Success certainly catches plenty of attention. It's the reason coach Luke Fickell's name has surfaced repeatedly with open coaching vacancies over the past couple of years.

That hasn't slowed. But the other name that's continued to gain traction is defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. At 33, Freeman was a finalist and interviewed weeks ago for the Illinois head coaching job. And as Cincinnati's defense continues to be among the best nationally and Freeman continues to haul in top-ranked recruits, his name will continue to surface.

On Tuesday, Freeman acknowledged his desire to one day be a head coach. But he also didn't tip his hand on his immediate future, past with the Bearcats and continuing to build the program.

"To sit here and say you don't enjoy those opportunities, man, that's a lie," Freeman said. "Everybody enjoys some reward or accolade or some opportunity. But I know the reason why we've been successful. Sometimes you want to stand in front and say it's because of me. I know it's because of guys like Darrick Forrest, our seniors who have worked their tails off, Coach Fickell who has been an unbelievable leader for me for many, many years. The thing I've learned about Coach Fickell is loyalty, working where your butt is. Work where your butt is. Don't worry about other things that you don't control. The best thing I can do, the only thing I can do is, is work as hard as I can, right where my butt is, at the University of Cincinnati.

"Those opportunities come. At some point, I've always said, I want to be a head coach. Every decision I make is understanding that as long as this doesn't hurt me as a chance to get the opportunity to be a head coach, then I'm good."

Check out the full Zoom press conferences of Freeman and Forrest above.