SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman would welcome another round of NFL interest. It’s less certain whether he would actually act on it.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday for the first time since signing day on Dec. 3, Freeman had a lot of ground to cover, including Notre Dame’s exclusion from the College Football Playoff, the program’s decision to opt out of its non-CFP bowl game, the Irish’s activity in the transfer portal and his adjusted coaching staff. Freeman also addressed the alleged shove of a local wrestling coach during a high school meet earlier this month, one day after St. Joseph County (Ind.) prosecutors announced they would not be filing charges.

But the biggest question facing Notre Dame football over the past six weeks was the future of its head coach, who has been mentioned around the majority of NFL jobs that have come open so far. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported on Jan. 3 that Freeman was a candidate of interest for the New York Giants, Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, as well as for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the event Mike Tomlin left the team, a possibility that became reality on Tuesday.

“I’m the head coach at Notre Dame,” Freeman said Wednesday. “Individual recognition, individual success, NFL interest, those are all reflections of team success and where this football program is.”

On Dec. 29, Freeman tweeted, “2026…run it back” in the wake of reporting from Sports Illustrated that he’d told at least two NFL franchises he was not interested in making the jump to the NFL.

2026…run it back

Go Irish ☘️

— Marcus Freeman (@Marcus_Freeman1) December 29, 2025

On Wednesday, he was asked if he ever would be interested in being an NFL head coach. And even after Freeman answered the question, he hadn’t entirely made his future intentions clear.

“I mean, I don’t really, I’ve never done it,” Freeman said. “I don’t know enough about it, and maybe sometime in the future, if it’s the right time and it’s what I think is right for me, then maybe I’ll pursue it. I don’t love wasting time thinking about things that aren’t right in front of me. And so I don’t know what I want in however any length of time, how much length of the time, I don’t know. But I know right now that I was convicted and motivated to be the best head coach of the Notre Dame football program as I can be.”

Sources with direct knowledge of the situation have indicated Notre Dame and Freeman agreed to an enhanced contract this offseason, which reflected the market adjustment to the raises triggered across college football by openings at LSU, Florida and Penn State. All three schools expressed some interest in Freeman at the time. It’s believed Freeman is now compensated at the top of the college football market among coaches without a national championship.

If Freeman’s future at Notre Dame is a year-to-year proposition, like much of college football at large, the program and head coach appear aligned on making the most of their partnership for its duration. Notre Dame is putting the final touches on its latest transfer portal class, which could include seven incoming players with multiple years of eligibility remaining; the Irish had signed just two players with multiple years of eligibility remaining in the previous four classes combined. And just last month, Notre Dame signed its highest-rated class of high school prospects in the modern era.

“Everything I want and everything that I need personally can be achieved right here as the head coach of this program,” Freeman said. “So I hope this is something we have to address every year. I really do because it means we’re having a lot of success right here at Notre Dame.”