Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua commits to Marcus Freeman – and spend as much as they can

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Pete Bevacqua covered a lot of ground in his first formal press conference since becoming Notre Dame’s full athletic director nine months ago. Aside from a few isolated interviews, Bevacqua has been kept out of the spotlight by the athletic department. After all, there was work to be done managing the upcoming House settlement, signing Marcus Freeman to a contract extension and preparing for the College Football Playoff.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bevacqua was shown his work. Some of it was substantial, with detailed information about what is not in Freeman’s contract extension and is going big on Notre Dame’s commitment if the house settlement goes through. Other parts were Bevacqua playing the role of hype man, showing off the rally towels to be handed out Friday night when Notre Dame kicks off the 12-team CFP against Indiana.

Here’s what we learned from Bevacqua’s nearly 45 minutes in front of the microphone.

Bevacqua didn’t want to wait to commit to Freeman

Bevacqua likes to watch Notre Dame games from the sidelines. It gives him better insight into coaches and players, specifically how Freeman manages his players. As much as he had seen enough of this season in the final box scores, Bevacqua liked what he saw from an operational standpoint in how Freeman runs his shop from the field level.

“The two most visible representatives of Notre Dame are our president and our football coach,” Bevacqua said. “There is no better representative of Notre Dame. He is so authentic, so genuine. Everything that makes Notre Dame different and special, and some would say more difficult, he embraces and uses it as an advantage and as a differentiator.”

Notre Dame signed Freeman to a six-year contract that runs through the 2030 season, with compensation believed to be near the top of the sport, at least among coaches without a national title. Bevacqua said negotiations were straightforward and Freeman wanted assurances Notre Dame would continue to invest in his staff. Unlike some contract extensions that include guarantees for the salary pool of assistants, Notre Dame is already near the top of the market with four-year deals for both coordinators estimated at $2 million annually.

“It wasn’t a matter of catching up because we’re there,” Bevacqua said. “It’s more a question of, ‘Hey, do I have your commitment to stay there?’ And to respond to changes in the market?’ Yes. One hundred percent.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that we keep our foot on the gas. Winning national championships is a priority. I said this to Marcus and we both laughed, we’re both kind of maniacally obsessed with winning a national championship and more in football.”

Freeman’s contract does not have an Ohio State out

It was refreshing to hear a Notre Dame athletic director respond to a specific contract question with a specific answer. Especially when the question was about how the head coach could get out of the contract he has just signed.

In short, Bevacqua was asked if there was any language in Freeman’s deal that would allow him to travel more easily to the NFL or Ohio State, his alma mater, should either of those opportunities arise.

“There are no cutoffs specific to any of the ones you mentioned, the NFL or any other colleges,” Bevacqua said.

It’s not clear what the buyout in Freeman’s extension is, which would allow him to leave if the terms of the contract are met by an NFL franchise or another college. But Bevacqua at least shut down the idea that Freeman could have an escape route built into his new deal.

This was reported by sources in the industry Athletics that while the Chicago Bears had shown interest in the coach, Freeman was not interested in jumping to the NFL at this time. Ohio State already has a head coach, although Ryan Day has lost to Michigan four years in a row. Freeman has made no secret of the fact that he remains a fan of his alma mater and considers former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel a mentor.

Notre Dame has money to spend. And it’s going to use it

Not only did Bevacqua know the date of the hearing that could produce a decision in the House settlement that clears the way for revenue sharing with players (April 7, 2025), but he also knew the time of the hearing (10 a.m.). It’s potentially the next seismic change in college athletics, and one that Bevacqua believes could lead to some stability in the area regarding the NIL, as much as anything is stable in the industry.

And if the House settlement passes, Notre Dame has a plan in place to maximize it.

“We will obviously participate in the house settlement, we will hit the ceiling,” he said. “We want to continue to be very aggressive in what we do in Notre Dame athletics.”

Bevacqua said Notre Dame would share approximately $20.5 million in revenue with its athletes, with a large portion going to football. He wasn’t sure of the exact percentages, only that if there is revenue to share, Notre Dame will share every dollar it can.

Bevacqua said college sports still need federal help to fully stabilize themselves. He recently traveled to Washington, DC to meet with senators on the subject, something Jack Swarbrick did before him. Bevacqua credited the NBC contract extension as being critical to Notre Dame’s fiscal health in revenue sharing. He also ruled out the idea of ​​private equity buying a stake in the athletic department, although he expects that to happen at other programs.

Bevacqua is fine with no. 7 the seed. He would have hated no. 9

There’s an argument that Notre Dame should have been seeded better than No. 7 in the playoffs, given its 10-game winning streak and Texas and Penn State losing over the weekend in the conference championship game. Bevacqua won’t stop you from doing it. He’s just not that interested in listening.

“I wanted to host a playoff game. After that, I didn’t care,” he said. “I watched the show, but I really didn’t care. I think the fact that we were able to host the CFP game here at Notre Dame Stadium, we certainly deserved it.”

Bevacqua has already half-joked that he wants to make this weekend a fixture at Notre Dame Stadium, where the Irish are limited to a cap of No. 5 seeds of CFP rules as written. Swarbrick helped the writer prevent Notre Dame from getting a first-round bye because the Irish can’t win a conference title. Bevacqua is fine with that, though he wasn’t asked what changes the CFP might make in seeing conference champions in the future. Future rule changes could guarantee Notre Dame a bid if it finishes in the top 12 of a 12-team field or the top 14 of a 14-team field.

Boise State and Arizona State both earned first-round byes, with the Sun Devils one of the last teams in the field by virtue of winning the Big 12. Boise State won the Mountain West with its only Top 25 wins against UNLV.

“And whether you have a two-team playoff or a thousand-team playoff, somebody’s going to be disappointed, right? It’s never going to be perfect,” Bevacqua said. “But I think in this system, with conference changes, with all the moving pieces, I think it has been a wonderful success. And people say, did you expect to be the fifth, the sixth, the seventh offspring? Honestly, I really didn’t care. I just wanted to host a playoff game.”

(Top photo: Michael Clubb / South Bend Tribune / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)