Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[MacIrish75]

Without Brian Kelly, Thom Rees has secured commitments from:

Dante Moore
CJ Carr
Kenny Minchey

can’t do a whole lot better.

 

[dankgesang]

Without Brian Kelly, Thom Rees has secured commitments from:

Dante Moore
CJ Carr
Kenny Minchey

can’t do a whole lot better.

Jesus Christ stop giving him credit for Dante. It didn't happen. You people create these board destroying fights with this crap.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Jesus Christ stop giving him credit for Dante. It didn't happen. You people create these board destroying fights with this crap.

 

[dankgesang]

I'm the dude that paid the dude that committed to a dude

 

[stlnd01]

For me, Tommy’s shortcoming recruiting was one of the bigger issues. He’s done a good (solid B) from ‘21 on. Should be able to have good QB play going forward.

Biggest issue left is the inconsistency of the offense. 25% of the games since Kelly left our offense has been shutout in a half. We’ve gone from playing great one game (Clemson) to possibly the worst offense I’ve seen in 15 years (Navy, 2nd half). One of the issues is personnel at the QB position but I think he also lacks the experience. Seems like he is slow at adjusting in certain instances (2nd half bowl game for instance). This is something that he will improve on as he gets more reps as an OC.

All in all, I’ll root for Tommy whether he’s here next year or not. Not too concerned if he decides to leave as I think ND is a very attractive place right now for a top level OC to come.

To be fair our offense would go into weird extended funks all the time when Kelly was here, too. But, agree, not like this year.

I think a lot of our offensive challenges (especially after the OL got right against Cal) boil down to having an extremely limited QB. We have so little margin for error, especially when the defense takes away our power running game by loading the box and blitzing. Yes there are ways to scheme around that, but only so many, and it takes time for Rees to do that, and then your players have to execute. Especially your QB.

Hence the importance of having a fully-stocked QB room. Which Rees and Freeman alike may understand now in a way they didn't quite prior to this season.

Either way, I'm with you. I think Rees has done a reasonably good job and I'm fine going forward with him at this point. If he decides he wants to move on, I wouldn't blame the guy one bit - he has given Notre Dame a lot - and Freeman will have zero trouble hiring a great replacement.

 

[NDMatt91]

For me, Tommy’s shortcoming recruiting was one of the bigger issues. He’s done a good (solid B) from ‘21 on. Should be able to have good QB play going forward.

Biggest issue left is the inconsistency of the offense. 25% of the games since Kelly left our offense has been shutout in a half. We’ve gone from playing great one game (Clemson) to possibly the worst offense I’ve seen in 15 years (Navy, 2nd half). One of the issues is personnel at the QB position but I think he also lacks the experience. Seems like he is slow at adjusting in certain instances (2nd half bowl game for instance). This is something that he will improve on as he gets more reps as an OC.

All in all, I’ll root for Tommy whether he’s here next year or not. Not too concerned if he decides to leave as I think ND is a very attractive place right now for a top level OC to come.

Del certainly could've had a deeper stable at WR.

 

[MacIrish75]

Jesus Christ stop giving him credit for Dante. It didn't happen. You people create these board destroying fights with this crap.

You can use revisionist history all you want, but Tommy landed him by literally all accounts, until an uncle and NIL swooped in. It happened whether you want to acknowledge it, or not.

 

[MacIrish75]

You can use revisionist history all you want, but Tommy landed him by literally all accounts, until an uncle and NIL swooped in. It happened whether you want to acknowledge it, or not.

I really need to make sure not to reuse a meme three posts ahead of mine. Mea culpa.

 

[ulukinatme]

Jesus Christ stop giving him credit for Dante. It didn't happen. You people create these board destroying fights with this crap.

It didn't happen because of any fault of the coaching staff. They don't control the money.

 

[1rishftw]

I thought he did a nice job with Jack Coan also.

yeah but he was a plug and play

 

[1rishftw]

Wasn't Pyne the QB that Rees absolutely had to have in the 2020 class?

not all recruits pan out

 

[ulukinatme]

yeah but he was a plug and play

But he was a backup to Mertz, who has been objectively awful, and we managed to break a Fiesta Bowl record with Jack. I don't know what the hell Wisconsin saw in Mertz over Coan, but they fucked up.

