run this by Manti and see what he thinks.
 
I wonder how MF compares to like, Alexander the Great? You think if he could have switched places, or been alive back then he could have conquered half the known world, and spread the gift of western civilization by means of enlightened military conquest with similar or even greater vanquishment? I think so. Considering of course his undeniable powers and gifts for leadership of men. Men who will be trained in the martial disciplines, and impose their lethal will on all who oppose them. But they need training and leadership, otherwise they're just a bunch of raw recruits. Uninspired, and likely to fall well short of their proper destiny and true potential. Football of course being sort of a vicarious peacetime stand in or proxy for such violent military domination. Unlike other sports, which are more removed from such primal aggression, and tap into other talents, shall we say, innate to the human animal.

I mean we already knew MF was charismatic, and he pretty much is a total Boy Scout, the genuine article, and thus is a natural for ND in that regard. And I don't think there's any doubt, unless his strategic, tactical and preparatory prowess was so lacking so as to fail to inspire and produce sufficient confidence and skill, that players are going to be stoked play for him, and energized, more so than BK or most coaches. Moreover that any young coach, in his thirties, who almost in a pinch looks as if he could still get out there and play himself, is likely to get his players more naturally fired up. That is not a revelation. It's just that in our ploddingly hierarchical, bureaucratic society, a 'slave' society as Nietschze might consider it, you don't tend to get a lot of young coaches, on account of the long, patient slog often required to work your way up the ladder, and they're already fairly old and have lost the bloom of youth by the time they finally arrive. Additionally that they're younger and stupider and football can be a daunting sport to master the knowledge and nuances of. But it's not that hard, Lane Kiffin has proven that much.

Anyway, since BK bashing has become a cultural meme in the CFB world, with ND and it's new young buck of a coach, who did not overthrow or depose his erstwhile boss, now so deeply reviled, indeed anathema to the ND fanbase, with some war-room intrigue after receiving the full support of the rank and file who demanded his ascent.... but who got the job to a certain degree almost by happenstance, able to circumvent the slog with the help of some pretty good fortune, some might call it 'destiny'... and so now you get interviews with ex-BK players who are encouraged to effectively diminish and reconsider their former coach, in a less flattering light, almost against their will in a sense by having invidious questions put to them basically asking them how much more awesome MF is than BK. Really so that CFB media and all its many little outlets and manifestations can cash in on the meme, and get hits to their website or YT channel. And ND fans get to eat that shit up! They'll come for second and third helpings.

And I would've cited the the crusades as a historical point of reference, only I don't know if they were led by any boy wonder generals, and they largely only met with mixed success. But they were catholic!
Interesting point; maybe you should do a deeper dive into the Crusades. You may be on to something with that. I think historians generally consider RIchard the Lionheart to be the most successful of the Christian commanders, and he was only 30 something when he led the Third Crusade, so perhaps there is a point of connection there with Marcus Freeman. Edward I, also known as Longshanks--who gained more recent notoriety in the film Braveheart--was also a Crusader commander. Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known historically as Saladin, had an equally impressive record of conquest on the Muslim side.
 
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Interesting point; maybe you should do a deeper dive into the Crusades. You may be on to something with that. I think historians generally consider RIchard the Lionheart to be the most successful of the Christian commanders, and he was only 30 something when he led the Third Crusade, so perhaps there is a point of connection there with Marcus Freeman. Edward I, also known as Longshanks--who gained more recent notoriety in the film Braveheart--was also a Crusader commander. Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known historically as Saladin, had an equally impressive record of conquest on the Muslim side.
Well there you go! All great leaders of men, on the field of battle. And their charges happily throw themselves into the fray seeking conquest and glory on the crest of their guidance and generalship.

But they didn't live that long back then. So thirty years old, is like, fifty today. That's getting into BK territory....
 
Interesting point; maybe you should do a deeper dive into the Crusades. You may be on to something with that. I think historians generally consider RIchard the Lionheart to be the most successful of the Christian commanders, and he was only 30 something when he led the Third Crusade, so perhaps there is a point of connection there with Marcus Freeman. Edward I, also known as Longshanks--who gained more recent notoriety in the film Braveheart--was also a Crusader commander. Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known historically as Saladin, had an equally impressive record of conquest on the Muslim side.
I don't know if the crusades benefited from an easy schedule; maybe Alexander the Great did as he got further east.
 
Well there you go! All great leaders of men, on the field of battle. And their charges happily throw themselves into the fray seeking conquest and glory on the crest of their guidance and generalship.

But they didn't live that long back then. So thirty years old, is like, fifty today. That's getting into BK territory....
Teddy Roosevelt Spanish American War, Churchill in WWI, Patton WWII were more than happy to take on danger. Almost like it became more of thrill addiction than bravery.
 
I don't know if the crusades benefited from an easy schedule; maybe Alexander the Great did as he got further east.
I don't know. I think it was elephants he couldn't deal with. Attack elephants, once he got to India. Does PSU have elephants?
 
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