INDIANAPOLIS — Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman is now the first Black and first Asian American coach to lead his team to a national championship game. This major milestone is inspiring local Hoosiers in Central Indiana.
“To be in a national championship, it’s huge,” said Pike Township Head Football Coach Michael Brevard.
Brevard is entering his third season leading the high school team.
He told WRTV that seeing Freeman’s accomplishments helps motivate other coaches who look like him to follow in his footsteps.
“This is just another step in the right direction. That’s at the college level, and the high school level, there’s only a few of us but you got guys in the high school level that are also trending in the right direction,” Brevard said.
Ramon Stallings is another coach inspired by the milestone.
Stallings is heading into his first season as the head football coach and Assistant Athletic Director at George Washington High School.
“It lets young kids that are athletes and young coaches understand that we can not only play football and compete in football and teach football, but we can lead a top program," he said.
Stallings helps run the program with the Athletic Director Scott Hicks, a Notre Dame Alum who also played basketball there.
“I am a proud alum,” Hicks said. “He’s [Freeman] not only inspiring his team but he’s inspiring coaches around the country and young Black men.”
One of those young Black student-athletes is Pike High junior Sean Nash.
“Seeing how they [coaches] change the player’s lives and seeing how they changed my life, it does inspire me to be like, 'Oh yeah I would want to do this in the future,'” Nash told WRTV.
Marcus Freeman’s accomplishment follows Tony Dungy, who became the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl in 2006 with the Indianapolis Colts.
“Hopefully more and more people of color can get opportunities here in Indiana,” Brevard added.
This will be Notre Dame's first appearance in a national championship since 2013.
That game will happen on Monday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m.
