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Had Notre Dame waited, they don't get him.
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It’s not abnormal, though declining, for the HC to be a playcaller.
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I think 2 factors: 1) with the early signing day Freeman had to do a lot of recruiting when he could have been watching film, and 2) I think he wanted to give Elston a shot at it as a tryout. Obviously it didn't work.
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role in the offense?
My take on this does differ be it offense or defense, but varies by situation.
In your example of the HC being the OC in essence, I'm ok with it if 1) he has a great DC that he trusts so that him focussing primarily on offense doesn't short the defense at all 2) he has at least enough understanding and confidence on the defensive side of the ball, to step in and check people (even the DC) on rare occasions it's needed.
The problem with Freeman being HC and DC isn't because it's the defensive side of the ball, it's because he doesn't have an elite OC and he himself lacks knowledge on the offensive side of the ball. The best thing he can do to get himself closer to being a complete HC is to get spooled up on offense at warp speed...I think him dual hatting it as HC/DC at this point in time would severely stunt his growth as a HC. Right now he should focus on learning to be a "HC" and getting up to speed with his offensive understanding, and leave the defense to the very best DC he can hire.
Down the road, when his offensive knowledge and confidence has grown to the point where in a game like the Fiesta Bowl he is able to go to the OC and say 'nope, this ain't working, offense is cold and we've used that guy all season to give us a spark in these situations...get him in there next series!' if at that point he still wants to dual hat it as HC/DC, then knock your socks off. But he showed in Fiesta he's not ready for that at this point.
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In my opinion anyway.
Not to mention Head Coach.
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however.
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robbed him of that full opportunity.