Well, that certainly escalated quickly. In the span of just over 24 hours, Tommy Rees went from being mentioned in the news about interviewing for the Alabama offensive coordinator position, to flying down to Tuscaloosa, and then reportedly accepting the position on Friday evening eastern time.
So ends a topsy-turvy coaching career at Notre Dame for the former Fighting Irish quarterback who remarkably is still only 30 years old and has decades of coaching experience still to come. Will he ever return to South Bend?
Here are a few thoughts on Rees and the future for Notre Dame.
Rees was in Demand
We’ve discussed so many times in the past how and why Tommy Rees was so polarizing as a coach and coordinator at Notre Dame. I distinctly remember when he was first hired by Brian Kelly how I felt it would’ve been better had he spread his wings outside the ND bubble and came back with more experience.
That wasn’t Rees’ plans by any means!
That path certainly didn’t help Rees when it came to his detractors. People outside of Notre Dame had mentioned how coveted, to varying degrees, he was as an offensive mind in the coaching world but a not insignificant chunk of Irish fans flat out refused to believe it. It was all agent talk, or Tommy’s father pulling strings, or some other set of connections in the football world propping him up.
Now, he’s headed to coordinate Alabama, and well, I guess that settles the conversation.
Need a Quarterback Coach Too
I’ll get into it below why I’m not too fussed about the new OC at this moment* and I’ll let others hash out potential candidates. In fact, here’s Jamie Uyeyama doing a good job of just that:
Ehhhhh ’tis the season. My list of potential Notre Dame offensive coordinator candidates to replace Tommy Rees https://t.co/lslLEiLrXW
— Jamie Uyeyama (@jamieuyeyama) February 3, 2023
Whatever the decision, Rees leaving means a new quarterback coach needs to be hired and unless we see more re-shuffling throughout the Notre Dame staff it’ll have to be the job of the new offensive coordinator. That largely comes with the territory these days for most OC’s but not always.
Alabama does need to hire a new defensive coordinator, too. It doesn’t seem likely other coach’s from the Irish staff are heading to Alabama with Rees and we’ll see if the coaching turnover is limited for Notre Dame or if there’s more to come in year 2 of Marcus Freeman. There are some reports Al Golden is being looked at by the NFL again.
The Direction for Freeman
This is fascinating in the sense of Freeman now having more freedom to take the offense in a different direction, should he choose to do that. Despite many attempts to nail down Rees’ philosophy and scheme I think it’s fair to say that he was extremely multiple and worked to the perceived strengths of his personnel instead of developing a more rigid playbook.
Is Freeman looking for something very similar? Will he be keen to mold a more liberal passing attack? Will he be enchanted by building out from the offensive line and tight ends? Is he hoping for a ManBall™ coordinator? Is he looking for someone more experienced to counteract his inexperience as a head coach? How much emphasis will be placed on recruiting?
Jimmy’s & Joe’s
The reality is that recruiting (and retaining players currently on the roster) will be incredibly important in the short-to-medium term as the Freeman era begins to spread its wings. There will be coordinators who can probably do a good job taking care of the Irish offense and running solid gameplans on a week-to-week basis. Those same good coordinators won’t be able to take the Irish to the next level without better players, that’s just the reality.
With Sam Hartman under center, it should be an attractive job for 2023 at least.
The scary part is that an average-to-good coordinator may not move the needle a ton for Notre Dame but a bad coordinator could really torpedo the program in this (somewhat) fragile state. Freeman can probably afford an okay coordinator with a focus on recruiting but simply cannot afford a bad coordinator.
*Unless it’s someone like Paul Chryst. I just don’t see how Notre Dame overcomes their disadvantages by playing that type of unskilled offense with a doorknob of a personality on the recruiting trail.
Well said all around. I’m more intrigued by Rees’ departure than I am concerned, but that could change if the new hire is underwhelming. I’m fascinated by Saban wanting Rees when, in the hard and fast world of statistics, his offenses were never THAT good. I’m fascinated by Rees leaving now and what his goals are. It’s a crazy mix.
I don’t think it is overstating things to say this hire is Freeman’s most important move to date as ND coach. No pressure, Coach.
And it could be a make or break hire. If it’s wrong, it could sink the ship before it gets too far from shore.
If Rees does well for 2 years at Bama, it’ll obviously set up his choice of jobs basically. So I don’t blame Rees at all for going there.
IMO the key for Freeman is avoiding the trap of a hyper-conservative Neanderthal offense that so many former DCs fall into. I have no problem with his plan of being an OL/DL focused program, but that doesn’t and shouldn’t mean we become Iowa or 2001 Ohio State. I fear the specter of Tresselball.
Yes, I do worry about that given him saying before this is a lineman driven program, etc. etc.
