On Thursday, Irish Illustrated and 247Sports’ Tom Loy jumped on 1380 The Fan with Caleb Hatch and Justin Kenny in Fort Wayne, Ind., to talk about the latest with Notre Dame football recruiting.
During the conversation, Loy was asked multiple questions related to the Fighting Irish, the addition of five-star defensive end Brenan Vernon, defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and his recruiting success since his arrival, and much more.
Here is the answer from Loy in response to a question from the guys at 1380 The Fan: Is there any chance Freeman is the next head coach at Notre Dame and is there a possibility he already has a head coach-in-waiting title?
“I’m not going to rule anything out. Going back to when he first came over, Notre Dame was able to do something at the last second to pull it off and essentially — I wouldn’t say flip him from leaving Cincinnati for LSU, but they did something and really sealed the deal. Brian Kelly was a rockstar in that role trying to close the deal to get Freeman and his family fully on board. I don’t know all the fine details regarding what the difference-maker was, but they did something down the stretch to make sure that Freeman knew he was a wanted man and that he had a bright future at Notre Dame. I don’t know the exact numbers because Notre Dame’s salary numbers aren’t public, but I’m not confident that Notre Dame matched what LSU offered financially. So, there has to be something else involved there. Again, I’m just speculating that there could be a potential head coach-in-waiting type deal. Again, I’m just trying to shoot from the hip here as to what they could have possibly done to get him completely on board. But I will say, in terms of a fit, in terms of direction of what the program that he’s looking for, Notre Dame 100% is exactly what he was looking for. It may be cut and dry that he just took less pay to come to Notre Dame because he loved the direction of the program. He loved the fit. He loved the culture. No question that all carried weight. I’m just trying to think outside the box. I mean, maybe the admin at Notre Dame offered that opportunity that, ‘Hey, you could be the next in line when Brian Kelly wants to retire in a couple years, five years, six years, whenever that comes, but again, that’s really just speculation on my part. Whatever they did, they did a really good job to get him on board.”
If you missed either of the other pieces related to the interview with 1380 The Fan, here are the two stories to check out: Marcus Freeman “A Different Cat” When It Comes To Recruiting and The Story Behind Notre Dame, Five-Star DE Brenan Vernon, and the Vans.
