Brian Kelly Might Have Accidentally Named His Successor At Notre Dame In An Interview And Apparently It's New DC Marcus Freeman

Kelly appeared on “Race and Sports in America: Conversations,” where he served on a panel with NBA stars Stephen Curry and Vince Carter, and Curry’s father and former NBA player, Dell Curry, in an episode that first aired last month.

The conversation on racial inequalities and how to make a tangible difference is informative, compelling and worth listening to in full. But the headline for Irish fans comes when Kelly grew perhaps a bit too comfortable and might have accidentally said something he didn’t intend to share publicly.

“My defensive coordinator is Black, and he’s going to be the next head coach,” Kelly said. “This is not about color or race. This is about the things they (Steph Curry, Dell Curry, Vince Carter) just talked about.

The next head coach of Notre Dame is apparently the new defensive coordinator, Marcus Freeman. I'll be god damned. Freeman was a big time fast-riser. Hot name in coaching. Did wonders at Cincinnati building that program with Luke Fickell. The guy has already proven that he can do some 'cruiting. Notre Dame currently has the #2 ranked class for 2022 and it sounds like Freeman deserves a lot of the credit for that. He's dipped into regions that previously ND hasn't had a strong foothold and if you look at their top guys in the class, 3 of the 4 are linebackers. Did he personally recruit them? I don't know. 

I feel like this has to be just a simple slip of the tongue by Kelly though. I don't think he would announce that a) he's already mapped out his exit from Notre Dame and b) Marcus Freeman, talented though he may be, is the coach in waiting before ever actually coaching a game. This might be muchado about nothing, but it's big if true and worthy of a blog imo because Freeman is DEFINITELY going to be a head coach somewhere in the near future. It might just be ND and Kelly is closing in on a successful run that has lasted longer than Holtz or Parseghian's stints at Notre Dame. 

I don't know anything really about the guy other than what I have stated but he seems sweet