Yeah, for being young he’s still a pretty old school Tressel-acolyte type of mentality. It’ll be interesting to see what direction Freeman goes.
I think this is well stated. Overall I liked rees and I thought he had a chance to put together a very good offense next year. I don’t blame him for going to bama (look at the track record of their last 5 oc and compare to nd last 5 oc). I really don’t care about the semantics of was it a lateral move or not. Either way not a great look for him to go be OC elsewhere.
But as you mentioned, statistically the offenses weren’t very good. Even subjectively last year where did the offense perform at or above expectations: clemson, south carolina, BC. Carolina was good but they also could’ve scored 60. and my god there was some cover your eyes offensive games. Just kind of surprised saban wen y’all in on that performance/resume
We beat up Clemson while having fewer than 100 passing yards. The OC doesn’t get to claim that one.
What’s the timeline for a new hire? Is it right in between everything so there’s no exact rush (not that they won’t be trying to go as fast as possible)?
I honestly think this is fine, and not in the dog-with-room-on-fire way. Did any of his offenses overperform? The highest F+ offense in his three years was 17th, which, we had top-17 talent on offense at least the first two years.
How this goes bad is if Hartman decides to follow him, which, early indications are good on that front. Or, like you imply, if they hire somebody who wants to run I-formation football. I’m hopeful neither is the case.
The funniest message board reaction has been people who are shocked that we’re a second-tier program (at best). Like, uh, yes, have you been paying attention to college football for the last 30 years? It’s fine. (Also: did these people miss our head coach leaving for another job last year?). It’s Bama. ND to Bama is an upgrade even if the money is the same.
And now I’m feeling even better about Hartman staying: https://twitter.com/sam_hartman10/status/1621661236470349824?s=46&t=YLAPyDPxawyewWkzSiEzFA
Yeah, I don’t get the “oh no we’re a tier below Bama” reaction. Like… yes? Pretty much everyone is? And even beyond that, and no disrespect to Marcus Freeman, but Saban is the best coach of this era. He wants you to work for him? Of course you say yes! Why would you turn that down?
Yeah, it’s a program that will pay anything, just stockpiles five star talent, and gets the coordinators HC or NFL gigs after two years. It’s not a lateral move.
I’m struggling with making sense of people saying “haha you think ND is on Bama’s level??? No way. This is an upgrade for Rees. Bama is the best of the best.” And then turning around and also saying “but, you know, this isn’t a bad thing for ND, either, because Rees really is not that good.”
So, is the idea that because we as fans care and watch ND games closely, we know something that NICK EFFING SABAN doesn’t???
If the OC job at bama is the first among equals, why was Saban so hot to pick TR? Why not Hartline or whomever else you’ve been hoping to see on ND’s sidelines?
Seems to me, TR IS that good. At the very least, he’s the best available. And, I don’t see how that doesn’t hurt ND. The second tier ND (agree with you there), just lost a top tier coordinator to the best program in the country. Not sure how that can be described as anything but a pretty big L for ND.
A few points:
(1) Nick Saban was considering hiring Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator. Rees also was their fourth or fifth choice. Maybe Saban is trying to challenge himself by raising the degree of difficulty. (That’s a joke, but hard to otherwise explain the Grantham consideration.)
(2) Again, please direct me to the year of his three in charge of the offense where the offense outperformed its talent.
(3) If you’re a successful Alabama coordinator, you get the Tennessee or Georgia jobs. If you’re a successful ND coordinator, you get the Vanderbilt job.
(4) If a Rees offense underperforms it’s talent at Alabama, he can still have a top-5 offense.
Put all that together and shake it up and that’s how “it may not be a particularly big loss” and “it’s not a lateral move for Rees” are not inconsistent statements.
Nick Saban got a guy who was 3-31 as a head coach a Big 10 HC job and it’s not like Alabama was particularly better or worse before and after Locksley, really.
Didn’t Locksley win the Broyles with Saban? Seems like he was a pretty damn good OC.
Indeed he did. In a year after Bama won a title and right before they proceeded to put an insane amount of offensive talent into the draft. So he definitely wasn’t bad at the role but also looks very much like another cog
So Locksley wasn’t that good, he just inherited great players. Got it. Just trying to keep track of all of the reasons why getting hired as Bama’s OC isn’t evidence that you’re any good, despite that that team has been scoring and winning nearly at will for a decade or so.
Somehow Saban gets kids so good that they just need to show up and they beat everyone else.
“ Somehow Saban gets kids so good that they just need to show up and they beat everyone else.”
Minus the “somehow”: Yes.
You don’t honestly think that
I absolutely believe Alabama could hire an average high school coach as offensive coordinator and have a top-10 offense next year.
