Marcus

How the head coach of Notre Dame tamed the Wild West of college football-and why the NFL is desperately trying to lure him to the pros

- By Brady Langmann

HOW MANY BITES OF A TURKEY BURGER do you allow a man before you challenge him on why he's not the new coach of your football team?

Today, it's three. I'm at lunch with Marcus Freeman, the forty-year-old head coach of Notre Dame football, at a cozy burger-and-beer bar in Hell's Kitchen in New York. It's late January, when most NFL teams have just finished filling their head-coaching vacancies. Many believed that Freeman-considered one of the sport's greatest young leaders-would've had his pick of coveted gigs in New York, Baltimore, and my hometown: Pittsburgh. He not only declined to interview with any team but also agreed to a new contract with the Fighting Irish. So I respectfully wonder aloud why we're not clinking Yuenglings to the future of Steelers football right now.

Freeman flashes a smile, then turns studious. "I had some conversations with higher-ups in the NFL," he says. "They all usually start with conversations about our current players and turn into: