{"id":675342,"date":"2026-01-14T01:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/675342\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T01:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:12:14","slug":"russini-steelers-had-internal-discussions-about-notre-dames-marcus-freeman-prior-to-mike-tomlins-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/675342\/","title":{"rendered":"Russini: Steelers Had ‘Internal Discussions’ About Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman Prior To Mike Tomlin’s Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head coaching search in Pittsburgh didn\u2019t begin when Mike Tomlin stepped down<\/a>\u2014it started well before. More than a week earlier, reports had already linked the Steelers to potential replacements, including Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, if an opening emerged.<\/p>\n

\u201cNotre Dame coach Marcus Freeman seriously considered making the jump to the NFL, with multiple teams reaching out to gauge his interest, according to league sources,\u201d Dianna Russini wrote for The Athletic on Jan. 3<\/a>. \u201cThough Freeman ultimately announced he\u2019s staying at Notre Dame, there\u2019s a strong belief around the league that this won\u2019t be the last time his name is connected to NFL opportunities. The Giants, Titans and Browns all had internal discussions about Freeman, as did the Pittsburgh Steelers (in the event longtime coach Mike Tomlin decided to step away).\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomlin of course has stepped away, which makes this report more notable. Freeman has already announced he will be returning to Notre Dame, but college football isn\u2019t exactly known for ironclad contracts or loyalty (see Lane Kiffin).<\/p>\n

Freeman fits the profile of a candidate the Steelers would have interest in. He\u2019s relatively young at 40 years old and served as a defensive coordinator prior to landing the head coaching job at Notre Dame. If hired, he would become the Steelers\u2019 third former NFL linebacker to serve as head coach among their last four hires. Tomlin is the lone exception, having been a collegiate wide receiver who never played in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Since taking over at Notre Dame for the last game of the 2021 season, Freeman has led the team to a 43-12 record, including a run in the first-ever expanded College Football Playoffs in 2024 as the runner-up to Ohio State. There have been 18 players selected out of Notre Dame over his four drafts there with a significant uptick in recent seasons. Since Freeman really hit his stride, he\u2019s had 13 players selected in the last two NFL drafts, including No. 5 overall pick Joe Alt in 2024.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, Freeman currently has the second-highest odds<\/a> to be the Steelers\u2019 next head coach, according to some sportsbooks.<\/p>\n

Unless something changes and Marcus Freeman agrees to an interview, don\u2019t expect this to happen for the Steelers. But along with Albert Breer reporting Chris Shula<\/a> as a candidate in early January, it paints a picture of what type of candidate the Steelers are coveting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head coaching search in Pittsburgh didn\u2019t begin when Mike Tomlin stepped down\u2014it started well before. More than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6164,7,7801,1255,49,48,1401,57,4394],"class_list":["post-675342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-dianna-russini","tag-football","tag-marcus-freeman","tag-mike-tomlin","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-notre-dame","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-the-athletic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115890798318921476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}