Sports
Marcus Freeman’s moment is significant for Black coaches: ‘It gives us validation’
Minutes after Notre Dame beat Georgia to clinch a berth in the College Football Playoff semifinals against Penn State earlier this month, Tremaine Jackson’s phone buzzed.
“Well, we’re guaranteed one,” the text message read.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and Penn State coach James Franklin would be facing off in the Orange Bowl, assuring that a Black coach would advance to the national title game for the first time in history.
Jackson, 41, who was hired as Prairie View A&M head coach in December, has found himself trading texts and phone calls with fellow Black coaches at the start of every season, wondering who can be the one who coaches his team to the pinnacle.
“We look at the guys who have real opportunities and say who can it be?” Jackson said. “And as the season goes along, you’re all like, ‘Hey, I’m pulling for him.’”
Freeman, whose father is Black and mother is Korean, beat Franklin’s Penn State team for the right to make history. His Fighting Irish meet Ohio State on Monday night in Atlanta for the championship.
Standing on the stage after the Orange Bowl, ESPN reporter Molly McGrath used her third question of four to ask Freeman: “Coach, I know you’re all about team, but I want to give a moment for everyone here to be able to celebrate you, because you are the first Black head coach to go to a national championship game in college football.”
The crowd cheered.
“Just hearing that response alone, how much does this mean to you?”
“I don’t ever want to take attention away from the team. It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, White, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this. But this ain’t about me. This is about us. We’re going to celebrate what we’ve done. Because it’s something special.”
“It is an honor and I hope all coaches, minorities, Black, Asian, white, it doesn’t matter, great people continue to get opportunities to lead young men like this.”
Marcus Freeman on becoming the first Black and Asian American head coach to make the FBS national championship 👏 pic.twitter.com/KHMksJUNdK
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025
Clips of the exchange almost immediately went viral. The video posted by ESPN alone has 2.6 million views on X.
Much of the response there and elsewhere the clip was posted praised Freeman and criticized McGrath and ESPN for the question. Some believed ESPN was injecting race into a moment where it shouldn’t be present.
Black coaches across the sport can tell you why it should be.
“We’re talking about it because it’s real. What are you pushing when you’re telling me I shouldn’t be talking about this?” said Van Malone, the assistant head coach, defensive pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach at Kansas State, who has worked with a variety of minority coach associations and serves as the CFO of the Minority Coaches Advancement Association.
“It’s a really, really massive deal,” said Archie McDaniel, who coaches linebackers at Illinois and serves as president of the Minority Coaches Advancement Association. “For me personally, it’s monumental.”
Said Jackson: “When you realize we’ve been playing football since the 1860s, you just go, man, look how far we’ve come. I’m rooting for Marcus like hell. Because it gives us validation.”
Across all levels of college football since it began in 1869 — FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA — only seven Black coaches are believed to have coached a game that could have clinched a national title.
Rudy Hubbard won a Division I-AA title at Florida A&M in 1978.
Mike London, who won an FCS title in 2008 at the University of Richmond, is the only coach to hoist a national title trophy somewhere other than at an HBCU.
Jackson, hired in 2022 as the first Black coach in Valdosta State history, led his program to the Division II national title game last month and lost. He parlayed his work into the job at Prairie View A&M, a historically Black university that competes at the FCS level.
In his almost 20 years as a coach, McDaniel has lost count of how many times he’s heard it. He’ll sit down with a player and talk about life after football. Lots of them bring up coaching, but he’ll hear a familiar phrase from his Black players.
“I would love to be a head coach,” McDaniel said they tell him. “But I don’t know if that’s really possible.”
Currently, 18 of the 134 (13.4 percent) FBS programs have a Black head coach. In the SEC, that number is zero. The ACC has two. Deion Sanders is the only Black coach in the Big 12. Four Big Ten coaches are Black.
