SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Pete Bevacqua went into detail in his first formal press conference since being named Notre Dame’s full athletic director nine months ago. Aside from a few one-off interviews, Bevacqua has been kept out of the spotlight by the athletic department. After all, there was still a lot to do: manage the impending deal in the House, sign Marcus Freeman to a contract extension and prepare for the College Football Playoff.

Bevacqua was allowed to show his work on Tuesday afternoon. Some of it was verbose and detailed, what is not on Freeman’s contract extension and on Notre Dame’s commitment if the agreement is reached in the House of Representatives. In other roles, Bevacqua played the role of hype man, showing off the rally towels that will be handed out Friday night when Notre Dame opens the 12-team CFP against Indiana.

Here’s what we learned from Bevacqua’s nearly 45 minutes in front of the microphone.

Bevacqua didn’t want to wait to choose Freeman

Bevacqua enjoys watching Notre Dame games from the sidelines. It gives him better insight into coaches and players, particularly the way Freeman manages his players. As much as he had seen enough of this season in the final box scores, Bevacqua liked what he saw from an operational standpoint, with Freeman running his shop from the field level.

“The two most visible representatives of Notre Dame are our president and our head coach,” Bevacqua said. “There is no better representative of Notre Dame. He is so authentic, so sincere. Everything that makes Notre Dame different and special, and some would say harsher, he embraces and uses it as an advantage and differentiator.”

Notre Dame signed Freeman to a six-year contract that runs through the 2030 season. Compensation is likely to be close to the top of the sport, at least among coaches without national titles. Bevacqua said negotiations were straightforward and Freeman wanted assurances that Notre Dame would continue to invest in its employees. Unlike some contract extensions that include guarantees on the assistants’ salary pool, Notre Dame is already at the top of the market with four-year deals for both coordinators valued at $2 million per year.

“It wasn’t about catching up because we’re there,” Bevacqua said. “It’s more of a question of, ‘Hey, do I have your commitment to stay there?’ And to respond to market changes?’ Yes. One hundred percent.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that we continue to keep our foot on the accelerator. Winning national championships is a priority. I said this to Marcus and we both laughed. We’re both kind of insanely obsessed with winning a national championship and more in football.”

Freeman’s contract does not include an exclusion from Ohio State

It was refreshing to hear a Notre Dame athletic director answer a specific contract question with a specific answer. Especially when it came to the question of how the head coach could get out of the contract he had just signed.

To put it simply, Bevacqua was asked if there was language in Freeman’s contract that would allow him to more easily move to the NFL or Ohio State, his alma mater, should one of those opportunities arise.

“There are no specific carve-outs for the ones you mentioned, the NFL or other colleges,” Bevacqua said.

It’s not clear what the buyout means in Freeman’s extension, which would allow him to leave if the terms of the contract are met by an NFL franchise or another college. But Bevacqua at least dismissed the idea that Freeman could build a way out into his new deal.

Industry sources reported The athlete that although the Chicago Bears had shown interest in the coach, Freeman had no interest in moving to the NFL at the time. Ohio State already has a head coach, even though Ryan Day has lost to Michigan four years in a row. Freeman has made it no secret that he is still a fan of his alma mater and considers former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel a mentor.

Notre Dame has money to spend. And it will spend it

Bevacqua knew not only the date of the hearing that could lead to a decision in the House settlement that paves the way for revenue sharing with the players (April 7, 2025), but also the time of the hearing (10 a.m.). It may be the next seismic shift in college athletics, and Bevacqua believes it could lead to some stability in the NIL field, just as everything in the industry is stable.

And if the House deal goes through, Notre Dame has a plan to maximize it.

“We will of course participate in the agreement in the House of Representatives, we will reach the ceiling,” he said. “We want to continue to be very aggressive in what we do in Notre Dame athletics.”

Bevacqua said Notre Dame would share about $20.5 million in revenue with its athletes, with a large portion going to football. He wasn’t sure about the exact percentages, he just knew that if revenue needed to be shared, Notre Dame would share every dollar.

Bevacqua said college sports still need federal help to fully stabilize. He recently made trips to Washington, D.C. to meet with senators on the issue, something Jack Swarbrick did before him. Bevacqua called the NBC contract extension critical to Notre Dame’s revenue-sharing financial health. He also ruled out the idea of ​​private equity buying a stake in the athletic department, although he expects that will happen with other programs as well.

Bevacqua does well with the No. 7 seed. He would have hated No. 9

There’s an argument that Notre Dame should have been seeded higher than No. 7 in the playoffs, considering its 10-game winning streak and losses to Texas and Penn State in conference championship weekend. Bevacqua won’t stop you from making it. He’s just not that interested in listening.

“I wanted to host a playoff game. After that, I didn’t care,” he said. “I saw the show but I really didn’t care. I think we certainly deserved to be able to host the CFP game here at Notre Dame Stadium.”

Bevacqua has already half-jokingly said he wants to make this weekend a regular event at Notre Dame Stadium, with the Irish limited to a cap of 5th by CFP rules, as written. Swarbrick helped write this one, which keeps Notre Dame from getting a bye in the first round because the Irish can’t win a conference title. Bevacqua agrees, although he wasn’t asked what changes the CFP might make to seeding conference champions in the future. Future rule changes could guarantee Notre Dame a bid if it finishes in the top 12 in a 12-team field or in the top 14 in a 14-team field.

Boise State and Arizona State both received first-round byes, with the Sun Devils one of the last teams in the field due to winning the Big 12. Boise State won the Mountain West, with its only top-25 wins coming against UNLV.

“And whether there’s a two-team playoff or a thousand-team playoff, someone’s going to be disappointed, right? It will never be perfect,” Bevacqua said. “But I think in this system, with the conference changes and all the moving pieces, I think it’s been a wonderful success. And people say: Did you expect to be the fifth, the sixth, the seventh seed? To be honest, I really didn’t care. I just wanted to host a playoff game.”

(Top photo: Michael Clubb / South Bend Tribune / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)