Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman or Penn State’s James Franklin will become the first Black coach to lead a team into the national title game at college football’s highest level.

Either Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, left, or Penn State head coach James Franklin, posing with the Orange Bowl trophy on Wednesday in Dania Beach, Fla., will make history by reaching the College Football Playoff championship game. It’s taken 17 years, but college football is finally having its Super Bowl 41 moment.

Penn State’s James Franklin and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman are the first nonwhite coaches to reach the playoff semifinals. Hiring shifts suggest they won’t be the last.

In college basketball, the scene of an African American coach cutting down the nets on their way to a national title is not new, even if it is still a relative rarity. John

which is more than double the schools that have a chance to play in the College Football Playoff. Basketball also had Thompson, Temple's John Chaney, Nolan Richardson and other top Black coaches ...