One answer as to why there are so few Black coaches in a sport played predominantly by African Americans is that the history of college football is the history of America. Schools and conferences didn’t integrate until the 1960s and ’70s amid the civil rights movement.
The Bowl Championship Series debuted in 1998. Five years later, Mississippi State made Sylvester Croom the first Black head coach in SEC history. Twenty-two years after that moment, the league has four additional programs at 16 and one fewer Black head coach.
Opportunities are rare. Opportunities at good schools that are capable of reaching the national championship game are even rarer. Since 2000, the 48 spots in the national championship game have been occupied by just 17 programs. Seven of those have had a Black full-time head coach not in an interim role at some time in their history.
Much of the reason Freeman’s moment means so much to Black coaches in the sport is because they understand the math. They also know of playing the political game, Jackson said. Many don’t want to speak out about diversity publicly, Malone said.
“The older crowd never thought they’d see it,” Jackson said. “The younger crowd expects to see it and thinks it’s easy to get there.”
McDaniel said that a few years ago the Minority Coaches Advancement Association counted the number of minority head coaches by hand at the more than 500 programs at every level of the sport. They found 45.
“I’m a numbers guy. All I look at are numbers. And numbers and opportunity have a direct reflection on one another,” he said.
The National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches — founded by Maryland coach Mike Locksley in 2020 — works to expand schools’ applicant pools when openings arise and point them to candidates that might not be on their radar. One such effort from the group, which has over 2,000 members, paired up-and-coming coaches with athletic directors for an 18-month mentorship program, according to Raj Kudchadkar, executive director of the NCMFC. Freeman was paired with Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez.
Notre Dame promoted Freeman from defensive coordinator in December 2021 after Brian Kelly left for LSU.
In an open letter to Notre Dame shortly after he was hired, Freeman addressed it more openly than he has during this Playoff run.
“Being a part of this coalition has been an important reminder that: Hey, you are a representation of a lot of people. And that’s what I want to be. I want to be a representation, but also more than that I want to be a demonstration,” Freeman wrote. “I want to be a demonstration of what someone can do, and the level they can do it at, if they are given the OPPORTUNITY. Because that’s what is needed: opportunity. We need more minorities to get the opportunity to interview — and we need more minorities to get the opportunity to do a job that they can have success in.”
Multiple coaches pointed to Black head coaches Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith going head-to-head in the Super Bowl in 2007 — Dungy became the first Black head coach to be crowned the NFL’s champion when his Indianapolis Colts won — and noted that Monday night might be remembered similarly, especially if Freeman’s Irish pull the upset.
“What this moment provides is hope for a lot of people that have had a lot of moments of being discouraged,” McDaniel said. “It’s really hard at times to imagine yourself accomplishing something that has literally never been done.”
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Sports
Super Bowl champion Joe Theismann explains why Commanders are poised to bounce back from disappointing season
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Super Bowl champion Joe Theismann, who spent his entire career with the then-Washington Redskins, is excited for the Commanders this season despite an underwhelming season last year.
Last season, the Commanders went 5-12 after making the NFC Championship in 2024. Theismann, 76, said the team ran out of gas last season as they dealt with injuries.
“It was a lot of injuries in key places last year. The defense, I think, was very susceptible in certain areas,” Theismann told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “With Bobby (Wagner) getting older now, obviously, we just sort of ran out of gas. 17 games is a lot of football games, right? I mean, that that’s a lot of wear and tear on your body. I don’t care how young you think you are, your body’s going to tell you you’re not that young.”
Jayden Daniels of the Washington Commanders looks on from the sidelines after leaving the game during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., on Dec. 7, 2025. (Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images)
The Commanders defense struggled last season, giving up 26.5 points per game, which was 27th in the NFL. The team addressed their porous defense in the NFL Draft, drafting Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles with the No. 7 overall pick.
“Our number one pick is going to be something special going forward,” Theismann said. “I think we added some really great pieces on defense.”
