Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman scored a historic first goal.

Freeman, whose Fighting Irish won the Orange Bowl college football semifinal game on Thursday, will be the first Black and first Asian American coach to play in the national championship game.

Freeman, a Korean American, reflected on his breakthrough status after the win.

“It’s an honor and I hope that all coaches – minorities, black, Asian, white, whatever, great people – continue to have the opportunity to lead young men in this way,” Freeman told ESPN. “But this isn’t about me. This is about us. We’re going to celebrate what we did because it’s so special.”

Notre Dame defeated Penn State 27-24 on kicker Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal with eight seconds left. The Irish will face the winner of Friday’s semifinal between Ohio State and Texas in the national championship game on Jan. 20.

While the coach spoke briefly about his background after the narrow victory, he was open about his past career. In a personal narrative archive on race created by the school’s Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights, Freeman said his father was in the Air Force and met his mother while she was stationed in South Korea. He said he wasn’t as aware of his mother’s heritage as an Asian immigrant when he was younger. But later he learned to appreciate his heritage.

“I embraced my Korean background. I did taekwondo, a Korean martial art, when I was a kid,” Freeman said. “But I also played sports and embraced my African-American side.”

In a 2021 essay for the Players’ Tribune, Freeman also said he learned discipline from his father’s military background and selflessness from his mother’s experience as an immigrant.

“She’s a Korean woman who fell in love with this American who was stationed in Korea,” Freeman said. “And she left all her comforts at home to raise a family with my father in the United States. She taught me so much about sacrifice and how it can be its own reward.”

Freeman, who turned 39 on Friday, is in his third year as ND’s head coach and has an overall record of 34-9. He was previously the team’s defensive coordinator.