Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman knows well how to handle a storm

SOUTH BEND — Twenty minutes into Marcus Freeman’s first media session inside the Notre Dame Stadium interview room Wednesday, deep rumbles of thunder could be heard rolling toward campus.
Twenty minutes later, the day turned black as night. Monsoon-rain like fell. Angry lightning flashed. The wind blew the rain sideways. A rare old-fashioned Midwest thunderstorm had announced its lunch time arrival.
Freeman, who left the presser after it ended for his office on foot, likely arrived just before the skies opened. It was the second storm the second-year head coach had weathered this week. On Sunday, Freeman received a surprise call from Matt Balis saying that effective immediately, he was done as director of football performance after six-plus years.
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The importance of the strength and conditioning coach to a football program — really, to any college athletic program — cannot be overstated. You have the head coach, who’s in charge of basically ... everything. You have the position coaches, who spend the most one-on-one time with the players. Then there’s the strength coach. He’s that high on the hierarchy.
The strength coach becomes the de facto football coach every summer. While Freeman was in New York on program business and then off on a family vacation, it was Balis who was in charge while running those 6 a.m. drills. He pushes players to mental and physical limits that are overcome every fall. He keeps the pulse of the program as June and July open toward preseason camp.
The strength coach is more than a meathead with a whistle and a gravelly voice.
News of Balis’ departure went public on the same day the Irish checked in for fall camp. The first practice rolled out less than 24 hours later. Freeman met Monday with Balis. He asked him to reconsider, but Balis declined.
“Ultimately, his reason was that he couldn’t serve the players in the capacity that he felt he should do it in his position, said Freeman. “It’s a personal matter. He really didn’t tell me exactly what those personal reasons were. At the end of the day, when he says this is what’s best for me and my family, you’ve got to respect that.”
News of a college football program’s strength coach bouncing on the eve of preseason camp is enough to knock even the most seasoned coach to his knees. The head coach and the strength coach often work as one. One goal. One vision. Freeman and Balis were similar. Losing that, losing him, that’s not easy, and that’s understandable.
Freeman’s mantra with his football program isn’t “choose easy” but “choose hard.” Listening to your strength coach – someone who helped set the culture since December 2021 – tell you that he was done was hard.
But …
“Change is inevitable,” Freeman said. “I was as hurt as anybody losing somebody I respect. That hurts.”
It hurt Sunday. It still hurt Wednesday. It will hurt a little less next week. Freeman can’t let that hurt consume him. Consume his players. It also affected them, some more than others, but there’s also a bigger picture – the 2023 season.
Stumbling through last season’s letdowns − the home losses to Marshall and to Stanford − saw Freeman carry a what-just-happened stare into the same interview room he stood Wednesday. This time, Freeman stood differently. He stood tall. He stood confidently. He stood determined, assured that that he and his program will not let this affect them next week or next month.
The season will. Time will. That’s life.
It’s a life that Freeman can better accept after everything he experienced last season. Sitting in his outer office this summer, he talked of not letting issues that feel “catastrophic” on the outside be soul crushing inside the Guglielmino Complex. A loss of a recruit to a rival, a transfer of a key player, a game. Nothing. Add to that mix the loss of Balis. He was good, sure, but he’s gone.
Logan Diggs left. The running back room carried on. Tyler Buchner left. The quarterback room was fine. Tommy Rees left. The offensive coordinator’s job didn't stay vacant. Marshall happened. Stanford happened. Notre Dame football continued forward.
Balis is another loss that will take time to absorb, but it will be absorbed. Eventually.
“They all sting,” Freeman said. “It’s all hard. Losses hurt. Anytime you lose staff members, you lose games, you lose players to the portal. Those losses, they're never easy to get over, but you have to.”
Notre Dame football existed before Matt Balis. Notre Dame football existed with Matt Balis. Notre Dame football will exist after Matt Balis. That’s Notre Dame. That’s college football. That’s life.
“Time doesn’t stop,” Freeman said. “We have to continue to move forward. Time’s not slowing down, and we have an objective in front of us of making sure we’re ready for Dublin, Ireland.”
Ninety minutes after that first storm cell moved through town, the rain ceased and the skies cleared. It again felt like summer, but with more rain forecast. That’s summer in Northern Indiana. That’s also Notre Dame football — weather one storm, then stay prepared for when the next one hits. Nobody knows exactly when. Just that it will.
Freeman wasn’t prepared for the Balis storm to hit, but he weathered it. He’ll weather another one. Maybe sooner than later. Maybe more off the field than on it. That’s the job. That’s life.