The Chicago Bears’ head coach search has taken an interesting turn.
According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Bears are interested in interviewing Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman for their head coaching position.
Freeman is leading the Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 20 against Ohio State.
Who Is Marcus Freeman?
Marcus Freeman has been the head coach of the Fighting Irish for the past three years, taking over for Brian Kelly, who left to take the head coaching position at LSU.
Freeman is about to make history because he will be the first African-American/Asian head coach to lead his team to the title game.
When asked about making history, Freeman was very humble in his response.
“It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this.”
As of now, there are only 16 minority head coaches in Division I football.
"It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn't matter, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this."
Marcus Freeman on becoming the first Black and Asian American head coach to make the FBS national championship 👏 pic.twitter.com/KHMksJUNdK
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025
Freeman’s father, who is Black, met his mom, who is Korean, while serving in the military.
He talked about his background via the Notre Dame website.
“My father’s African-American,” Freeman explained. “He’s from Columbus, Ohio, and was in the Air Force. And my mother is Korean. She’s from South Korea, Daegu City in South Korea. ”
“… I don’t think when I was young, I was really not much aware of, you know, I had a minority mother, a mother that wasn’t from the United States. And I just knew her as mom and I think as you get older, you start to see it,” Freeman continued.
“You know that, hey, my mom’s Korean, not every mother is Korean. But it kind of helped me evolve to who I am, I was around a whole bunch of diversity,” he added.
Freeman played linebacker at Ohio State and was second-team All-Big Ten twice and briefly played in the NFL before turning to coaching.
For years, he was the defensive coordinator for Notre Dame before he took over the head coaching position.
His overall record is 33-9. It’s understandable why the Bears would be interested in Freeman. He took over a program from a successful head coach, and under him, the program continued to flourish.
Plus, the proximity of Freeman to Chicago in South Bend, Indiana can’t hurt, right? The Bears would be foolish not to give him a call. But the question is, will Freeman answer?