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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has made college football history.
On Thursday (January 9), Freeman's Fighting Irish team defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 27-24 in the Orange Bowl semifinal, securing Notre Dame a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
The win makes Freeman the first Black coach to lead a team into the FBS title game, which is set to kick off on Monday, January 20 in Atlanta, Georgia. Freeman, whose father is Black and mother is South Korean, will also be the first coach of Asian descent to compete in the national championship.
"I've said this before: I don't ever want to take attention away from the team," Freeman said following his Orange Bowl win. "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. But this ain't about me. This is about us. We're going to celebrate what we've done because it's so special."
The CFP National Championship game was guaranteed to feature a Black head coach with James Franklin at the helm of the Nittany Lions. Earlier this week, Franklin spoke about making history with Freeman and the impact that seeing other Black coaches like Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith face off in Super Bowl XLI had on him.
"I remember thinking that, as a coach, how significant that was in the profession and how significant that was for young coaches coming up in the profession to see those guys in that role," Franklin said ahead of the Orange Bowl. "I also remember, at that time, that there was a lot of conversations about, 'Will this impact the profession? Will this impact have earned opportunities for guys?'"
The National Championship will see Notre Dame go head-to-head against the winner of the Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Texas Longhorns game at the Cotton Bowl semifinals on Friday (January 10).
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