 

[Irish4life]

But he was a backup to Mertz, who has been objectively awful, and we managed to break a Fiesta Bowl record with Jack. I don't know what the hell Wisconsin saw in Mertz over Coan, but they fucked up.

Coan missed the Covid season with a broken foot, Mertz threw 5 TD passes in his first start.

 

[ulukinatme]

Coan missed the Covid season with a broken foot, Mertz threw 5 TD passes in his first start.

Since then he's really fallen off though. To put it in perspective, Pyne has a QBR of 67.9. Mertz is at 45.8. He's sitting on twice as many INTs and a lower completion percentage. He dipped as low as 27.9% against Maryland.

 

[IrishBoognish]

Wasn't Pyne the QB that Rees absolutely had to have in the 2020 class?

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

 

[ulukinatme]

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

100%. It's the right way to do things. The university doesn't always have their best interests in mind, but they do care about things like this.

 

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

I am going to choose to believe this is true because notre dame holds out incredibly high standards and I do believe they at least occasionally live up to them.

 

[stlnd01]

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

POTY candidate.

 

[1rishftw]

But he was a backup to Mertz, who has been objectively awful, and we managed to break a Fiesta Bowl record with Jack. I don't know what the hell Wisconsin saw in Mertz over Coan, but they fucked up.

Thats on the Wisconsin coaching staff, not Jack. He had a decent season the year before, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[FOTY977]

Thats on the Wisconsin coaching staff, not Jack. He had a decent season the year before, if I'm not mistaken.

He led them to the rose bowl in 2019

 

[ulukinatme]

Thats on the Wisconsin coaching staff, not Jack. He had a decent season the year before, if I'm not mistaken.

True, but he also had his best season from a yards/TD standpoint while at ND despite playing behind a very porous OL for 6 games. I'm gonna say that's improvement. It's absolutely an indictment on that Wisconsin staff too though, I can't imagine what they were seeing.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

The Wisconsin coaching staff is pretty much all without jobs right now. Most of the people who brought Coan to ND are still working, either for ND or LSU.

 

[ColinKSU]

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

Very good post.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

Don't let JerryRice1983 see this post.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Pyne was thought to grow and bloom as an athlete and in stature. It didn't happen. ND stayed with their commitment because that's why we love this school.

Any other team would have recruited over him, or at least tried. ND didn't because that's why we're fans.

It sucks sometimes. To the point that you get so swept away in anger that you start a "Official Irishenvy Fire Tommy Rees Thread" Then you come back to Earth and remember the big picture.


Like it or not, ND has a rep of always having their recruits' backs. Often that doesn't show short term gains, but it works out in the long term.


Kids are expected to be kids and make wild decisions that are less than respectful. It's kind of their job... especially when we're talking about potentially elite athletes.

NDs job and expectation is to be a rock. It's awesome and I love them for it. Go Irish.



Man that sounded like platitudes but fuck it.

That was prior ND and they stuck with it. Still would've been nice to go for a 2nd QB and maybe we did and just failed.

This staff has shown the propensity to be a bit more aggressive in their recruiting. They are trying to assemble the best collection of talent so there is no "safe" scholarship offer. They'll recruit over everyone because they want to win. When the ink dries, you have a 4 year gift of attending the university but before that, you must continue to earn the original offer.

I think I like this new ND because it should get us closer to a title. If this class stays together and we add it to last year's class, we are going to see massive dividends starting next year. The 2 year talent glut is something we haven't really seen in 20+ years. This is the most complete class I've seen since I started following recruiting which was 2+ years before Manti chose the Irish. Freeman must continue to generate buy-in with the recruits because they are so close.

We need a QB who is a step above Ian Book. With that, we'll have a very dangerous team.

 

[Free Manera]

That was prior ND and they stuck with it. Still would've been nice to go for a 2nd QB and maybe we did and just failed.

This staff has shown the propensity to be a bit more aggressive in their recruiting. They are trying to assemble the best collection of talent so there is no "safe" scholarship offer. They'll recruit over everyone because they want to win. When the ink dries, you have a 4 year gift of attending the university but before that, you must continue to earn the original offer.