The Commanders invested heavily in their defense. Former Los Angeles Chargers pass rusher Odafe Oweh (four-year, $100 million), former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal (three-year, $24.75 million), and former Houston Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle (three-year, $24 million) were among their key free agent additions.
Star wide receiver Terry McLaurin missed the majority of the Commanders’ offseason program due to a contract holdout, and Theismann pointed out he will be an active participant in this year’s program.
SUPER BOWL CHAMPION JOE THEISMANN WEIGHS IMPACT OF JAXSON DART-ABDUL CARTER TRUMP CONTROVERSY ON LOCKER ROOM
Ohio State Buckeyes linebacker Sonny Styles gets into position during the 2025 Cotton Bowl quarterfinal game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 31, 2025. (Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)
The Commanders made a change at offensive coordinator after mutually agreeing to part ways with Kliff Kingsbury. The Commanders promoted David Blough to replace Kingsbury, and Theismann noted how the offense will be called differently.
“I think David Blough will call the games a little differently than Kliff did. A Little more play action, a little more under center. And this is what Jayden (Daniels) had a chance to work on while he was not participating in the games at the end of the season. So, he’s a little bit ahead of the curve when it comes to that as well,” Theismann said.
Daniels was limited to just seven games due to injury last season, giving him the opportunity to get a head start on a new system late in the season.
Theismann did note that while the Commanders got better, the rest of the NFC East got better as well.
“The division itself has improved. The Giants got better. I think the coaching change makes a difference. Jaxson Dart is coming into another year. Defensively, they really didn’t play to the talent that they have,” Theismann said. “The Cowboys added defensive talent. They needed some help there. The Eagles are the Eagles; they’re not going away. I mean, everybody is trying to bust on Jalen (Hurts) and all he does is show up and do the job and win football games.”
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Former player Joe Theismann speaks during the announcement of the Washington Football Team’s name change to the Washington Commanders at FedExField in Landover, Md., on Feb. 2, 2022. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Theismann played in the NFL for 12 seasons, spending his whole career with the then-Washington Redskins. He was named the league MVP in 1983 and made the Pro Bowl twice.
He led the Redskins to the Super Bowl in 1982, when they beat the Miami Dolphins 27-17 in Super Bowl XVII. In his career, Theismann completed 56.7% of his passes for 25,206 yards with 160 touchdowns and 138 interceptions.
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Theismann will be competing in the American Century Championship from July 10-12 at Edgewood Golf Course in Lake Tahoe. The tournament will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
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Jennifer Cohen has heard her peers this spring lament the precarious state of college football, with the College Football Playoff format in flux, the College Sports Commission under fire and the current model of college athletics hanging by a proverbial thread. As athletic director at USC, Cohen understands the reasons for their doom and gloom.
There’s little clarity about where things stand in college athletics right now, let alone where they’re going. Plus, it has never cost more to run an athletic department — or a football program, with the price tag of rosters exceeding $40 million this season — in part because of name, image and likeness rights.
“There’s no doubt that this last year’s been frustrating, and that’s because we tried to fly a plane and build a plane at the same time,” Cohen told The Times last week. “So it’s certainly not going swimmingly, right?”
Before discussing all that’s wrong with the current college sports landscape, Cohen wants to remind everyone that it hasn’t all been bad.
“It’s important to talk about what are the positives that came from what’s happened,” Cohen said.” And from my perspective, student athletes have benefited now more than ever, you know?”
At USC, Cohen has managed to steer the athletic department through the chaos. As costs have risen exponentially with the advent of revenue sharing, Cohen says department revenue at USC is up almost 60% over a three-year span, sponsorship values have doubled and USC donors have poured money into the Trojan Athletic Fund, which is up 707% since she started.
Jennifer Cohen, left, and university president Carol Folt, right, flash the “V for Victory” hand sign during a news conference in 2023 introducing Cohen as USC’s new athletic director.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
And later this summer, USC will open a $200-million football facility — a rarity in an age when such spending has more often taken a backseat.
