re: Marcus Freeman... starting to worry he might be LSU's guy

Freeman would be a good hire, Ive just never considered him an option because I dont think he wants to coach at LSU.

He strikes me as a guy that would take an elite big 10 job but never an SEC job.

Could be totally wrong.

quote:

---

LSU previously offered him to be the highest paid coordinator in college football- he refused and took the same position at another school

---

He was offered the ND job when Kelly was hired

After the last few weeks, I would kill for Freeman.

quote:

---

starting to worry he might be LSU's guy

---

quote:

---

I just don't know if he can be successful at LSU.

---

Why not? What qualities are looking for in a coach that he does not possess? Be specific? And which coaches do possess these qualities that would make you know they would be successful at LSU? And are they reasonably available?

I don’t know that Freeman would be successful at LSU. But I know the odds of him being successful are a lot higher than just about anybody else that’s reasonable besides Lane, and I just don’t think the timing is right for him to come to Baton Rouge at this time. Would he have crawled over broken glass to take the job in 2021? Absolutely. But things change. College football has completely changed. LSU has changed. Ole Miss has changed. And his personal circumstances have changed. I think he stays at Ole Miss, but if he does leave, it will be for Florida due to his family ties in the state.

Back to Freeman—I’m still baffled at being “worried” he would be the hire. We could do a helluva a lot worse, that’s for sure. And odds are, we likely will.

quote:

---

No he'd be worried about a guy that has lost to NI and Marshall

---

The bad losses are concerning, but if you coach long enough you are bound to have a few. You have to hope that Freeman got those out of the way early in his career and they are not a recurring thing.

quote:

---

while his only achievement is doing exactly what our previous failed head coach did which is take advantage of weak schedules to get into the playoff.

---

Notre Dame's "weak schedule" gets repeated a lot. Have you taken a look at the SOS rankings of LSU and Notre Dame since Kelly took over at LSU and Freeman took over a Notre Dame? It's a hell of a lot closer than you might think.

2022:

5. LSU
33. Notre Dame

2023:

7. LSU
11. Notre Dame

2024:

4. Notre Dame
9. LSU

2025:

6. LSU
9. Notre Dame

Aside from 2022, Notre Dame has played a very comparable schedule to LSU.

As an ND fan, this would be a tremendous loss. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I was glad when Kelly left -- he's not a great fit anywhere. He's a bad representative of the most public face of the university. It'll be nice to go back to liking LSU, because you guys are nuts and that's fun.

Freeman is college football's Dan Campbell. He's not a genius X's & O's guy. Elko and Lea were better technical DC's. But he's a masterful leader, and he has instant credibility from both playing at a top program and his relative youth. The guy connects with players and gets the most out of them. He's also an elite recruiter -- much harder worker on that than Kelly. Shoot, Kelly citing the ease of recruiting at LSU was the first red flag.

But you can't have him.

2024 ranking is so high because of making the playoffs. Need to look at where they stood pre playoffs. This year they've played 2 teams worth a crap and lost to both.

quote:

---

But I'd love it to watch the ND fans melt and later say they never liked him anyway.

---

If Freeman leaves ND for LSU I think I would pornbomb tRant and give up watching FBS football forever. It would be the exact polar opposite reaction to BK leaving.

That said, I am more concerned about the Giants calling than I am LSU calling.

I'd be happy with Marcus Freeman at LSU. I bet he could relate to the team as well as anyone and they'd probably want to run through a wall for him.

I just don't see him leaving ND for LSU, though.