Say Marcus Freeman does take an NFL job. Who are the first calls you make to find his replacement at Notre Dame?

There’s a history of Cincinnati influence in South Bend, including Kelly, who spent three seasons with the Bearcats before taking the Notre Dame job. A year before Kelly poached Freeman, he hired Bearcats defensive backs coach Mike Mickens, a Cincinnati alum who was a teammate of Freeman’s at Wayne High School outside of Dayton.

Freeman — a surprise hire in December 2021 since he had never been a head coach when Notre Dame promoted the then-defensive coordinator after Kelly bolted for LSU — hasn’t had the same problems.