Marcus Freeman’s name has come up for more than one job in this year’s coaching cycle.
But even though he was the favorite to land the Giants job at one point, Freeman has been consistent in saying that he’s continuing as the head coach at Notre Dame.
In a Wednesday press conference, Freeman was asked about the NFL rumors that have surfaced this offseason and the Fighting Irish HC spun them as being a net-positive.
“I’m the head coach at Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “I’ve said this before that individual recognition, individual success, NFL interest — those are all a reflection of team success and where this football program is. I’ve used some of the interest from the NFL to personally gain wisdom from maybe some of the G.M.s or front-office executives that you get a chance to talk to about your players, but also about what they view as a successful coach. Maybe it’s an NFL coach, but what are some of the things they’ve seen that have made a coach successful in their organization or franchise — and maybe not so successful.
“So, I utilize these opportunities through conversations to gain knowledge myself to be the best head coach I can be of the Notre Dame football program. So, again, that’s where my mindset is. I don’t control the noise, but I know the noise that’s in my head and where my focus is.”
Freeman had made clear his intent to stay on with Notre Dame with a social media post in late December. But even as the rumors persist, Freeman says he doesn’t mind them. In fact, he welcomes the chatter.
“The only statement I put out was let’s run it back,” Freeman said. “I was intentional about that. I don’t need to come out with a statement every time one of these job openings happen. You know I always say the future is uncertain. That’s what I tell our players, it’s what I tell myself — it’s the reality of life. But everything I want and everything that I need personally can be achieved right here as the head coach of this program.
“So, I hope this is something we have to address every year, I really do, because it means we’re having a lot of success right here at Notre Dame. If this isn’t something we’d have to address, then there’s bigger issues within what we’re doing as a football program because as your program has success, these types of things are going to occur.”
Freeman is not planning to be an NFL head coach at this point. But he did pause when asked if he would like to have one of those 32 jobs at some point in his career.
“Do I want to be? I mean, I don’t really — I’ve never done it,” Freeman said. “I don’t know enough about it. Maybe sometime in the future, if it’s the right time and it’s what I think is right for me, then maybe I’ll pursue it. But I don’t love wasting time thinking about things that aren’t right in front of me.
“So, I don’t know what I’ll want in however much length of time from now. I don’t know. But I know right now that I am as convicted and motivated to being the best head coach of the Notre Dame football program as I can be.”
Freeman, 39, has compiled a 43-12 record in his four seasons with the Fighting Irish since taking over for Brian Kelly.
Until the Packers announce that coach Matt LaFleur definitely will be back in 2026, there’s a chance he won’t be.
While most teams have no reason after the end of a given season to state the obvious, there’s currently nothing obvious about LaFleur’s future in Green Bay.
On Wednesday’s PFT Live, we pointed out the possibility that the Packers want to see whether someone will contact them with interest in making a deal for LaFleur. And while LaFleur would have to be willing to participate in the two-step process (new team makes a deal with the Packers, new team makes a deal with LaFleur), it may be his only alternative to accepting an extension he doesn’t like or coaching the final year of his current deal.
Appearing on ESPN Milwaukee earlier today, ESPN’s Adam Schefter characterized LaFleur’s status as “up in the air.” (Aaron Rodgers is gonna be upset.) Schefter explained that, if an extension isn’t finalized, it’s possible that some other team will call the Packers about possibly hiring LaFleur.
Regardless of the procedure that applies in situations like this, the reality is that there will be plenty of back-channel communications regarding, for example, whether LaFleur would be interested in one or more of the various vacancies and what it would take to hire him.
Again, all of this ends the moment the Packers declare LaFleur will be the coach in 2026. Until that occurs, anything can happen.
The Ravens have wrapped up another head coaching interview.
The team announced the completion of their meeting with Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz on Wednesday. It’s the ninth interview they have conducted since firing John Harbaugh last week and several more are expected to take place before they move to another round of meetings.
Schwartz, who was a Ravens assistant from 1996-1998, has also interviewed for the vacancy in Cleveland. He went 29-51 over five seasons as the Lions’ head coach.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said at a Tuesday press conference that he’s “very intrigued” by coaches like Schwartz who were hot coaching candidates and did not find great success in their first stops as a head coach. Brian Flores, Kliff Kingsbury, Matt Nagy, Vance Joseph, and Schwartz’s former boss in Cleveland Kevin Stefanski are others who fall into that category.
John Harbaugh is starting to take in-person interviews.
According to multiple reports, Harbaugh is in New Jersey to meet with the Giants on Wednesday for his first known in-person interview after he was fired by the Ravens last week.
As has been widely noted, Harbaugh is expected to coach in 2026.
The Giants are one of the favorites to land Harbaugh, who reportedly is also set to meet with the Titans and Falcons this week.
While most teams with a head coach vacancy are surely interested in Harbaugh — who recorded a 180-113 regular-season record with a 13-11 postseason record in his 18 seasons with Baltimore — the former Ravens coach is set to be selective about the meetings he takes.
If Harbaugh and the Giants end up being a fit, New York can hire him immediately because the club has satisfied the requirements of the Rooney Rule. But it seems likely that Harbaugh will take more than one in-person meeting before deciding on his next stop.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is part of the team’s first search for a head coach in almost 20 years and he shared some of his thoughts about the process during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Ravens have started interviewing or reached out to a number of candidates since firing John Harbaugh and those candidates come from both sides of the ball. Some of them have previous head coaching experience while others have yet to move beyond the coordinator level and Bisciotti spent some time talking about those who have been head coaches before.
Bisciotti said he “could say I’m disqualifying coaches with losing records,” but noted the difficult circumstances a lot of first-time head coaches face because of the state of the team that hired them. Bisciotti said he’s confident “that we created the best opening in this cycle” and that has him more interested in experienced coaches than he might have been in the past.
“Unlike 18 years ago, I am very intrigued by coaches that were the hottest offensive and defensive coordinators from five, six or seven years ago in their cycles and got jobs and went to teams that were non-competitive and didn’t have a quarterback, and they grind for three or four years, and they’re caught up in the cycle of many of my partners,” Bisciotti said, via the team’s website.
The Ravens have already interviewed Brian Flores, Kliff Kingsbury, Matt Nagy, Vance Joseph, and Kevin Stefanski with other former head coaches like Robert Saleh, Jim Schwartz and Mike McDaniel on the radar. Based on Bisciotti’s comments, one of them could wind up getting their second chance in Baltimore.
