SOUTH BEND — Forty hours after comedian Shane Gillis served as the opening act for country music star Zach Bryan at Notre Dame Stadium, fourth-year coach Marcus Freeman was asked to weigh in on perhaps the program’s most famous superfan since the late Regis Philbin.
“Shane is an awesome human,” Freeman said Monday afternoon at his weekly news conference. “I’ve had a chance to spend some time with him, had a chance to talk to him. He’s got a lot of notoriety just because of who he is and the way he really performs his craft, but we appreciate the support.”
Gillis, who had a controversial turn as ESPYs host in mid-July and has sparred with Nick Saban on “College GameDay,” celebrated with Freeman and his team in the Irish locker room after last year’s season-opening win at Texas A&M.
With the 17th-ranked Aggies heading to South Bend on Saturday night, Gillis has been spotted wearing the gear of A&M’s rival, Texas, on a Bud Light beer commercial that’s been in heavy rotation.
“I haven’t given him a hard time,” Freeman said. “I actually had a chance to watch a little bit of college football, and I saw a commercial pop up where he was wearing a Texas Longhorns shirt. I haven’t given him crap for that yet.”
Freeman and Gillis recently shared the screen in an extended UnderArmour promotional skit that dropped ahead of Notre Dame’s Aug. 31 road loss to Miami.
The web-focused video, with a run time of three minutes and 19 seconds, includes Gillis getting a chance to help Freeman conduct practice — whistle and all — as well as give the pregame address to the team in the Irish home locker room.
Irish defensive end Josh Burnham does a bit of acting himself in the skit, “heckling” Gillis with an icy complaint: “What is this? None of us like it.”
Gillis, who at 37 is a contemporary of the 39-year-old Freeman, even showed up in Notre Dame’s late-week injury report ahead of the top-10 showdown with Miami. According to the school’s mock-official release, Gillis was out for the opener with a “tailgating” injury.
The former Trinity High School offensive tackle from Camp Hill, Pa., was listed as No. 00 and his position as “athlete.”
“We appreciate him and the support he gives our program,” Freeman said. “It’s always good to have somebody like Shane Gillis support your guys. It helps you in recruiting, I guess. Makes us kind of cool, I guess.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman says Shane Gillis connection is ‘kind of cool’
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
