00:00Let's go here with Marcus Freeman here.
00:02Any similarities?
00:04I mean, I got to tell you, Mike, you know, Notre Dame is a big rival of ours.
00:08You know, when I was a young kid, too, I didn't have the passion for that program either.
00:12But I'll tell you one thing he does for me.
00:14He makes me really root for Notre Dame.
00:16I never said that in my entire life.
00:18I really like this guy.
00:20The impact that you think he's brought to that program since he took over for Brian Kelly.
00:27Well, I'd start with no excuses.
00:30I mean, that's the biggest thing any leader can do to a group is just say, no matter what the
00:34injury situation,
00:35no matter what the talent disparity might be at times, although that gap is narrowed, they just won't accept excuses.
00:43They have bloody Tuesday every Tuesday in practice.
00:46No matter how tough the previous week's game was, they're full contact for a big portion of it.
00:51And that's when we come in and talk to the players just once a week aside from game day.
00:57And they come in there and they're still huffing and puffing.
00:59I mean, they get dinged up, nicked up, just in there, and they go good on good.
01:05I mean, this is something Freeman's brought in.
01:06It's not a slow runway into a game week.
01:10It's the shock treatment right there on Tuesday.
01:13It seems to work for him.
01:15And then the other thing he does is recruit at such a high level.
01:18He's now 40 years old, but he'll be eternally youthful, it seems.
01:21A little gray now coming into that goatee, but he can still connect in any living room.
01:27He's all-world as a text messaging guy.
01:30He was way out in front of that, but all within the confines of whatever the heck's allowed anymore.
01:35I think just about anything.
01:36And the other thing that he's done is he's convinced the administration.
01:40He has a great relationship with Pete Bavacqua, the former broadcasting executive, who is a Notre Dame grad and came
01:47back to be AD post-Jack Swarbrick after he retired.
01:51And Freeman, basically anything they need, they got a new $100-and-some million building, football facility with all the
01:57bells and whistles.
01:59They have a $45 million payroll estimated, so they are competing at a national championship level.
02:05And so in the past, you might have heard some excuses, even during the Kelly era of 12 years, where
02:10he'd talk about shopping down a different aisle and recruiting.
02:14Notre Dame goes down the same aisle as anybody else trying to win a championship.
02:18Mike, I think you bring up one of the most important things that people don't know about that program.
02:23Back in the day when we played, you guys, they didn't believe in redshirting.
02:27They didn't believe in doing all that stuff.
02:30How much of a tough road has that been to change the mentality of the Notre Dame administration?
02:36Because like you said, all those kids were going to the Southeastern Conference or to the Big Ten.
02:41Was it Kelly that laid the blueprint for that?
02:44And then it was Marcus who basically took it forward?
02:47Because you guys are playing now like any other big-time college football program when it comes to the NIL
02:53stuff.
02:55You got to go back a full decade, Dan.
02:582016, this thing imploded back to four and eight.
03:01And Brian Kelly could have been fired at that point.
03:04But Jack Swarbrick said, what do you need?
03:06Let's look at every aspect of the program, from nutrition to recovery to just everything that they got.
03:13You know, the academic side, making it more efficient.
03:16They streamlined things, bringing things into the football building that used to be spread out all over campus.
03:22Meals are now completely within the football building.
03:24They used to eat there right alongside other students, which I think is a good thing.
03:28But if you're trying to win a championship, you have to have the mentality of save every minute, use every
03:35minute.
03:36And they do.
03:37But 2016 is where they turned the ship.
03:40And ever since then, they've gotten more and more modernized.
03:44And then Freeman comes here in 21 as the defensive coordinator and obviously brings the defense into the modern year,
03:52although the defense was really good with Clark Lee already, now at Vanderbilt.
03:56And then, like I say, carte blanche, basically, in this year five of Freeman as the head coach,
04:03if they need something as they look around, they've got a great general manager in Mike Martin,
04:07who used to be with the Detroit Lions, and wouldn't surprise me if an NFL team came and tried to
04:12grab him
04:13because they have a valuation system for NFL.
04:16They only get about eight transfers a year.
04:18That's the thing.
04:19A lot of the competitors, they'll see, you know, 30, 40 or more.
04:23Carolina a year ago was way above that, right?
04:27But Notre Dame will just get those eight transfers or so,
04:31and they make sure that they're all impact guys, and they have been.
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