I think Mike Locksley fit whatever Nick Saban wanted and Tommy Rees might well too, which could mean some huge offense. Mike Locksley was 3-31 as a HC before and now 21-28 after, so I’m pretty sure he’s not a very good HC. He’s got pretty good years between that one at Bama and his Maryland and Illinois runs for what they’re worth, but I’m comfortable enough saying the Broyles is less his individual brilliance and more Bama being an absolutely juggernaut. Not hard to track
This is indeed the case in about 10 or 11 games per year.
Didn’t Locksley get fired by New Mexico who then upgraded with the hire of one Bob “hotdawg masheen” Davie?
Anybody was an upgrade. All kinds of issues above and beyond a 1-13 record.
I know. Bob could have won zero games and still been an upgrade.
At least Footbaw Bob only punched hot dog machines.
Which is more telling of his OC capabilities? Getting hired/elevated by Saban and then winning the Broyles as Bama’s OC or getting fired as a head coach at NM?
None of those points address or acknowledge the possibility that Rees’s ND replacement could be a downgrade from TR in 2023. Just because you think Rees’s offenses under-performed doesn’t guarantee the offense improves due to a different coordinator. For instance, not many of the names on Pete and Matt’s list at The Athletic were very inspiring, though that’s not necessarily all the possibilities.
Also, by definition, it’s a short term loss for Notre Dame because who did they want to be the OC in 2023? The guy they lost. Maybe the term on that ends up being very short if there’s a home run replacement, but that’s probably going to take time to see.
As far as the “step up” and so heralded a job honor to have, Rees being the fourth or fifth choice means that three or four people said no. With so many declining it, I think some in ND land are over-stating how high and mighty this opportunity is as some kind of clear upgrade. Go ask Pete Golden if being a Bama coordinator is an automatic ticket to career advancement and glory…
So all in all, it’s a lot more complicated than it may appear. I do believe it’s probably a wise choice for Rees to branch out and get under the Saban tree, but also a move that potentially could do damage to Notre Dame and especially Freeman’s tenure in the critical year 2. Resetting the offense this late in the cycle isn’t what I’d call a positive.
Yeah every coaching change brings volatility, even slam dunk hires. I thought Dan Mullen was a home run hire for Florida based on what he’d done at Mississippi State and yet woops, things didn’t work out. But what if the next guy ended up worse than Mullen??? Can’t be frozen by that fear forever.
It’s not definitionally a loss since Notre Dame could end up with something better. “X is the best choice because he’s who had the job” is not a particularly stout claim.
Not on its own, but given the Hartman add and the direction the offense was trending (especially after a 550 yard, 45 point bowl game performance), stability given the current trajectory would have been preferable to the program.
One bowl game with a lot of opt-outs is not a trend.
True that was a bit strong, but used to counter-act that too often anything when the shackles are off gets dismissed and the dull spots get amplified by Rees’s critics.
Point being, the 2023 Rees ND offense would have been a major team strength and likely reason they won 10 games.
(That still could happen without him! But departure creates at least momentary instability and possibility)
Tommy Rees’ offense was literally the reason ND lost 3 of its games in 2022!
And also the reason it won the other 9
2022 Notre Dame Offense FEI: 44th
2022 Notre Dame Defense FEI: 31st
Maybe not so much
Uh…I wouldn’t say offense won the Cal or Navy games.
Did you watch the 2022 ND season?
Doesn’t sound like we’re losing Hartman who was going to have to learn a new offense anyway. Nor am I taking a ton away from the bowl game either way
The offense put up 551 yards against Oklahoma State in a bowl game, and then immediately cost us the Ohio State and Marshall games…
Oh, I think Rees was a fine coordinator. Good-to-very good playcaller. It can definitely get worse – the first name on Sampson’s list was Paul Chryst, which, super yikes. I agree with all the sentiments above re: worrying that Freeman want to go in a Tresselball-y direction.
But also there’s definitely room for improvement over Tommy Rees. He might have been the best option for ND next year, but it would be crazy to argue he is a top-tier coordinator right now based on his track record.
Gotcha, that is fair and I agree with all of that. Definitely room for improvement. On track record, I quibble just a bit. Looking at the sheer number of high-end coaches who want to be in the TFR business (ND, LSU, Miami, Oregon, Alabama) says he has something good going on, even if it hasn’t translated to F+ or advanced measures.
Clearly it’s evident Rees is not a super innovative/explosive type of transformative coach, so it’s not the end of the world he’s departing. But the choice of replacement will be very critical for the future, with the possibilities pretty open-ended about if it’s going to be an improvement or not on the prior regime.
I’m sure Tommy would crush people if he was playing Madden and only had to call plays that robots would execute. However that’s not real life, and ever season he’s been OC it seems like he starts the season trying to force an offense the players can’t run and only then has to pull off a great mid-season job of changing the offense to mostly work.
