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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Joel Klatt says Marcus Freeman has ‘elevated’ Notre Dame: ‘They’re not going anywhere’

Cory Nightingale

By Cory Nightingale

Published:

Joel Klatt knows full well that Marcus Freeman did just about everything a head coach could do at Notre Dame in 2024 except win a national championship.

Freeman won 13 straight games in South Bend after a stunning home loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2, and his Fighting Irish powered their way past Indiana, Georgia and Penn State in the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame couldn’t finish the job against an Ohio State team that was simply better in the national title game, but that hardly means the season wasn’t a success or that Freeman’s program won’t be back in future years.

Just ask Klatt, the FOX college football analyst, who gave Freeman his roses on “The Joel Klatt Show” podcast on Wednesday.

“Marcus Freeman is a hell of a football coach. He took the foundation Brian Kelly laid and he elevated it,” said Klatt.

Klatt didn’t stop there though, saying that Notre Dame can absolutely win a national championship and that Freeman brought the Fighting Irish back to an elite level.

“They’re not going anywhere,” said Klatt about Notre Dame, which fell 34-23 to Ohio State in Monday night’s title game in Atlanta.

Freeman took the Fighting Irish to the precipice of a national title in only his 3rd season in South Bend.

Cory Nightingale

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.

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