None of that is to say USC is immune to the coming financial crunch in college sports.
“We also have to manage expenses, and we’re trying to do that and still support what we think is part of our DNA, which is [keeping all] 23 programs,” Cohen said. “As you look at the financial benefits that football brings to this place, the more you’re gonna take those revenues from football and put it back into football and to football student athletes versus other programs, you’re gonna feel the pinch. And so we’ve tried to mitigate that with new strategies on revenue generation.”
But what about when football rosters costs balloon to $50 million … or $60 million? What about $100 million?
“Hopefully not,” Cohen said. “We’ve gotta match roster spends with revenues and, and, and, and how we run a business.”
“I don’t think there’s one simple answer to this, and I do think that we are at a point where we’ve got to figure out as an industry, how do we do this in a smart way and not just let our competitiveness get the best of us? But that’s hard when football winning is the only way that you pay your bills.”
The Times sat down with Cohen last week to discuss the state of affairs in college football and USC’s athletic department. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
With college football in such an uncertain place, do you feel like there needs to be some form of outside intervention? Or some major governance change that would help solve these problems?
“I think at some point in time we’re gonna have to find something. I mean, obviously we’re a year in. So I think first we all need to look in the mirror — myself included, as a leader — and say, ‘What did we do in this new system that worked? And what have we done in this new system that doesn’t work? And the question becomes, ‘Can you get everybody across the Power Four [conferences] to do that exercise and be honest enough to find some sort of solutions together? Or do you need to start looking at other solutions? I, for one, fully believe in federal support. I understand why it’s needed. I’m somebody that spent a lot of time on that earlier in my career, and, you know, the patchwork situation of laws is not fair from a competitive standpoint. It’s also very confusing to student athletes and to their families and to our coaches. But I am absolutely not holding my breath for that.
Eric Musselman and athletic director Jennifer Cohen hold a jersey with Musselman’s name during his introductory news conference as the Trojans’ basketball coach in 2024.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“The most important place where I’m spending my energy is figuring out how we are going to win in whatever environment that we’re dealt. Because I don’t have as much control in my current role to solve for all of those national issues. I am 24/7 thinking about how USC is going to compete in whatever environment we’re in. And I feel really confident that we will. But as somebody that loves college sports, I also think that we are gonna have to find a different alternative than how we’re operating right now to have a sustainable and durable model.”
USC seems to be in a really strong place with NIL, stronger certainly than when you were hired. How would you say that USC has gotten to that point?
“ When we got here, my mantra was if you’re not ahead, you’re gonna get behind. And so there were a lot of areas that we focused on to just try to improve and get ahead, and NIL was one of them. There’s a natural ability here to be really competitive in NIL — especially in the third-party space with brands. You know, we were just looking at some data the other day just in this new CSC-NIL Go model. Our brand deals are valued 2 1/2 times more than the national average, and I think that really speaks to both USC, the city of L.A., and obviously the quality of the student athletes that we have. And I think it’s just been a strategy of embracing the new era, recognizing that it’s really cool to be able to have student athletes benefit in that new era, and it’s important, and that you have to be competitive in that space.
“And so I think it was just a matter of having intentionality in a plan and getting all of our stakeholders aligned around that plan, and it was an urgent matter to keep trying to get ahead in that space. Because if we weren’t, other people were. That’s how we’ve been tackling it, and so we’re really proud of how robust the program is now. But we’re gonna have to keep getting better at it. We’re gonna have to keep evolving.”
The Big Ten has come out in favor of expanding the College Football Playoff to 24 teams. What are your thoughts on that?
“We’re unified as a league around 24, there’s no doubt about that. And obviously that’s gaining traction in some of the other conferences as well. And so where we’re unified, USC’s gonna support that. I think that there’s merits in the 24 model. I also think there’s plenty of fair questions around that. It has to make sense for everybody. So that’s kind of where we stand on it.
