‘Valuable lessons’ came along with a mountain of losses for Marcus Freeman at Purdue football

SOUTH BEND — Saturday’s game at Ross-Ade Stadium will mark No. 19 Notre Dame football’s first visit to Purdue in exactly 11 years.

Trailing 17-10 entering the fourth quarter, Tommy Rees threw a pair of touchdown passes to Davaris Daniels and Bennett Jackson added a pick six as the 21st-ranked Irish rode that 3 ½-minute blitz to claim a 31-24 win.

Across the way that night was a 27-year-old linebackers coach named Marcus Freeman. Having followed coaching mentor Darrell Hazell to West Lafayette, Ind., after two years on his staff at Kent State, Freeman was about to endure the worst four-year stretch in Boilermakers history.

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Hazell was fired midway through the 2016 season, Freeman’s first with the title of co-defensive coordinator, and Gerad Parker went 0-6 in the interim role to complete a 9-39 (.188) nightmare that included a 3-30 mark against the Big Ten.

Former Notre Dame baseball pitcher Mike Bobinski, who replaced the late Morgan Burke as Purdue’s athletic director in mid-August of 2016, made the decision to elevate Parker — now head coach at Troy after two years on Freeman’s staff at Notre Dame.

The only conference wins for Purdue in that four-year span came at Illinois (2014 and 2016) and at home against Nebraska (a 55-45 shootout in 2015).

“Learned a lot of things about how to have success from there,” Freeman said Thursday. “Even though we didn’t have a whole bunch of wins in terms of our overall win-loss record there, did learn some things, valuable lessons, in terms of what I believe maybe it took to win.”

After going 16-10 with the Golden Flashes, where Freeman also coached linebackers, the Purdue experience was enough to test the resolve of the sunniest optimist. Nearly half of Hazell’s wins at…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/valuable-lessons-came-along-mountain-042409800.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2024-09-13 04:24:09

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