Freeman selected to Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award Watch List
SOUTH BEND – Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman has been named to the watch list for the American Heart Association’s 2024 Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award, honoring contributions that make the sport better for athletes and fans alike by demonstrating grit, integrity and a winning approach to coaching and life – both on and off the field.
Freeman has been named the honorary head coach for the 2024 AFCA Allstate Good Works Team and has also been selected to the Dodd Trophy watch list for the 2024 season.
The Irish stand at 5-1 on the 2024 season, with two victories over teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. Freeman’s nine wins over ranked opponents are already the second-most of any Notre Dame football coach over the course of their first three seasons, while his seven ranked victories in his first two seasons led all Notre Dame coaches.
His first two campaigns averaged 35.5 points per game (the best since Jesse Harper had 36.9 in his first two seasons in 1913-14) and opponents to 19.5 points per game (the best since Lou Holtz’s first two seasons held opponents to 19.0).
The 2023 team finished 14th in the final Associated Press poll while setting program records for touchdowns (66) and total points (509) while also finishing ranked seventh in the country in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
The ‘23 Irish averaged 39.2 points per game, which is the second-highest in school history, averaged 5.3 yards-per-carry (the best since 1950) and scored 40 points in five consecutive games for the first time in program history. The ‘23 Irish also led the nation in pass efficiency defense, while ranking second in red zone defense and fifth in total defense.
In total, 27 college football coaches have been named to the watch list. The American Heart Association, the leading voluntary health organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives for all for more than 100 years, and the Bryant family present this award annually to celebrate Bear Bryant’s legacy and raise awareness and critical funds for scientific research to eliminate needless suffering and death from cardiovascular disease and stroke, the leading causes of death globally. The football coaching legend died from a heart attack in 1983.
