Marcus Freeman thinks it's easier to recruit kids to Notre Dame than LSU

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"There’s a lot of things that go into it… number one is that you still have to attract these kids," Freeman said on The Zorich Podcast. "They’re still young people, and they’re attracted to sexy -- they’re attracted to fancy cars and they’re attracted to the guys that are playing in the NFL. So I think it’s important to do that, you can’t sit on your high horse and say, ‘Well, we’re Notre Dame or we’re Ohio State, or we’re anybody, we don’t have to do that.’ Well, ok, Oklahoma is doing that and it’s helping them win. And so we have to be able to do that, you have to be able to attract these kids to come to campus.

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"Number two, when you’re at a place maybe, and I’m not trying to throw shade on anybody else, but if you’re at a place that’s not like Notre Dame, where I’ve been before -- I’ve coached at Purdue, I’ve coached at Kent State, I’ve coached at Cincinnati," Freeman said. "A lot of times if we could get that kid for 48 hours to live this fantasy, in this dream world, and by the time he walks off campus, we say, ‘Listen, we want an answer right now, give it to me. While you’re feeling this dream, this fantasy world, tell me you want to be here right now.’ And that was the only way because we knew if they had time to go home and decompress, then you’re not going to win."

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"Now, you get the kids here [Notre Dame] and then you feed them substance. ‘Hey, let me tell you what’s really sexy, is that when you’re done playing, you’re going to be able to pick and choose whatever job you want. You’re going to be in a network that is second-to-none in the world,’ and that’s what I try to explain to these kid," Freeman said. "Like, we got you here because it’s sexy, now let me tell you what really makes Notre Dame unique. Okay, and then if you want to commit right now, great, let’s do it. Or if you want to go home and really decompress, this place will always win. Notre Dame will always win, because it has facts. Like this isn’t a ‘make you feel a certain type of way and get you to jump in right now’, so go home and think about it. You want to go home and think about it, you’ll win.

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"That happened to me. I did it. I came to Notre Dame and I wanted to jump in right on a visit, and I’m talking about me coaching. I wanted to jump in, but I told my wife, we have to go to LSU like we already said we’re going to. I went to LSU, and they rolled out the carpet and they made it a dream 48 hours, 24 hours. And they said, ‘Hey, listen you can’t get on that plane until you give us an answer.’ And I said, 'Whoo!' You know I wanted to, I mean I was close, but I said hold on man, I’m 34 years old, with a wife, let me get home and give me 24 hours. And that’s what happened. I went home and Coach [Brian] Kelly called me and said, ‘Listen, money will not be an issue. Whatever, they’re offering -- don’t make this about money, because we will do whatever it takes to get you. Money is not in the equation.’ So then I started basing it off of facts and that’s where there was nothing. I looked for every answer to say no to Notre Dame, and it was just like, Notre Dame, Notre Dame, honey we’re going to Notre Dame. And that’s what we did and that’s why I’ve lived it, so I know these kids can go home and think about it."

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