I’m not really interested in the question about what it might do for Rees’s career. That’s a red herring. My point is just that Saban pretty much gets the pick of the available litter. Sure some aren’t interested. But of the group that is, he’s done a pretty damn good job picking the good ones. He’s picked Rees because he thinks Rees is good. I think that says something about what ND lost.
I do agree with you on your points though.
Pete Golding was the UTSA DC immediately before coaching at Bama and is the Ole Miss DC immediately after coaching at Bama. He’s making $2 million. I don’t think he’s an example of it being a bad idea to go coach at Alabama.
(1) but he didn’t hire him
(2) why do you need that? Does he need to consistently outperform his player’s talent to be a really good coordinator?
(3)&(4) these only support your argument on a surface level, because they assume that Saban is so amazing in all facets that it sort of just doesn’t matter who he brings in. He can make mistakes at OC and it’s fine because they have so much talent that the offense will be top 5 regardless. That’s just not true. The offense is top 5 because Saban has the ability to take the best coaches among the available talent and does in fact pick really good coaches (play calling wise and recruiting wise).
(2): yes, obviously? Or, if you want to quibble with the meaning of “consistently”, at least he should do it more than 0% of the seasons he has been a coordinator, unless you consider the #41 F+ offense to be outperforming considering it was mostly helmed by Drew Pyne (I’m open to that argument).
On 3 and 4 – he has had awesome offenses and defenses overwhelmingly because he has awesome players. At this point in the Saban dynasty, the coordinators just need to not screw it up. For example, Bama fans generally consider Bill O’Brien an abject failure as OC. They just finished with the #7 F+ offense.
So O’Brien was in fact a good OC or no?
No. A F+ offense ranked 7th at Alabama is closer to bad than good, especially given that they had the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and presumptive top-3 pick at quarterback.
I think it’s more that Rees is a better fit for Saban’s 17th season at Bama than he is for Freeman’s 2nd season at ND. Rees is smart and hardworking, but not experienced enough to be running a P5 offense essentially by himself while also trying to get a mess of a QB room straightened out. He’s a great candidate to work and learn under Saban’s supervision, with talent that pretty much no one can screw up.
I think it’s a little more nuanced than TOMMY RULEZ vs TOMMY SUCKS.
The quarterback room is a mess?
It was this past season, yes. And as exciting as Hartman is, he’s a short-term fix.
So the future doesn’t look much brighter?
The QB room is better now than it was a year ago. However, we still have a long path from Hartman to Carr, assuming that Carr lives up to his potential.
Has been for about a decade, so predating Rees but not resolved by him
In fairness to TFR, it might finally be fixed thanks to the Hartman commitment, as this is in play:
23: Hartman
24/25: Buchner
26/27: the better of Minchey/Carr
Doubt things work out that cleanly, but now the room is starting to look like something befitting a top-10 program (not top-5, but top-10, which is what we are).
Agreed. The future looks much brighter.
And we finally might get a real qb coach now!
Might be! Hopefully really is. 23 I think we’re set – I’m very high on Hartman. The year or two after him is the big question to me since I’m very down on Buchner and I don’t love starting a freshman after that. 26/27 is too far away to even consider
So he fixed the mess of a QB room he inherited?
if you ignore the fact that we had to trot out Drew Pyne this year, whiffed on Moore, and are really hanging our hats on Buchner taking a huge leap and/or Carr being a sure thing, totally!
I’d say he left it in better shape than it was.
Also it would be helpful if you just made points instead of asking questions.
Apologies. My point is that TR appears to be a good OC and his leaving is an objective (though not insurmountable by any means) loss for ND. He’s recruited well, filled holes with good transfers, and is a good play caller. He’s young, seems to be very highly regarded in coaching circles, and has a high ceiling – all evidenced by, among other things, the demand out there for his services and his ultimate hiring by Saban.
Maybe ND finds someone who ends up being great. Maybe TR falls on his face in the coming years. Doesn’t change the current fact that he’s good and has a high ceiling right now. Him moving on is a loss for ND.
The arguments I’ve heard as to why TR’s leaving is, at worst, no big deal and more likely is addition by subtraction just do not seem to add up:
He’s not that good – Yeah he won a lot of games, and even destroyed Clemson with a back up QB this past year. But come on what does that prove?? Drew Pyne had under 100 yards against Clemson. His F+ sucks.
His hiring at bama is evidence of nothing. Saban doesn’t really care who he picks. It’s all the same. He could pick a middling High School coach and still have a top 10 offense. All those folks who thought Locksley was good enough to win the Broyles were totally fooled by Saban and his amazing stable of talent. He was mediocre at best.
