The more things change in college football, the more they stay the same.
This is certainly true about how Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman views recruiting during the sport's new NIL era.
“In the end, it comes down to relationships and that's more important than anything else. Can you get this young man and his family to trust you and your football program to guide their son for four years?” Freeman said during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports' “Pardon My Take.”
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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman walks onto the field before Notre Dame's spring game at Notre Dame Stadium on April 20, 2024. (Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“Because you can try to sell him as much as possible on a visit and say 'let's get him to commit right now,' but not a lot of players are going to do that right away. So can you keep betting and keep developing relationships with that kid so that at the end of the day he says 'you know what, this is where I want to be'?”
The 38-year-old knows that building a relationship with a recruit doesn't stop once pen hits paper.
“Even after they commit, you have to keep doing it because everyone keeps asking for it. Everyone keeps trying to get that kid to come visit their house, so you have to keep recruiting and developing relationships with that person until they get here on campus.”
Part of the reason Freeman still believes building relationships is the most important part of recruiting is because his oldest son is going through the process right now.
“I'm going through that right now with my oldest son, who's been on a couple of official visits to wrestle, and I remember he came home last night. He came home from a visit last night. He was like, 'Man, I really liked it, this is a great school,' and I was like, 'What about that official visit you took two weeks ago?'”
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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Fighting Irish football facility prior to the Notre Dame Spring Game at Notre Dame Stadium on April 20, 2024. (Joseph Weiser/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“He said, 'Yes, that was good too,' but in the end, I thought that you can convince young people in a moment, but who is going to continue developing relationships and giving you support after the visit? That's when I said to myself, 'Do you even know what the relationship is about anymore?'”
Freeman said his coaching style hasn't changed because of the threat of players leaving in the transfer portal because they don't have offers from other schools.
“If there are times when you need to be corrected or given a hard workout, we'll do that. That's part of trying to get the best out of you and what I hope is that the relationships that we build in recruiting, the relationships that are continually strengthened here, will help you understand that Coach cares about me and that's why he's pushing me. That's why we're doing it.”
“When you go up to people and yell and scream, and you don't have a relationship with them, and you don't tell them why, yeah, they're going to say, 'This guy is crazy, I don't want to play for him, I'm ready to go somewhere else.'”
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman holds the championship trophy after the Sun Bowl college football game against the Oregon State Beavers as CBS Sports reporter Jenny Dell looks on on December 20, 2023 in El Paso, Texas. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
“But if you can continue to tell them why, have a relationship with them, but be authentic and coach them hard and coach those around them hard, I think they'll really respect that and that's how this program does it.”
The Fighting Irish went 10-3 last season, culminating in a 40-8 victory over the Oregon State Beavers in the Sun Bowl. Notre Dame made the College Football Playoff twice under former head coach Brian Kelly but has yet to do so under Freeman.
The Fighting Irish open the season as the seventh-ranked team in the country and begin their playoff quest on August 31 when they travel to Kyle Field to take on the 20th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies.
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