Guilty pleasure? Maybe, but Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman still enjoys pro wrestling
ATLANTA — Long before he became Notre Dame’s football coach, Marcus Freeman loved professional wrestling.
He still enjoys it, taking his family to a “Friday Night SmackDown” card in Chicago last June.
“I grew up watching it,” Freeman said at Saturday’s media day ahead of the CFP Championship against Ohio State on Monday night. “I liked it.”
What was the attraction for the young man from Huber Heights, Ohio?
“I don’t know — the characters?” said Freeman, who turned 39 on Jan. 10. “I think at different phases you enjoy different things. When I was young, everything was real. You ended up idolizing the Hulk Hogans and Ultimate Warriors and all those guys.”
James Laurinaitis, Freeman’s fellow star linebacker at Ohio State two decades ago and now the Ohio State linebackers coach, grew up around the sport as the son of WWE Hall of Famer Joe Laurinaitis, aka “Road Warrior Animal.”
Two of Laurinaitis’ uncles, John and Marcus, were pro wrestlers as well,
“As I got to go to some WrestleManias with James — I can’t remember how many — you got to know some people,” Freeman said. “When I found out the son of the Animal was coming in (as an Ohio State recruit), I was a fan. I’m a wrestling fan.”
Joe Laurinaitis died in 2020 at age 60. James Laurinaitis’ first job in coaching was as a graduate assistant in 2022 on Freeman’s first coaching staff at Notre Dame.
The two still talk every couple of weeks, Laurinaitis said Saturday, and the bond remains strong. Their wives and children “know each other really well,” Freeman said.
“He’s still M-Free to me,” Laurinaitis said.
Freeman’s eldest son Vinny is a junior wrestling standout who also plays football as a safety at Penn High School.
“If we can get to a wrestling event and I can take my kids there, we try to,” Freeman said. “Now it’s about seeing your kids happy. And if my kids want to go see wrestling, as a father I would try to do that.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
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