iStockphoto / Tork Mason/Green Bay Press-Gazette
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman waits to take the field with his team before a game against Wisconsin on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Notre Dame won the game, 41-13. A stock image of a black marker has also been added to the photo.
Does Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman use a marker to make his hairline look fuller than it actually is when in public?
Those were the allegations levied against the Fighting Irish head coach ahead of their blowout victory over Wisconsin on Sunday, and it appears that the 40-year-old has already fessed up to the truth.
Freeman joined the “Not Just Football” podcast with Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Casey Heyward during the offseason, and his fellow Ohio State Buckeye alum addressed the elephant in the room.
Does Marcus Freeman look at people in the eyes with a straight face and say he doesn’t paint on his hairline?? https://t.co/sb0cnLL7qt
— Bryan (@BryanMoMav15) September 7, 2026
Does Marcus Freeman Really Fill In His Hairline With Marker
The episode involving Freeman came out in July, and Heyward wasn’t afraid to do some hard-hitting journalism.
“Okay, I’ve gotta ask this,” he began. “We’ve asked a lot of different coaches over the time about their quirks. Marcus, I’ve gotta ask about the hair. It has its own story … what’s going on up there?”
Freeman was then extremely open about the situation in his response (at the 53:40 mark of the video below).
“It’s my hair, man,” he said at first, before then revealing his secret. “Now, you know, you can put a little magic in there to keep the line sharp … my man Julio tries to keep me sharp.”
A “little” magic, sure…
Funny enough, Freeman isn’t even the most high-profile name in the sports world to get caught filling in his hairline artificially this year. Former Boston Celtics star and new Philadelphia 76ers forward Jaylen Brown had not one, but two incidents of wiping his fake hairline off on opposing players during the previous NBA season.
“I blame Boston. 10 years of media, stress, championships. This is y’all fault,” Brown joked of his hair loss.
Losing your hair can be difficult. But you can’t fight biology. If you’re not going to fly to Turkey and have an actual hair transplant, you just gotta let it go.
Otherwise, you end up, like Freeman, with a comically fake-looking hairline.