Everybody's giving each other high fives over the acquisition of Freeman, and rightfully so.
However, his fate could rest squarely on the fate of Luke Fickell at Cincy. Already, Fickell is one of the hottest coaches around. He turned down the head job at MSU two years ago, but it's almost impossible that he'll remain at Cincy after one more big year.
His difference making QB, Desmond Ridder, has already said that he'll be back. His schedule is upgraded: at Indiana and at ND, back to back ( of course, we know that Big Game Brian would never lose to Cincy ).
Anyway, if, most likely " when ", Fickell lands a head coaching job, Marcus Freeman is a slam dunk to be the HC at Cincy. He got big money to coach at ND, but he'll get a lot more as a HC at Cincy.
So, a year from now, we could be in the search again for a new DC.