Marcus Freeman expected to remain at Notre Dame, per NFL insider
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Marcus Freeman will remain the head coach at Notre Dame for the 2026 season, despite all of the noise still coming from interested NFL teams, according to a report by ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter on Tuesday afternoon.
“In spite of interest from several NFL teams, Marcus Freeman still is expected to remain at Notre Dame for the 2026 season,” wrote Schefter in a post on his social media.
The Freeman-NFL rumor mill was swirling again over the weekend with a report by NFL.com insider Ian Rapoport stating that NFL teams who already knew Freeman had committed to Notre Dame for 2026 simply didn’t want to hear it. NFL teams were still interested, despite Freeman’s own social media post on Dec. 29 declaring that he was coming back to South Bend.
Now, here comes Schefter’s report on Tuesday that claims Freeman is indeed remaining with the Fighting Irish this fall.
Freeman has gone 43-12 at Notre Dame since taking over in South Bend at the end of the 2021 season. He has led the Irish to 3 straight double-digit-win seasons, including in 2024 when Freeman brought Notre Dame to the precipice of a national championship.
The Irish fell to Ohio State in that 2024 national title game, but Freeman came right back with a 10-2 season this past fall, with Notre Dame narrowly missing the College Football Playoff.
Now, according to Schefter, Freeman is set to lead the Fighting Irish back toward the promised land in 2026, contrary to all that noise that just won’t go away.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
