Sports
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman is focused on each moment, not making history

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Call it the Marcus Freeman method.
I went to Notre Dame to learn the way Freeman felt about the opportunity of becoming the primary Black coach – and the primary Asian-American coach, more on that later – to win a university football national title. But at any time when I asked him about his future within the championship, Freeman focused on the current.
“The win is all a reflection of winning the break. It’s a reflection of staying in the moment,” Freeman said Oct. 12 after Notre Dame beat Stanford 49-7. The Irish, ranked twelfth within the College Football Playoff rankings with a 5-1 record, play Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday.
“You don’t control the journey. You have to trust the journey,” Freeman said. “That’s what I tell these guys. There is one guarantee that the longer term is uncertain. Why waste time dreaming about it? Why sit here and take into consideration what is going to occur in the longer term when it is uncertain? Why don’t you are taking the time to focus on the things you should do this have a likelihood of getting the result you would like?
“We will worry about what the result will be at the end of the season. We just have to continue to stay in the moment.”
This moment and this method hold promise for Freeman. Now in his third season at Notre Dame, at age 38, Freeman is one in all a dozen coaches – no matter ethnicity – with the appropriate combination of college, NIL budget and schedule to win a national title. That may not occur for Freeman this season accumulating damage and the blemish of a shocking Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois. But with the playoffs expanding to 12 teams and Freeman’s proven ability to recruit and develop top talent, Notre Dame might be within the constant hunt.
No Black coach has won a national championship in college football, one in all the last unfulfilled “firsts” in sports. Just 16 out of 134 coaches at this highest level of competition, there are Blacks in comparison with greater than half of the players. There are three Polynesian coaches within the FBS: Ken Niumatalolo, who is Samoan, from San Jose State; Kalani Sitake of Tonga at BYU; and Timmy Chang of the University of Hawaii. Despite this history, there are an unprecedented variety of Black coaches leading programs with a reputable path to championships in the following few years: Freeman, James Franklin at Penn State, Sherrone Moore at Michigan and Deion Sanders at Colorado (or anywhere else). might be his next stop).
Freeman is actually the second black coach in Notre Dame history. The first was Tyrone Willingham, who coached the Irishman from 2002 to 2004 and was then fired in what many black observers considered a rash decision. While at Notre Dame, Willingham tried to recruit top-of-the-line highschool defenders within the country – tough forward Marcus Freeman.
“Coach Willingham influenced me,” Freeman said during an interview at Notre Dame Stadium. On his desk is a photograph of his wife and 6 children; a tattooed wedding ring surrounds his left ring finger. On her feet, Golden Goose sneakers. “I remember talking to him on the phone many times, thinking that he reminded me of my father in his attitude and tone.”
James Black/Sportswire Icon
Freeman’s black father was serving within the Air Force when he met and married Freeman’s mother, who is South Korean. Identity generally is a tricky thing – a word to Tiger Woods – so I asked Freeman how he describes his ethnicity.
“It depends on who is asking,” he replied. “I am a multiracial person. My father is African American, my mother is Korean. I am a piece of both of them. They both have a huge impact on my life and me cover both sides of this.”
After returning to highschool, despite Willingham’s recruitment, Freeman selected Ohio State, where he was an All-Big Ten linebacker within the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Ohio State lost the national title game in Freeman’s final two college seasons. So how do these losses impact Freeman’s coaching now?
“Those two national championship games didn’t end the way you wanted them to,” he said. “I’m happy that at some point I’ll be able to lift the trophy and become champion.”
At this point, Freeman rubs his hands, probably unconsciously, as he mentions winning all of it – a rare moment when he allows himself to daydream. Then he returned to his method.
“But when I think about these games,” he continued, “I feel concerning the journey. I take into consideration people. I feel concerning the exceptional seasons we had in 2006 and 2007 and the ups and downs of those seasons. But most significantly, I only remember the people, the coaches, the players and the journey we were on.
I appreciate Freeman’s approach. Sport comes with enormous pressure, so many extraordinary demands and expectations, but in each season there can only be one winner. You cannot label anyone or anything as a failure, especially in college football where most of Freeman’s players might be playing last. If we won’t find meaning in the game beyond winning, the entire endeavor does more harm than good.
John Biever/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
Freeman was chosen within the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, but his profession was ended by a diagnosis of an enlarged heart. Beginning as an assistant at his alma mater, Freeman coached linebackers at Kent State and Purdue, where he rose to the position of co-defensive coordinator. Then Luke Fickell, who coached Freeman at Ohio State, hired him to run the defense in Cincinnati. Freeman developed the Bearcats D into top-of-the-line units within the country and was recognized as a rising star.
In 2021, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly hired Freeman as defensive coordinator. A 12 months later, Kelly went to LSU. Notre Dame considered various candidates, including Fickell, who finished the season in Cincinnati with a 13-1 record. But behind an outpouring of support from players and recruits, Freeman landed the highest job.
How did it occur?
“I worked tirelessly in the position I held,” Freeman said. “I worked very hard to be the most effective defensive coordinator I might be. I never got here to work attempting to interview for the Notre Dame head coaching position. I tell people on a regular basis that should you keep on the lookout for one other opportunity, you’ll waste the one in front of you. And the most effective thing you may do to make the most of your next opportunity is to make great use of the chance you’ve got now.
This is the Marcus Freeman method. Buckle up, put all the pieces you may into what you may control, after which live with the outcomes.
But it wasn’t that way back that this approach rarely worked for Black coaches in all sports. Even today, exertions and high qualifications aren’t any guarantee – just ask UCLA associate head coach Eric Bienemy or Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell …or Willingham.
When Willingham began coaching in 1977 at Michigan State, and even when he was hired at Notre Dame 25 years later, opportunities for black coaches were extremely rare. Fast forward to 2021, when Freeman — who has never been a head coach at any level — landed the Notre Dame job over the older, more experienced and, dare I say, whiter Fickell.
It’s like a brand new day for me. What about you, Coach Willingham?
“We now have the opportunity to do things that have never been done before,” Willingham told me over the phone on Monday. “Many years ago we needed to cope with quite a lot of stereotypes. You cannot have a black center, you may’t have a black point guard, because those were our views. So you could not have a Black head coach because that meant you needed to be thoughtful and thoughtful and intuitive.
“I do not know what to call this barrier, nevertheless it was one in all those things that, as we progressed as a society, needed to be removed. And I feel we’re attending to the purpose, the issue is not solved yet, nevertheless it’s lots higher than it was.
Freeman understands the probabilities of this era.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say there are days when I’m in my office, sitting alone, and I say, ‘You’re the top coach on the University of Notre Dame.’ It’s surreal. I’ll definitely remember. You must, because should you take it with no consideration, it would be taken away.
“And then,” Freeman said, “you come back to the moment.”
Sports
Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.
Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.
The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.
But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.
“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “
Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.
Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.
In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.
He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.
Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.
“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.
“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”
Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.
“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.
“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.
“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “
The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.
But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.
Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “
“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.
Sports
Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.
Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.
One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.
Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.
I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.
When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.
History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.
The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.
That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:
“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.
Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”
I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”
I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.
They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

(Tagstranslate) @Ap
Sports
Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.
No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.
Morgan State University Athletics mourns Sterling Steward’s departure https://t.co/avjzilxhja
– Grizzly Life (@grizzlylife22) February 26, 2025
Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.
“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “
While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.
Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.
He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.
(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry
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