USC athletic direct Jennifer Cohen wears a headset with microphone as she’s interviewed before a football game in 2023.
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“I think personally speaking, I would have absolutely no problem staying at 12. I think we’ve experienced a lot of change in college sports and in college football. I think we need to understand how that change is impacting not just us, but our fans and others. And so if we end up at 12, I’m confident that we’re gonna find our way in that 12 every single year. And again, uh, that’s where my focus is. I mean, I am nonstop thinking about how USC athletics can compete in whatever model that we’re in, and I feel really good about the plans that we are developing and will continue to develop because we’re gonna have to keep changing to, to make sure that we’re competitive.
Being that it’s now Year 5, is it fair to say that the expectation is that Lincoln [Riley] needs to take USC to the Playoff this year?
“The expectation has always been the same. That’s the thing, that’s the reason why I came here, is that the standard is high. We do expect to make the playoff. We do expect to have a championship run. We do expect to be competing for championships every single year. I think that’s what’s awesome about USC, is that that’s what we all expect of it. And I know that I’m not the only one that expects that. I know our fans expect that. I know that he expects that. And so I really like this team. I really like the kids that we brought in. I love the returners. I love the leadership of this team.
“We’ve got some really outstanding older young men in this program that get it, that have been through a lot and really care about this place and this program. The young guys are awesome. They’re really challenging the older guys. So I feel really good about the talent level of this team, and I feel really good about what Lincoln’s done. I think with this staff, I think we have a highly competitive staff. I think we have a really experienced staff. And then you can’t dismiss what Chad’s accomplished. You know? I think that that’s been the benefit of bringing in not just Chad, but an entire front office staff, taking the pressure off of Lincoln, taking the pressure off of the other coaches so that they can be at their best. I mean, he’s been really energized about that and really focused on taking the strengths that he has. So yeah, the expectation, I mean, we haven’t been shy about that. We expect to win, and I, I feel confident that we’re going to.”
Sports
PSG Champions League victory causes chaos in Paris, with 45 arrested and fires set across city
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At least 45 people were arrested in Paris on Saturday after celebrations over Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory descended into chaos, with fires set, businesses vandalized and crowds clashing with police.
Police detained dozens of people as crowds gathered across the French capital following PSG’s victory.
Large crowds gathered near the Arc de Triomphe after the match, with some fans setting off flares and blaring car horns, according to reports from The Associated Press.
Police worked to contain thousands of people gathered along the Champs-Élysées.
POLICE ARREST FIGHT SUSPECTS AT ISRAEL-FRANCE SOCCER GAME DAYS AFTER ATTACKS ON ISRAELI FANS IN AMSTERDAM
A car burns and fireworks explode as police watch PSG supporters celebrate in Paris, Saturday, May 30, 2026, after the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal that’s being played in Budapest. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
According to authorities, a group of individuals attempted to storm a police station in the French capital late Saturday.
The Paris police prefecture said some people vandalized shops, set fires and torched vehicles during the unrest.
A bakery and a restaurant were damaged during the disturbances, police said.
HUNDREDS OF MIGRANTS EVICTED FROM PARIS THEATER AFTER SQUATTING THERE FOR MONTHS
Paris St Germain fans celebrate winning the UEFA Champions League. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor)
Authorities also said a crowd briefly blocked the main ring road surrounding the city before police dispersed the gathering.
One police officer was injured, according to police.
As of 10 p.m. local time, police had arrested at least 45 people.
Celebrations erupted across Paris after PSG defeated Arsenal in a dramatic Champions League final, securing one of the club’s biggest achievements on the European stage.
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A car burns as PSG supporters celebrate in Paris, Saturday, May 30, 2026 after the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Violent celebrations also followed PSG’s previous Champions League triumph. After the club won the title last year, 201 people were injured in Paris and more than 500 arrests were made across France.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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