I'm of two minds...

by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, 09:40 (10 hours, 31 minutes ago) @ BPH

1. I've said for a long time that everything public that comes out of a head coach's mouth is either nonsense or bullshit. So, there's a part of me that doesn't find any of this compelling.
That said, Freeman seems more inclined towards honesty than pretty much any of his colleagues, so who knows -- he might be an exception.

2. ND was certainly paying NIL before. But for HS recruiting, we were probably in up to our knees. Now, we are pretty clearly in up to our necks. By most accounts, we aren't straight-up winning bidding wars, but we are offering enough to make the NIL component irrelevant while these kids are making their decisions. And obviously, we aren't even going to try to get kids for whom NIL is the top priority. Multiple pods have straight-up said we never would have gotten Olu without being a big-time NIL player. And when you see us competing regularly with NIL heavyweights Oregon and A&M, it's clear we have stepped up to the plate.

All of which is to say that Marcus' changed message may reflect his satisfaction with ND's even further commitment to roster building.