I think I like this new ND because it should get us closer to a title. If this class stays together and we add it to last year's class, we are going to see massive dividends starting next year. The 2 year talent glut is something we haven't really seen in 20+ years. This is the most complete class I've seen since I started following recruiting which was 2+ years before Manti chose the Irish. Freeman must continue to generate buy-in with the recruits because they are so close.

We need a QB who is a step above Ian Book. With that, we'll have a very dangerous team.

Yeah that's the thing with Pyne. Once it became obvious he was not a P5 quarterback, which happened by his junior year when all the other schools that "offered" him dropped out, ND should have put out another QB offer at the very least.

Also, there is nothing unethical about telling a player to pursue other options. You don't have to actually "pull the scholarship." This is what happens all the time when kids transfer out. Coaches sit down and say, "Listen, you are buried on the depth chart here and it is unlikely we can get you much PT. We're happy to have you here, but we know you want to get on the field, so we understand if you choose to go elsewhere."

If they had that talk with Pyne during his junior year, and said they were going to take another QB, he probably would have went somewhere else. There would have been plenty of time to get another QB recruit.

Maybe it's cold, but it's not unethical. It's honest if anything.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Yeah that's the thing with Pyne. Once it became obvious he was not a P5 quarterback, which happened by his junior year when all the other schools that "offered" him dropped out, ND should have put out another QB offer at the very least.

The dude finished the regular season ranked 20th in total QBR. Just behind Michael Penix and Bryce fricken Young, and ahead of JJ (November Heisman) McCarthy.

These hot takes need to stop. I get the physical limitations but he quite literally proved the opposite of the bolded. I'm not opining for him to be the starter QB moving forward beyond this season but he proved to be a competent option when relied upon. He will not win us a Natty, but he's a fine QB to have in the room for depth. "Not a P5 quarterback" is a joke of a take.

I'm just going to leave this here.

 

[Dale]

Pyne has had games USC and BYU namely where he throws at the level of a limited but decent QB. Pretty solid ball placement. The issue is his floor is literally being 100% incapable of doing anything. His floor is literally the floor.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Pyne has had games USC and BYU namely where he throws at the level of a limited but decent QB. Pretty solid ball placement. The issue is his floor is literally being 100% incapable of doing anything. His floor is literally the floor.

I don't disagree entirely but a lot of that is Rees, too. That game plan against Navy in the second half was appalling. It doesn't take a football genius to realize that the best way to beat cover 0 is to use quick passes and screens and there were none to be found.

It's also partly on Pyne for not looking for his check downs on a few occasions, which has been a theme all year, but it starts with the play calling in that second half, and Rees absolutely failed his offense.

We also forget that Pyne is a veteran on paper but in reality he hasn't played a ton of football for ND.

Again, I'm coming to Pyne's aid as someone who believes this is our guy for the future, but he absolutely has a place at ND and proved that this year, IMO. some of these hot takes (not you, I agree with your floor comment) are infuriating.

 

[Free Manera]

The dude finished the regular season ranked 20th in total QBR. Just behind Michael Penix and Bryce fricken Young, and ahead of JJ (November Heisman) McCarthy.

These hot takes need to stop. I get the physical limitations but he quite literally proved the opposite of the bolded. I'm not opining for him to be the starter QB moving forward beyond this season but he proved to be a competent option when relied upon. He will not win us a Natty, but he's a fine QB to have in the room for depth. "Not a P5 quarterback" is a joke of a take.

I'm just going to leave this here.

1. He didn't finish 20th in QBR. He finished 20th in passer rating, which is an outdated, shitty metric. He finished 44th in QBR, behind Grayson McCall, Trenton Bourget, and Austin Aune but just ahead of Jalen Mayden and Austin Reed: 2022 College Football Season Leaders Total QBR | ESPN

2. He's not a P5 level starter. He's just not. I'm sure there are 1 or 2 desperate P5 schools that he could start at right now. But I can't think of any, and I'd be shocked if there are more than that.

3. Golic has been a social media clown all year. Orlovsky is awesome though. He also said during the game he called something like, "wait until Rees has a QB." Also, I have no problem with Rees's playcalling. I just think the QB room has set the program back big time in the past couple years.