Garnering his second national Coach of the Year honor, Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Marcus Freeman was named the winner of the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award, presented by the Maxwell Football Club.
Freeman is the second Notre Dame coach to win the Munger Award (Tyrone Willingham, 2002).
Freeman, also the winner of the Dodd Trophy and a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, is in his third season at Notre Dame and has led the Irish to an 13-1 record in 2024, including a First-Round playoff win over Indiana and a Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia, with a No. 3 ranking in the Associated Press (AP) and Coaches Polls, and the No. 7 seed in the 2024 College Football Playoff.
The Irish, currently on a 12-game win streak, move on in the College Football Playoff to face No. 6 Penn State in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 9, 2025.
Freeman has led Notre Dame to six victories over opponents ranked in the AP Poll at the time of the game this season: No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 15 Louisville, No. 24 Navy, No. 18 Army, No. 9 Indiana and No. 2 Georgia. The CFP victory over Georgia was the 13th ranked win of the Freeman era at Notre Dame, more than any other Irish head coach in the first three years of his tenure, and the second-most of any FBS program over the last three years (Georgia, 14).
Through the season and the Quarterfinal round of the CFP, Notre Dame is first in pass efficiency defense (99.88), first in turnovers gained (31), first in defensive touchdowns (6), first in blocked kicks (6), second in scoring defense (13.6), second in blocked punts (3), third in turnover margin (1.29), third in fumbles recovered (13), fourth in scoring offense (37.7), fourth in interceptions (18), fifth in passing defense (167.4), fifth in red zone defense (0.686), fifth in third down defense (0.299), fifth in fourth down defense (0.333), seventh in passes had intercepted (6), eighth in total defense (295.4), eighth in fourth-down success rate (0.731), eighth in kickoff return defense (15.72) and 11th in rushing offense (217.5).