Celebrating Notre Dame’s Sugar Bowl win over Georgia was a family affair for the Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman.
after Notre Dame beat Georgia 23-10 on Thursday, Jan. 2 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Freeman, 38. posing with his wife Joannaand their six children on the field as confetti fell around them and the university orchestra played jubilantly in the background.
Marcus and Joanna married in 2010 after meeting while at Ohio State University. Together they share six children: a son Guilty17, daughter Sienna12, son Gino11, son Nico9, a daughter capri, 7 and a son Rocco6.
With the win, Notre Dame advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinals, where they will face Penn State on Thursday, January 9. The winner of that game will then face the winner of Ohio State/Texas in the national championship game on January 20th.
Courtesy of Marcus Freeman/Instagram Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has a pretty impressive lineup off the field as well. Freeman, 38, who became the head football coach at Notre Dame in December 2021, married his wife Joanna Freeman in 2010. The couple met while at Ohio State University, where Marcus was (…)
Joanna and the kids have been by Marcus’ entire tenure at Notre Dame, dating back to his 2021 induction press conference.
Shortly after his hiring, Joanna frankly admitted that their relationship was not from fairy tales.
Marcus Freeman celebrates the win with his family ❤️ pic.twitter.com/4Q5JQFiUqv
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 3, 2025
“We don’t have a super romantic love story,” Joanna said Yahoo Sports in 2021 “We had a lot of breakups and make-ups. We fell hard. We fell fast. We were really young when we met, and in many ways we really grew and matured into adults together.”
After Thursday’s game, Freeman was asked about the historic significance of the win. Prior to this season, a Black coach had never coached a College Football Playoff game. Along with Penn State’s head coach James Franklinthere are two black coaches in this year’s semifinals.
“You are very grateful,” Freeman said. “It’s a reminder that you are representative of many others and many of our players who look the same as I do. Your color shouldn’t matter. Evidence of your work should.
He continued: “But it takes everyone. I keep reminding myself of that. When people try to point the finger at you, it’s a great reminder (that) you’re not in this position without everybody, without all those guys. And that’s what I told them in the locker room.”
Freeman explained that he felt uncomfortable at the trophy ceremony after the game, insisting that the spotlight should not be on him alone.
“I couldn’t get off that stage fast enough because they couldn’t all be there,” he told reporters. “It’s about the team. It’s about everybody putting everything they’ve got into making sure we can achieve that success.”
Freeman added: “So it’s a great honor. It’s a privilege. But again, as a head coach at this place, I understand that we’re not in this position unless everybody in this program does their job.”
