Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman knows what it's like to be constantly asked questions about his team's performance. This week, he got to feel what it was like to be on the other side of the microphone when he asked a reporter some hard-hitting questions about children's flag football.
Freeman's son plays for the team coached by Irish Illustrated's Tim O'Malley, so he took the opportunity to ask questions during a press conference the reporter attended.
"My turn?" Freeman said from the podium, which led to laughter in the room in anticipation of what was about to happen. "Second/third-grade championship game, two trips to the red zone, zero points. One play was a reverse pass that was intercepted in the red zone, you were the offense coordinator on there? Thoughts on the red zone play calling?"
O'Malley answered the question in a professional way, and Freeman seemed happy with the answer. But he still had one more question, and this one was about his son, Nico.
"Last question," Freeman said. 'There was a Nico Freeman in that same game that had a long run that was negated by only having one flag on. Whose responsibility is it to make sure the young man has two flags on?"
O'Malley did not back down from this question either.
"It would be the guy in the huddle, which would be me but you might be able to blame coach Stanley," the reporter said.
To that, Freeman joked that he is passing the blame and should own it. O'Malley then called him out for not asking about the fourth and fifth grade's "thrilling" championship game. Freeman laughed and congratulated the flag football coach.
"I was going to finish with congratulations on your two championship wins yesterday," Freeman said. "Head coaches get the credit sometimes when they deserve it and don't deserve it but congrats on two wins… I appreciate that. That was a lot of fun yesterday."
Freeman asked some good questions, but he is not likely to switch careers to journalism any time soon. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 14 in the nation with a 6-2 record and are fresh off a 48-20 win over USC.