He never really recruited well. The QB room has been a disaster for years. Ian Book? Not TRs guy. Jack Coan? That was Kelly. Plus, why did we need a transfer in the first place. Hartman, Buchner, Carr, Minchey, Angeli. Pffft ok for the short term, but I’ll believe it’s good when I see it. How do you explain Drew Pyne??? And how did he not get Moore and JJ McCarthy. He clearly just let them go.
I’m cool with: “hey TFR is good and it sucks to lose him. But there are other good OCs out there and, to be honest, I’m sick of Rees. He’s just been here too long and I hate his stupid face and I’m fine with the loss at this point. I think we can find someone as good or better.” That’s honest. But to play it like we’re better off without him because he’s mediocre at best just rings hollow to me.
Agree to disagree, I guess.
Rees will be better off at Bama. ND will most likely be better off with a more experienced OC. Simple as that.
Well I’m glad we were able to get to the bottom of that
Under Tommy:
2022 Offensive FEI: 39 (backup QB after game 1)
2021 Offensive FEI: 20
2020 Offensive FEI: 17
Chip Long:
2019 Offensive FEI: 25
2018 Offensive FEI: 28
2017 Offensive FEI: 17
Sanford:
2016 Offensive FEI: 37
2015 Offensive FEI: 7 (backup QB after game 1)
Tommy’s defenders never seem to have an answer for why he couldn’t elevate ND’s offense to a championship level. Or even exceed the level that the prior 2 coordinators reached. He was good. He wasn’t winning ND a title.
1) These advanced stats are not the holy grail you all think they are. They are a piece of the puzzle, that’s it. How do these stats prove that TR is a mediocre OC? Because the offense wasn’t top 10 in the past 3 years? Is that it? That’s the best you have? Does that mean Sanford was an amazing OC starting 2016? 2) To answer your earlier comment, yes I did watch some (certainly not all). But given that I’m not a football coach, I’m not sure how that matters. I did note that, to my layman’s eye, the 2022 ND team could have easily been 4-8 after losing Buchner, but instead ended up 9-4, and that TR played a significant role in that. How big a role exactly? Who knows, but he played an important role for sure. I also know that a great many coaches and Xs and Os people who DID watch the games think he is an excellent OC with a really bright future. I also know that the players like him and that he’s done a pretty damn good job getting some really good recruits to come to ND. I also know that Nick Saban thinks he’s pretty good (unless you’re in the camp that thinks that Saban basically picked Rees’s name out of a hat and doesn’t really care too much who he hires because Bama can put up top 10 offenses with a golden retriever as its OC). I also know that all of those coaches, Xs and Os people, and Nick Saban are aware of the FEI numbers, and yet they STILL hold TR in high regard. 3) I’m BARELY a TR defender. My comments on this site are and have been nothing more than me pushing back against this weird undercurrent of fans making the “TR sucks and we’re so much better off without him” argument but couching it all in the more magnanimous “well, he’s really not THAT good” terms. It’s BS, in my opinion. He doesn’t suck. The man is a legit OC with a high ceiling. He’s highly regarded among those who know coaching, and he’s done a good (though certainly not a perfect) job with what he had to work with at ND. To say otherwise is just ignoring reality. Thus, I think his leaving is a loss. That’s it. That’s my boring and ridiculous-ass thesis. Period. Is the loss an insurmountable one? No. Are there other good coordinators out there who could do the job very well? Absolutely. Would those OCs have done a better job than Rees did over the past 3 years? Who the eff knows…it’s certainly possible. Is there some long time veteran OC out there at a second tier or lower school with top 10 FEI offenses against good competition in each of the past 5 years who ND has a shot of getting and who is the special key to ND winning a national championship? I don’t think so (maybe… Read more »
ou’re making up that people are calling him mediocre (you’re the only person who has used that word). You’re deciding that advanced stats should be ignored since you don’t like them for some reason. You’re arguing ND would have been 4-8 without him in 2022 (even though, again, we lost OSU, Marshall, and Stanford specifically because of the offense). If you are only a slight TR defender, you must really go to battle for people you truly defend!
My bad. I could have sworn there were some people on here celebrating that TR was hired away and have droned on endlessly about how he’s Not That Good, and how it is his fault that the QB room is/was “a mess,” and how the only thing he did well was play-call. I mistakenly categorized those comments as people calling him mediocre.
I didn’t ignore the advanced stats. Like I said, they are one piece of information; they are not the holy grail you want them to be. I argued that they would have been 4-8 without him? Or did I say that they could have been 4-8, but ultimately pulled off 9-4 and that he was an important part of that?
You say “specifically because of the offense” like it means something. We beat Clemson to a pulp “specifically because of the offense” too. Oh wait, Drew Pyne had less than a hundred yards that game, right. That’s on TR. The RBs having a field day on a vaunted defense when they KNEW ND had to run the ball? Well, you know, everyone gets lucky sometimes. Oh no, that’s right, it’s “hey, I said TR is good. He’s just Not That Good.”
