Below is a transcript of head coach Marcus Freeman's press conference Monday in which he introduced new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker.
Questions may be paraphrased. Answers aren't.
MARCUS FREEMAN
Opening statement:
“I just want to start off by saying how excited I am to announce Gerad Parker as our new offensive coordinator and the direction our offense will go under his leadership.
“I had a criterion of vision for when this process started of what I was looking for, and I wanted to see on film, a pro-style type offense. What does that mean? It's multiple — multiple formations, multiple personnels, pro-style type concepts and the pass game, multiple running schemes. But it is not just one thing that you look for.
“It’s multiple, different things that I feel will help our guys translate as they move forward to the NFL. And so when I say pro-style type offense, that's what I was talking about. And the criteria was we wanted to search nationwide. And we wanted to see that offense displayed. I wanted to see a coordinator call it. I wanted to see somebody run it at a high success rate.
“And that's the criteria I had when I was looking for this offense coordinator. And the top two offenses that you saw on film were Kansas State and Utah. And we interviewed both of those guys. We brought them both to campus and for their own reasons, they decided not to come. And so we reconvened and looked at all these different candidates that we were looking for. And at some point, during that process, Gerad Parker rose to the top.
“We put him through a long, tough interview, and what he was able to display to me and where we're at currently as an offense, his understanding of the terminology and our offensive philosophy in the past year, but also the vision for how he can enhance it with what he's done and what he believes as it takes to be successful as an offensive coordinator. It was halfway through an interview, my mind was made up: ‘I think this is our next offensive coordinator.’ But I wanted to take some time and really sleep on it and think about it, and not make an emotional decision. “I woke up in the morning. And I remember I called Jack and I said, ‘I think we found our next offensive coordinator.’
“And so, during this process, I was made aware of some misconceptions of what was being said out there, and obviously, most of this is just not true. My wife even showed me a picture of me — somebody out there is asking for money for a buyout and has my head on it. And I said, ‘Listen, that ain't my job, now.’ I thought it was pretty funny. But the misconception of obviously, the support. At no time during this process did I not have the support of Jack Swarbrick and the administration. I want to be very crystal clear about that.
“At no point during this process or since my time that I've been here do I not feel that I've had the support of our administration and Jack. He's offered to pay whatever buyout there's been. And that's a part of college football. It's a part of business. There are certain buyouts for different people.
“Jack Swarbrick has never shied away from paying a buyout. And, listen, in our line of business, part of college football and college business, we negotiate buyouts. Any coordinator, position coach that has a buyout, we talk about those things. We discuss them. But that's not the reason why somebody didn't choose Notre Dame. Let's make sure we get that out there.
“Two individuals decided that it was best for them to stay where they're at. And much credit to them. Congratulations. We found the guy I feel is the right guy for us. And I just don't want the narrative to be that somebody didn't choose Notre Dame because of a buyout, because it's not true. And I'll say it again and again. That is not the truth. I know there were many questions about the process, which I understand. But again, I can't reiterate enough how excited I am for Gerad, and the new direction of our offense.
“Gerad is a guy I've known for over 10 years, and we've had many conversations about this, even our days at Purdue about one day being in a position where one of us is the head coach, one guy's a coordinator. And for it to happen, I'm extremely excited for our football program and really for our offense.”
WHAT CONVINCED YOU PARKER WAS THE RIGHT HIRE DESPITE HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE AS AN OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR? WHAT CONVINCED YOU THAT HE WAS READY FOR THIS JOB?
“Well, I think it started with the interview. He's called plays. He was a coordinator, obviously, at West Virginia for a couple years and actually called it for a certain amount of games. His ability to really say, 'Hey, here's how I would implement our system, as a coordinator. Here's how I would implement my system as the offensive coordinator. Here's where I believe we are as an offense, and here's the vision for how it will enhance.' And that, to clearly really display that and to get that conveyed over to myself and the offensive staff is really what it took.
“There's a lot of people out there that have had success and maybe not in the type of offense that I want to run here at Notre Dame. But to have somebody that can really understand where we're at, to help our guys with the learning curve, and understand and really convey how we'll improve is really why I chose him.”
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE NOTION SOME SAY NOTRE DAME ISN’T COMMITTED TO WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP?
“I don't see if there's any other way that they can show more commitment to us having success. That could be with coaching, salaries, that can be with NIL. That can be with the support of our football program and continuing to enhance everything we do. Facilities. Training table. Whatever it is that we believe our program needs to continue to climb to the mountaintop, I've had full support from the administration and Jack.”
