the recruits and players were publicly and privately pushing for Freeman to be the next HC. If he wasn't hired their recruiting class probably would've started to fall apart and some players would've even hit the portal. their class and team should remain intact now.
but this is a huge gamble. guy is super young and has never been a head coach anywhere, let alone at a high profile program like ND. he's either going to fail miserably or be very successful. don't see any in between.