Everything Marcus Freeman said to Notre Dame players in first team address
Marcus Freeman is officially Notre Dame’s head football coach.
The announcement of Freeman’s elevation from defensive coordinator to head coach came early Friday morning. Strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis emotionally introduced Freeman to the Irish players as their new head coach.
Then Freeman took the stage. Here’s everything he said in his first address to Irish players.
“This is the first time I get to address you guys, and it’s been a long — it seems like centuries that I’ve been at home after me and Jack [Swarbrick] had this conversation. First off, I want to thank Jack for this opportunity. He’s the one who made this decision. Somebody had to make this decision. He gave me this opportunity, and Father Jenkins gave me this opportunity.
“But the reason why is because of you. Does everybody understand that? The reason why I’m standing here is because of you. It’s unbelievable how powerful you guys are. It’s unbelievable how powerful your voices are. That’s why we’re going to do great things. We’ve got great leaders in this room. We’ve got great leaders in this room.
“And when you want something done, you get it done. That’s on the football field. That’s off the football field. That’s in leadership. That’s in everything we do. When you guys want something done, you come together and say I’m going to get it done. We get it done. So the same things are going to happen as we move forward. Right? Things aren’t changing, man.
“We’re going to enhance what we do, but things aren’t changing. We’re going to lead, and we’re going to lean on our leadership. You leaders know who you are. We’re going to lean on you because what you guys want to get done is going to get done. We’re going to set high expectations, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure we equipped ourselves to reach that. Then the next mission is going to occur.
“Forty-eight hours — I don’t care who we play, I don’t care who the opponent is — in 48 hours, we’re going to get together and get going for this mission. We owe it to the seniors. This isn’t about the future. Let’s be clear. That’s a disservice to this group. This isn’t about the future. This isn’t about next year. This isn’t about five years from now. It’s about right now. It’s about finishing this season off the right way for you seniors.
“Everybody clear? I don’t care about anything else. We all got a job to do. I care about us and this group, and this coaching staff and this football family finishing this thing off the way we have to.”
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