He pulled Coan, Hartman, Carr, and flipped Minchey. Yeah but he’s the reason we needed them
Why does Nick Saban want a guy who can’t beat Stanford and whose own QB room is/was a mess?
Yes, I agree Brian Kelly does suck, but Rees hasn’t really improved it.
Indeed, which is why I’m a-okay with Rees walking out that door
Brian Kelly is the all-time winningest coach in ND history, took ND to a National Championship, took ND to two playoff appearances in CFP era, and just took LSU to the SEC West Championship just one year after they went 6-7. Saying he “sucks” might be a bit of a stretch (unless you mean as a human being, generally).
took ND to a National Championship game*
Good for Tommy! He’s made some significant contributions over six years to moving his alma mater towards being a perennial contender and dealt with the demands, criticisms and spotlight that coaching at Notre Dame brings. He’s ready for the expectations that come with being Saban’s OC. Those usually are former HCs or leads to HC positions. (Kiffin, Locksley, McElwain, O’Brien, Sarkisian, Nussmeier, etc).
With Bama annually contending for the NC and attracting top QB recruits, one could fast forward two years with Bama getting two NCs, and Rees a very hot commodity. Swarbrick may have been willing to match salaries, but perhaps Rees was ready for a change, more growth and new challenges. Certainly his hire by Bama elevates the perception of his talents and achievements at ND.
The ND OC job should be very attractive to almost anyone in college football.
Under OC Tommy Rees, ND has had to grind out games to win, taken two transfer qbs because of poor talent evaluation, and didn’t have enough scholarship wide receivers to fill the two deep at times. I’m sure he’s great at scheme (indeed, there were a lot of plays the past few years that would have been big with proper execution), but he’s shown no ability to manage any other part of the job at a high level.
With Hartman being here and with the right hire, this offense looks to be primed to take a big step. It’s possible that this works out just fine for ND.
Also, a new set of eyeballs in the QB room, without pre conceived opinion, might be just what is needed, with what looks in a year or two, to be a talented position group.
Yes, you can put me in the group that thinks it might be possible to fill the OC- QB coach position with someone on par or better than Tommy Rees.
Eh, not true.
Saban probably likes grinding out games to WIN to a certain point, receivers really don’t fall much on Rees, and Coan & Hartman certainly aren’t negatives.
Grinding out games against pretty bad teams like 2020 Louisville, 2022 Cal and 2022 Navy doesn’t exactly inspire confidence for a high flying offense.
Rees was the OC, it’s his purview. He doesn’t get to hide from a disaster that the passing game turned into. Speaking of which, it’s good that they got Coan and Hartman, but the fact that we needed to go out and grab transfer qbs twice in three years because the existing roster couldn’t get it done is an indictment on the guy in charge of the qb room.
Some people were commenting that no one wanted to hire Rees anymore and now he’s off to Bama.
Who’s hiding (and what does that mean)?
This is your problem. Even Rees making moves to improve the roster are negatives!
How is that fair?
Rees did a good job with Coan but since it wasn’t Phil Jurkovec we’re supposed to view this negatively?
No — taking Hartman and Coan is an indication that there was no one on the QB roster who the staff felt comfortable starting in 2021 or 2023. That is not a positive reflection on the coach who was in charge of the QB roster for 6 seasons. It’s good that Tommy got Coan and Hartman, but the fact that we were in that position to begin with is not a positive.
As usual, things are not black and white, and two things can be true at once.
Right, and 80% of the time criticism keeps coming back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back to this one point like this is all the Rees era amounted to or is worth talking about.
Players don’t pan out, transfer, or get hurt. It happens. There are plenty of people who thought Rees did a good job in many areas.
Also:
Very happy and surprised to be wrong on that one!
A true hearty chuckle, well put Mr M
Mostly agree but two other high-level things I think he managed well: (1) wringing the most production possible out of limited QBs and (2) adjusting the offense in-season, week to week and month to month. Of course, both of those were fixing problems that were largely of his own creation and products of his inexperience.
Like I said in the other thread, I think this move is good for everyone. Happy for him and for ND.
I just want to commend everyone here for receiving this news with such grace and dignity.
Amen!
Screw you!
Bammers are, uh…not thrilled.
Ya that damn Saban is clueless.
It’s a weird read.
“Rees worked to the strengths of Notre Dame’s talent and we’re not as strong in those areas, I’m scared” doesn’t really tell much of a story.
Ya, who knew that ND’s oline was so much better than Bama’s.
