By Michael Maynard
As I alluded to in my tweet, Tom Fornelli of the Cover 3 podcast alerted me to an interesting development with the Notre Dame football program: After an 0-3 start, including an embarrassing loss to Marshall, Notre Dame is 3-0, with wins at North Carolina and BYU in Las Vegas this past weekend. And what just coincidentally happened at the same time everything flipped for Notre Dame? Freeman made public his recent conversion to Catholicism.
So God punishes the Catholic school for having a non-Catholic coach, then rewards them with wins when he converts to the faith? Not exactly how God works, but this trend is worth noting in that it goes right into the intersection of faith and sports.
To those familiar with Freeman’s backstory, this personal news is not shocking, as Freeman has demonstrated his commitment to live by the Catholic faith as the head football coach at Notre Dame. This wonderful article and interview by Jonathan Liedl of the National Catholic Register outlines Freeman’s plan to build (or rebuild depending on your opinion of the Brian Kelly era) Notre Dame as a national contender while remaining true to the Catholic identity of the school. One of his first orders of business was to restore the pre-game game-day mass, not just out of superstition or adherence to tradition, but so that his players could grow closer to God through the sacrament, and carry the same adrenaline and excitement into their worship that they do in the ensuing game.
Freeman’s wife and six kids are all Catholic, so he has obviously been around the faith and seen in the people he loves the crown jewel of the Catholic Church. I also find an interesting connection in that prior to Notre Dame, Freeman worked as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati under Luke Fickell, another devout Catholic football coach (also with six kids), who’s loyalty to Cincinnati is universally revered. In a sports world where we hear plenty of negative stories, how often do we hear about someone prominent converting to Catholicism? I would love to know more about Fickell’s potential impact on this conversion, and hopefully as a result of Freeman’s conversion, his assistant coaches and players come to know the treasures of the Catholic faith as well.
As much as I love to claim Franciscan is the premiere Catholic institution in the country, it pales by comparison to the visibility of Notre Dame. With over 150,000 alumni, it is the most known Catholic university in the country and has built its platform on harboring and developing the best theological and philosophical minds. Notre Dame has unfortunately become a microcosm of the country’s perception towards Catholicism. Hypocrisy, presumption, buffet-style selection of beliefs, declining participation in the sacraments; Many of the same reasons that people dislike Notre Dame are the same reasons they dislike Catholics. Unfortunately, football probably makes this worse because when people see Notre Dame players, coaches, and fans acting poorly, that reflects the Catholic faith as well.
Freeman in the NCR interview he believes he has a recruiting monopoly because of the school’s faith mission–which he does. Boston College is the only other Catholic school at the FBS level. While Brian Kelly left for LSU, in part due to the recruiting limitations, Freeman should be much more suited to recruit that audience with an emphasis on quality of character. His goal should be that for all the Catholic schools across America, all of their players want to go play for Notre Dame because of what they stand for, rather than Texas, USC, or whatever schools have the best perks/NIL opportunities.
While Notre Dame had successful records under Kelly, there was always something missing. They won the games they were supposed to win, yet never played up to the level of Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, or Clemson (at full strength). The nugget below illustrates, as Notre Dame had not lost a game as a favorite since 2017. Therefore, all their losses in the past four years came as underdogs.
My expectation under Freeman was that they would lose some of those games against mid-level opponents, especially as Freeman gained experience. Their first two games as a favorite? A blown lead in the Cotton Bowl to Oklahoma State, and the letdown against Marshall. Looking at their schedule, they will definitely be underdogs to Clemson and USC. They may drop a game to Syracuse or Navy along the way, but I expect the energized team that played Ohio State tough for four quarters in Columbus to take down down one of those two playoff contenders.
Notre Dame does not need a CEO as their head coach–they need a father figure to guide their players in their development as Christinas and as football players. And while the expectations are high for Freeman, all he needs to do is be a great football coach. Dabo Swinney has been successful with the preacher/coach approach, but Freeman doesn’t have to do the in-your-face-Christianity all the time; he can pick the moments when the team needs him to. By providing an example for these young men for how they should work, love each other, and learn to embrace sacrifice, Notre Dame will become the successful football program that God wills them to be (no matter how many games they win). Freeman seems to be providing this great model already; we remember the team’s reaction when Notre Dame announced he would be taking over for Kelly:
I have this image of the players celebrating whenever the souls in Heaven welcome a new soul into the kingdom of God, or whenever a lost sheep rejoins the flock and comes home to the Catholic faith.
I pray for a college football world where Notre Dame, under the direction of their newly converted head coach, can be a source of conversion and true encounter with our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that their success can be glorified as an opportunity for their players and coaches to share the Gospel and promote proper virtue. And I pray for all of us who seek to know the intersection of faith and sports may fight off the temptation of temptations to worship idols, and keep the Christian faith at the center of our lives, through Christ our Lord, Amen!
Stay tuned and follow/subscribe to the blog, as I may have more notes later in the week about an exciting week in college football, and maybe even more on Notre Dame’s upcoming matchup.
Triple Option 
Leave a comment