Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman felt the need to clarify recent statements he made where he was seemingly comparing Notre Dame academics to Ohio State academics.
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports recently wrote an article quoting Freeman as effectively dismissing Ohio State as a school where you can take online classes as opposed to Notre Dame.
Appearing on 97.1 The Fan, Freeman – an Ohio State alum – said he was misquoted by Dodd. He added that he’s proud of his degrees from Ohio State, but still believes that Notre Dame has greater academic rigors.
“I wanted to set the record straight. I was misquoted by Dennis Dodd in this article, and key words were missing from the quote that upset a lot of people that I care about,” Freeman said. “I’m very proud of my two degrees from Ohio State. I would never discredit the quality of education those degrees represent. I was just specifically really talking about the academic rigors of Notre Dame.”
Ohio State fans don’t see these comments as an apology though. Some are calling it a distinction without a difference while others are saying that Freeman should just own up to it:
Marcus Freeman claimed to have written down what he actually said in his interview with Dennis Dodd. But it’s hard to really see a distinction:
“There study habits are formulated every day. You can’t cheat academics at Notre Dame. If I didn’t go to class at Ohio State, 60,000 students. Cincinnati, another big public school, there’s 40,000 students. If you don’t go to class, okay, take some online classes, show up at your final. At Notre Dame, you’re forced every day to go to class. But it formulates this work capacity, this learning capacity,” Freeman said.
Freeman played at Ohio State for five years under Jim Tressel and spent a year as a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes before going off on his own.
Ohio State and Notre Dame will face off for only the seventh time ever on September 3.
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