They seem less caught up on better vs. worse (though Notre Dame’s OL quality compared to its opponents definitely stands out compared to Bama vs. its opponents) than the style needed. Hiestand loves him some big maulers, tbf I simply do not know what the Bama OL goes for
Their Oline’s size usually makes ours look average.
Ain’t that the truth. They don’t really seem to get the fanfare since their OL isn’t the team’s standout group, but they are always very big and Joe Moore levels when they peak.
Yeah the guys I think of coming out of there (Willis, Leatherwood) ain’t small
looking t their oline recruits recently a bunch of .98s & .97s….very highly rated prospects.
Though it doesn’t fit for the Lane 2014 revival of the Alabama offense, I think Rees will be a really great fit for the talent they have. Though who wouldn’t?
It’s also interesting that for the first time in quite a while, Alabama doesn’t have an obvious Hurts-Tua-Jones-Young type of Heisman/1st round QB. With all the love for the air raid and the spread offense, I wonder if Saban going with Rees is zagging while everyone else is zigging and going back to a power run base. (Especially, again given what isn’t returning at QB for the first time there in a long time).
That’s what I’m wondering too, and as I think the article mentioned, he might be fed up with fast offenses not giving his defense a chance to breathe
Yeah, while some in this comment section didn’t find much credit for Rees in the Clemson game, Notre Dame put up 260 yards rushing on a Clemson team who have two 2023 first round DL (and another potential 1st/2nd round LB). Controlled game clock, absolutely chewed them up and spit them out. I would think that game plan and the results would absolutely stand out and impress a veteran coach like Saban, even if it doesn’t pop on some of the other metrics.
Especially if like you say, maybe he wants to slow things down a bit, limit possession and avoid trading scores quickly like the way the game is trending.
With the incredibl OL and RB talent, Alabama can win with a play-action based power run game. Rees fits that type of mold well.
I don’t recall anyone dismissing Rees, he wisely chose to keep smashing them right in the mouth in that game. Pyne was the one who got naysayed since he was a non-factor.
Oh but what if I told you that a h8er did in this very comment section!
Pub’s right that beating a team with fewer than 100 passing yards is an eye raiser about that team
Oh Tommy’s unit did a great job mashing Clemson on inside runs. He’s also lucky that the defense and special teams kept the pressure on and didn’t let ND get in a hole.
Perfect comment as usual, Hooks.
Reading the comments on that and other articles indicates that the author is widely ridiculed/disliked for his unnecessarily spicy takes.
Also, when was the last time that the departure of a coordinator caused so much consternation among the ND fanbase? Maybe Elko or Diaco? Certainly no OC of my football-conscious lifetime.
Rees following Denbrook did not raise many Irish eyebrows. Now the two can face off annually. Imagine ND becoming the cradle of Offensive Coordinators. We’re probably looking at someone with Rees’ experience or more at the salary he had after the $400k raise he probably got to match Kelly’s offer at LSU. BK taking Denbrook as his second choice at LSU after D’s pupil, Rees, isn’t considered a reflection of difference in tiers in SEC/CF. Wonder if BK considered Rees as a better QB recruiter.
It is something – I used to joke about the “Brian Kelly coaching twig”, but it’s a real tree now!
Elko in a way since it was so quick and he was very well liked for fixing things up after BVG but it lacked the intrigue of the Rees debates that have been going on here for a while.
As for me, I feel like I do after BK left last year – might make things go poorly but I like the chance to move on. At least the timing here is better than BK’s
This is exactly where I am. I can see things getting much better with the right hire; I can see things getting much worse with the wrong hire. But I do not see a world in which ND was going to win a national title with Tommy, and I hope a national title is the goal.
Wowsie. Usual high level 18 Stripes discussions, but this one moving fast, lots for me to unpack over here. That said:
1, My head is with the “it’s not a lateral move” crowd, given where Saban has taken his Death Star. But my heart is glad that at least some of you are dismayed about a move like this, and that it really is lateral. I feel that way as in my heart I feel we should keep on feeling that, by gosh and by golly, ND is historically better than the Tide (having been there for four of the games where we beat Bear Bryant, in my old ND heart that’s how I feel) — and we will be again.
2, So, Coach Freeman has to turn this lemon (Hooks you’re right) into lemonade. Critical hire coming up.
3, That said, Eric, you threw me off the bus concerning what I am now really interested in, namely who are the candidates? You referenced Jamie somebody at ISD, but I will need to join their site, and I am already on II and B&G, not to mention the platinum rates we shell out for 18 Stripes! Seriously, anyone, is there a list around of candidates?
Here’s the leading candidate:
Can someone Photoshop some scruff and a crabber’s beanie on this guy?
Sorry for the time zone difference, my replies are either late or early. In any case — OMG. Tell me it isn’t so!
