Marcus Freeman steps off the field to talk business at the 2022 South Bend Regional Salute to Business

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame football Head Coach Marcus Freeman spoke to a sold out crowd Tuesday at the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce's Salute to Business event.

Freeman  talked about his role as head coach and how his experience is actually similar to the lessons of local businesses.

Freeman shared specifics of what it’s like to adapt to a role with high expectations while being responsible for 120 student-athletes and a staff of over 70 people and how exactly that all translates to the business world.

"We think there’s so many lessons that he’s dealing with on the football field that we’re dealing with in businesses as well," said Jeff Rea, President of the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Freeman told the 1,000 plus attendees what his original goals in life were.

"I wanted to be a firefighter because I loved team," Coach Freeman said.

Eventually the job title changed but the aspirations remained.

"I never said, 'Hey I want to be a defensive coordinator at Notre Dame,' but when that challenge was presented I said, 'let’s go!' And then you work as hard as you can to be the best defensive coordinator and I knew at some point I wanted the challenge of being the head coach," Freeman said.

Now that the challenge has arrived Freeman feels that he has a duty to assist his players on and off the field while keeping the singular focus.

"Did I know it was going to be Notre Dame? No, but what a great opportunity. And what’s the challenges left? The challenges left is being a national champion as a head coach and all those different things," said Freeman.