Marcus Freeman rebuilt Notre Dame into an elite powerhouse, and naturally, the NFL came calling. But he agreed to a new contract with the Irish, aiming for a national title. Brady Langmann outlined all these in an article in Esquire US. While the profile piece is titled “How Marcus Freeman Tamed the Wild West of College Football,” the cover of the magazine featuring Freeman stole the spotlight.

Though his shoot for their April/May 2026 “Mavericks of Sports” issue generated significant buzz. Following the release of the shoot on April 14, 2026, Freeman faced plenty of good-natured roasting from his family and players. During his Thursday appearance on Josh Pate’s College Football Show, Freeman spoke about their response.

“I love this. Like I often say, I have two safe places. And I’ll tell you what that means. I say my home is in this football facility. And when I mean ‘safe place,’ that means that they treat you like a normal person,” said Freeman. “My role at home as a husband and a father, this is my responsibility. But they treat you truly like a normal person.”

“And so when you’re a part of a family, and you’re supposed to be this head football coach, and you’re on the Esquire, it gives you some cr-p, man,” continued the Irish coach. “It’s like, I don’t know if you saw that Kevin Hart roast. They were roasting me. But that’s what family does.”

In that cover, Freeman wasn’t in his standard sideline Under Armor gear. He swapped it for luxury fashion. Zackery Michael photographed the Fighting Irish head coach, styled by Alfonso Fernandez Navas. Freeman’s outfits include a jacket, a high-fashion modeling pivot, which media outlets noted signals the end of traditional stuffiness. But the Irish head coach admitted that he knew he was going to “hear about it” from his players.

During his appearance on the 3xOptionShow, QB CJ Carr joked that while the “GQ look” photos hadn’t been pasted up in the locker room yet, they were absolutely “on the way” to be used as fuel to tease him. However, the coach takes all these positively and accepts that if he were in their place, he would do the same.

“If one of our players was on the cover of Esquire, I’m going to be roasting them, too. That’s the fun part about being in this building with guys that you love and you trust and you have a true connection with because we’re allowed to make fun of each other,” added Freeman. “We’re allowed to be a family, and we’re also allowed to have clear expectations for each other. But yeah, there was a fair amount of roasting going on.”

While the internet has had its fun laughing at the intense modeling poses, sports analysts note that the buzz proves Freeman has successfully made his program look ‘cool.’ However, the main response to his Esquire cover came from his daughter.

Marcus Freeman’s daughter on the Esquire cover

While Marcus Freeman has three daughters, Bria, Siena, and Capri, one of his daughters found the cover picture a bit weird. During his appearance on Josh Pate’s show, the Notre Dame head coach revealed that lovely conversation.

“Definitely when those pictures came out, I think a couple guys would walk by my office, posing with their hand behind me like the same thing my daughter did at home,” said Freeman.

“She said, ‘Dad, I just got to ask you about why you had your hand behind your head. Did you choose to do that, or did they ask you to?” I said, ‘Well, they told me to do that. Your daddy doesn’t know what to do.’ But I love that. I love that we can have those types of interactions.”

Aside from this fun thing, there’s no doubt Freeman’s effort to modernize the Irish amid the chaos of NIL and the portal continues.