Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman has avoided giving notable ‘quotes’ about facing his alma mater in the College Football Playoff National Championship game Monday night.

He doesn’t want the story to be about Marcus Freeman versus Ohio State.

But ask him about James Laurinaitis and you can get Freeman to let the guard down a little bit.

Freeman and Laurinaitis were teammates at Ohio State and their friendship grew from there. They were each in the other’s wedding party. When Laurinaitis broke into coaching, Freeman brought him on at Notre Dame as a graduate assistant. Now Laurinaitis is the linebackers coach at their alma mater.

“You talk about a guy that you care about more than the game of football, and we have a personal relationship,” Freeman explains. “Our wives know each other really well. Our kids know each other really well. He’s a friend, and at the end of the day you care about friends.”

Laurinaitis was a 3-time All American with the Buckeyes and then played eight seasons in the NFL but he still never reached the fame of his late father Joe.

“I grew up a wrestling fan, and he came in the year after I got to Ohio State and when I found out the son of Animal was coming in, I was a fan,” Freeman says.

‘Animal’ was one half of the most decorated tag team in professional wrestling history, the Road Warriors.

“Then we did go to a lot of WrestleManias together,” Freeman continued. “I can’t remember how many. But now my kids are fans. If we can get to a wrestling event and I can take my kids there, we try to.”

Before the season, Freeman and his family sat ringside for a Friday Night Smackdown event in Chicago.

“I grew up watching it–I liked it–the characters,” Freeman said when asked what lured him to be a wrestling fan as a kid. “I think at different phases you enjoy different things. When I was young, everything was real. You ended up thinking, idolizing the Hulk Hogans and Ultimate Warriors and all those guys. And then as I got to go to some Wrestlemanias with James, you got to know some people. And now it’s about seeing your kids happy. And if my kids want to go see wrestling, as a father I would try to do that.”

Who knows what the next wrestling event will be that Freeman attends but the Royal Rumble is set for Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in just two weeks. Depending on how Monday night goes, Freeman might be able to stroll into the Royal Rumble with his family as a national champion coach if he chooses to attend.

To do so, he will have to get through one of his best friends first when the Irish lockup with the Buckeyes.

“But when the game starts, the game starts,” Freeman said about putting friendships to the side. “It’s going to be about winning, and I look forward to the opportunity.”

If the Irish do win, perhaps Freeman will have to borrow the catchphrase from Road Warrior Animal to describe the feeling.

“Ohhhh, What a Rush!”