Pete Sampson at the Athletic did his usual garbage job reacting to news and acting like he knew it was coming all along, and put out a pretty awful list of possible candidates that included Paul Chryst, Matt Gattis, Chuck Jr, and the guy who just got fired as Clemson’s OC. So yeah.
If they are interested in Paul Chryst, they might as well interview Brian Ferentz.
Noted Law School Alum By Marriage Pete Sampson
god he is useless
Noise,…. Jamie U. and Greg F. at ISD have a twice weekly YouTube show (called Hit and Hustle, Tu & Thur., 11:30 ish ET) that is quite good. Check it out, it’s free.
I hope it’s ok to mention it here.
A dark horse may be Eric Bieniemy, OC of the Chiefs. Matt Nagy is probably his replacement. Only two HC positions are left to fill (Arizona, Indy). The Chiefs have indicated he will be moving on. If passed over by those two – and so many other times – another NFL OC position is possible with openings at Washington Commanders, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Bucs, Houston Texans, and the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens have requested an interview for their offensive coordinator job. Bieniemy also remains under consideration for the Colts’ HC job for which he has interviewed and has interviewed for the Titans’ OC job, The average salary for NFL coordinators is $1 million. He may see more opportunities in college, especially with the exposure the ND job brings, and with the explosion in salaries.
Thanks! That’s interesting as can be… Hartman no Mahomes, but we have good tight ends, a good O’line, and good RBs.
My cousin said something about the Wake Forest OC?
And I guess our tight ends coach did some OCing at West Virginia?
Saban saw more in Rees than his critics here. A well-researched article, which other OCs were considered and a projection on how and why Rees was fits for the Tide from RollBamaRoll (SBNation)
Did Nick Saban usher in the end of the Alabama Dynasty by hiring Tommy Rees for Offensive Coordinator?
Concluding: “So, with all of that, I went into Friday not knowing who Tommy Rees was, and, 2 days later, am legitimately excited…And, considering the amount of frustration I felt over the last two seasons, I find myself very, very excited for that, even with the potential for failure involved.”
Interestingly, Saban interviewed Ryan Grubb, Jeff Lebby, and Joe Moorhead before settling on Rees.
MC,
Thanks very much for this read, indeed, well researched and well written. It’s always super interesting to get a perspective from somebody well-informed from another team’s fan and commentator base.
In this case, I wish more of the Tommy bashers would have read it, anyway, that’s water under the bridge.
But it confirms that I am in Hooks’ camp. Tommy’s departure is a negative, which may/might be overcome if MF can pull a rabbit out of the hat. Which sadly looking at the lists I am not convinced he is going to be able to do.
Agree with all of this
Great article. Thanks for the link! I think it’s interesting that the spin right now is that Rees was the 4th choice, as if Grubb, Lebby, and Moorhead turned Saban down and Saban settled for Rees. This article puts that spin in some doubt. Sounds like Saban wasn’t actually too interested in Grubb and Lebby from the start (it’s not like Grubb’s scheme or Lebby’s alleged involvement in the Baylor fiasco were unknown’s before the interviews). As for Moorhead, I think it’s reasonable to assume Saban preferred him to Rees, given his experience. That makes total sense. But that Rees was the next choice after Moorhead says something about TR. Good for him!
It will be interesting to see the mental gymnastics taken to explain that Reese is actually a brilliant coordinator and that the lack of statistical evidence to support it is simply a product of our biases as ND fans.
I am not happy that Rees took an OC job, even if it is clearly a step up from ND’s OC position and a good move for his career. Despite knowing we aren’t anywhere near Bama, I still want us to be as competitive with them as possible and this is just another loss to Bama. I think it’s more likely we end up worse than better after this.
I am glad we are moving on from Rees. I read both Bama articles and think they perfectly encapsulate Rees. One says he has put out a mediocre product. There are really no stats, old or new, that suggest Rees has been great. The other is that he has potential, is flexible offensively, and didn’t have great talent, which all feels quite true.
Of course, he is at least somewhat responsible for talent on his offense. We saw what having Freeman at DC for 1 year did to recruiting across the board on D. Rees simply never had that impact on the O. I am now all in on the ensuing uncertainty, as Freeman has shown me what a truly dynamic coordinator can do and given me hope we can find another. I will at least have hope for a year or so that whoever we land is that guy (although we kind of knew that about MF before he was even hired and I don’t see many options like him being listed). Then my hope will die, yet again, either with us sucking or MF taking an SEC gig.
Basically, I think Rees to Bama is both bad and good for ND. It’s definitely bad for me, as I will now be rooting for Bama. I don’t want Rees as a coordinator, but he is a fellow alumn, former player and worked his butt off at ND (similar to why I will always root for Weis). Sadly, he was never particularly spectacular at anything on or off the field. I really hope he does well and moves on quickly to like MS ST or someone we don’t play.