Even though he’s only in his second full season as Notre Dame coach, expectations remain high for [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag]. In fact, the high expectations for the 2023 Irish put him on everyone’s radar. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s one of 21 coaches to be named to the Dodd Trophy Preseason Watch List. No coaching award is bigger in college football.
During the season, there will be a midseason watch list differing from the preseason list to some degree. There will be a final list at the end of the regular season before the winner is announced at the Peach Bowl as it always is. Brian Kelly is the lone Irish coach to earn this hardware, doing so in 2018.
The following coaches who also are on the watch list will face the Irish in 2023: Dabo Swinney of Clemson, Ryan Day of Ohio State, Dave Clawson of Wake Forest and Dave Doeren of NC State.
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