(more)
Questions may be paraphrased. Answers aren't.
MARCUS FREEMAN
Opening statement:
“I just want to start off by saying how excited I am to announce Gerad Parker as our new offensive coordinator and the direction our offense will go under his leadership.
“I had a criterion of vision for when this process started of what I was looking for, and I wanted to see on film, a pro-style type offense. What does that mean? It's multiple — multiple formations, multiple personnels, pro-style type concepts and the pass game, multiple running schemes. But it is not just one thing that you look for.
“It’s multiple, different things that I feel will help our guys translate as they move forward to the NFL. And so when I say pro-style type offense, that's what I was talking about. And the criteria was we wanted to search nationwide. And we wanted to see that offense displayed. I wanted to see a coordinator call it. I wanted to see somebody run it at a high success rate.
“And that's the criteria I had when I was looking for this offense coordinator. And the top two offenses that you saw on film were Kansas State and Utah. And we interviewed both of those guys. We brought them both to campus and for their own reasons, they decided not to come. And so we reconvened and looked at all these different candidates that we were looking for. And at some point, during that process, Gerad Parker rose to the top.
“We put him through a long, tough interview, and what he was able to display to me and where we're at currently as an offense, his understanding of the terminology and our offensive philosophy in the past year, but also the vision for how he can enhance it with what he's done and what he believes as it takes to be successful as an offensive coordinator. It was halfway through an interview, my mind was made up: ‘I think this is our next offensive coordinator.’ But I wanted to take some time and really sleep on it and think about it, and not make an emotional decision. “I woke up in the morning. And I remember I called Jack and I said, ‘I think we found our next offensive coordinator.’
“And so, during this process, I was made aware of some misconceptions of what was being said out there, and obviously, most of this is just not true. My wife even showed me a picture of me — somebody out there is asking for money for a buyout and has my head on it. And I said, ‘Listen, that ain't my job, now.’ I thought it was pretty funny. But the misconception of obviously, the support. At no time during this process did I not have the support of Jack Swarbrick and the administration. I want to be very crystal clear about that.
“At no point during this process or since my time that I've been here do I not feel that I've had the support of our administration and Jack. He's offered to pay whatever buyout there's been. And that's a part of college football. It's a part of business. There are certain buyouts for different people.
“Jack Swarbrick has never shied away from paying a buyout. And, listen, in our line of business, part of college football and college business, we negotiate buyouts. Any coordinator, position coach that has a buyout, we talk about those things. We discuss them. But that's not the reason why somebody didn't choose Notre Dame. Let's make sure we get that out there.
“Two individuals decided that it was best for them to stay where they're at. And much credit to them. Congratulations. We found the guy I feel is the right guy for us. And I just don't want the narrative to be that somebody didn't choose Notre Dame because of a buyout, because it's not true. And I'll say it again and again. That is not the truth. I know there were many questions about the process, which I understand. But again, I can't reiterate enough how excited I am for Gerad, and the new direction of our offense.
“Gerad is a guy I've known for over 10 years, and we've had many conversations about this, even our days at Purdue about one day being in a position where one of us is the head coach, one guy's a coordinator. And for it to happen, I'm extremely excited for our football program and really for our offense.”
WHAT CONVINCED YOU PARKER WAS THE RIGHT HIRE DESPITE HIS LACK OF EXPERIENCE AS AN OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR? WHAT CONVINCED YOU THAT HE WAS READY FOR THIS JOB?
“Well, I think it started with the interview. He's called plays. He was a coordinator, obviously, at West Virginia for a couple years and actually called it for a certain amount of games. His ability to really say, 'Hey, here's how I would implement our system, as a coordinator. Here's how I would implement my system as the offensive coordinator. Here's where I believe we are as an offense, and here's the vision for how it will enhance.' And that, to clearly really display that and to get that conveyed over to myself and the offensive staff is really what it took.
“There's a lot of people out there that have had success and maybe not in the type of offense that I want to run here at Notre Dame. But to have somebody that can really understand where we're at, to help our guys with the learning curve, and understand and really convey how we'll improve is really why I chose him.”
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE NOTION SOME SAY NOTRE DAME ISN’T COMMITTED TO WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP?
“I don't see if there's any other way that they can show more commitment to us having success. That could be with coaching, salaries, that can be with NIL. That can be with the support of our football program and continuing to enhance everything we do. Facilities. Training table. Whatever it is that we believe our program needs to continue to climb to the mountaintop, I've had full support from the administration and Jack.”
(more)
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