Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman scores his historic first goal.
With the Fighting Irish’s victory in the Orange Bowl college football semifinals on Thursday, Freeman becomes the first Black and first Asian American coach to appear in a national championship game.
Freeman, who is Korean-American, reflected on his pioneering status after his victory.
“It’s an honor,” Freeman told ESPN. “It’s an honor for all coaches, whether they’re minorities, black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people, to continue to have the opportunity to coach young people like this. I hope so.” “But this isn’t about me. This is about us. We’re going to celebrate what we did because it’s something so special.”
Notre Dame defeated Penn State 27-24 when kicker Mitch Jeter made a 41-yard field goal with eight seconds left. The Irish will play the winner of Friday’s semifinal match between Ohio State and Texas in the national championship game on Jan. 20.
The coach spoke briefly about his heritage after the win, but was open about his past career. In an archive of personal stories about race launched by the school’s Crowe Institute for Civil and Human Rights, Freeman said her father was in the Air Force and met her mother while stationed in South Korea. He said that when he was young, he didn’t know much about his mother’s background as an Asian immigrant. But then he came to appreciate his heritage.
“I embraced my Korean background. When I was a kid, I learned Taekwondo, a Korean martial art,” Freeman said. “But, you know, I also played sports and embraced my African-American side.”
In a 2021 essay for the Players Tribune, Freeman also said he learned discipline from his father’s military career and selflessness from his mother’s immigrant experience.
“She was a Korean woman who fell in love with an American man who was stationed in Korea,” Freeman said. “And she left all her comfort and returned home to start a family with my father in America. She told me about sacrifice and how it became its own reward. It taught me a lot about what to do.”
Freeman, who celebrated his 39th birthday on Friday, is in his third year as ND’s head coach and has an overall record of 34-9. Previously, he served as the team’s defensive coordinator.
