Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[MacIrish75]

Tight, I'm sure Indiana State would love him too. How's that news?

Woah, don’t need any Sycamore drive-bys up in here! I’ll tell you this, he’d drink free at The Bally his entire tenure! 🌲

 

[Valpodoc85]

I think Gruden went to Clay

 

[stlnd01]

The Rees hype and actual results on the field/recruiting just doesn't match. With the way media guys like Orlovsky are talking you would think 5 star QB's would be lining up to play for him.

QB recruiting has been iffy but that's not an issue in the NFL. If you see the offensive coordinator's job as finding ways to score the most points you can with the players you've got, Tommy has done a pretty good job.

 

[IrishBoognish]

Other than the yelling and screaming and being mean part... are we sure that Tommy is even a better OC than Chip Long?

I think he shows he can adjust to the strengths and weaknesses of the players way better than Chip. And yes... not being a screamy shouty maniac with your guys is a very good trait.

(Heistand being a hard ass is different as an OL coach because it just is)

 

[Luckylucci]

If we lose Rees we can kiss a legitimate shot at winning big next year goodbye. The floor on next year was already lowered with a first time head coach and significant staff turnover. Implementing a new offense would make next year that much more difficult. Especially when you consider that, while Buchner might be the real deal, he’s a unique talent and it’ll take a coach that’s comfortable with that type of Qb to get the most out of him. I don’t think that’ll be easy to find. Or easy to develop quickly.

It sounds like the money is a big number but if Tommy really believes in himself and Buchner, the money will only get larger if he puts together an offense that is finally worthy of that money, next year in South Bend.

 

[Dale]

Singer said he’s heard Miami (even earlier in January) but there’s not much to see here and he stays (Rams talk included).

 

[MacIrish75]

Not even three Deontay Greenberrys could’ve prepared us for the twists and turns of this coaching offszn.

 

[T-Boone]

I think he shows he can adjust to the strengths and weaknesses of the players way better than Chip. And yes... not being a screamy shouty maniac with your guys is a very good trait.

(Heistand being a hard ass is different as an OL coach because it just is)

I thought it took him to long to adjust the offense to the bad OL play this past season. They made the adjustments and started playing Coan properly a week late.

 

[Crazy Balki]

I thought it took him to long to adjust the offense to the bad OL play this past season. They made the adjustments and started playing Coan properly a week late.

There's little adjusting to bad OL play. Especially when you lose your first, second and then third LT and your RT is playing injured and your center is coming off an offseason rehab.

And I can't really blame him for being hesitant to throw a true freshmen to the wolves. It should've happened earlier, but hindsight is 20/20.

He likely wanted to go in and hope the line would get better with time and gain chemistry.

 

[bumpdaddy]

Yeah him getting the job was contingent on Rees staying and continuity. Literally.

At this point, why didn’t we just hire Fickell?

That's not true. Swarbrick wanted to maintain continuity but that continuity hinged on Freeman taking the HC job more than Rees staying on as OC. Yes, he wanted both plus Balis, but Freeman was still the priority. The players' leadership team told JS they wanted to maintain continuity but they specifically cited promoting MF to HC as the best way to make that happen, so MF was the priority. But the timing of who got locked in first was thrown off by BK offering TR the LSU OC position and wanting an answer quickly.

Right after BK bolted, Swarbrick called Rees and asked if he could talk to him later that week. He clearly wanted to wait a few days so that he could hire Freeman first and then lock in Rees after, but Rees forced JS's hands when he told him he couldn't wait because he had to give BK an answer about the LSU job, so Swarbrick had to make a deal with Rees first. Rees more or less confirmed all of this during a podcast.

MF has said Swarbrick talked to him about maintaining continuity and keeping Rees but it didn't sound like an ultimatum. Freeman happened to agree that he wanted to maintain continuity and keep Rees as OC, and why wouldn't he? It made sense.

If MF was only going to get the job if Rees stayed Swarbrick wouldn't have asked Rees to wait until the end of the week to talk. JS intended to lock in MF first.

Regardless, we shouldn't have buyer's remorse because I still think MF's upside is greater than Fickell's with or without TR. His risk is greater but that was always true. Also, there's no real evidence TR is going anywhere so it's a bit early for angst.

 

[IrishLax]

That's not true. Swarbrick wanted to maintain continuity but that continuity hinged on Freeman taking the HC job more than Rees staying on as OC. Yes, he wanted both plus Balis, but Freeman was still the priority. The players' leadership team told JS they wanted to maintain continuity but they specifically cited promoting MF to HC as the best way to make that happen, so MF was the priority. But the timing of who got locked in first was thrown off by BK offering TR the LSU OC position and wanting an answer quickly.

Right after BK bolted, Swarbrick called Rees and asked if he could talk to him later that week. He clearly wanted to wait a few days so that he could hire Freeman first and then lock in Rees after, but Rees forced JS's hands when he told him he couldn't wait because he had to give BK an answer about the LSU job, so Swarbrick had to make a deal with Rees first. Rees more or less confirmed all of this during a podcast.

MF has said Swarbrick talked to him about maintaining continuity and keeping Rees but it didn't sound like an ultimatum. Freeman happened to agree that he wanted to maintain continuity and keep Rees as OC, and why wouldn't he? It made sense.

If MF was only going to get the job if Rees stayed Swarbrick wouldn't have asked Rees to wait until the end of the week to talk. JS intended to lock in MF first.

Regardless, we shouldn't have buyer's remorse because I still think MF's upside is greater than Fickell's with or without TR. His risk is greater but that was always true. Also, there's no real evidence TR is going anywhere so it's a bit early for angst.

This isn't what I've heard/read. Think there is a piece on FootballScoop that is publicly available and pretty illuminating on how things went down, too.

 

[bumpdaddy]

This isn't what I've heard/read. Think there is a piece on FootballScoop that is publicly available and pretty illuminating on how things went down, too.

Here's the FootballScoop article you are referencing -

Inside The Two Weeks That Forever Change Notre Dame Football

An in-depth look at how Brian Kelly's tenure so rapidly unraveled and gave way to the Marcus Freeman Era for the Fighting Irish

footballscoop.com

It supports my version of events. Here's the key quote:

"I really wanted to understand where Tommy was and what he was thinking, and wanted to make sure he understood how good a coach I thought he was and how important he was to the program,” said Swarbrick, who returned to his alma mater in July 2008 to chair its athletics programs. “There were no commitments made that evening, it was more both of us being candid with each other and subsequently as Marcus and I continued to develop our conversation, still hadn’t offered Marcus the job yet, what I came to understand is that he shared my view of Tommy.​

​

“So I was comfortable going back to Tommy and making a commitment.”​

​

JS clearly said he did not commit to Tommy until after MF agreed TR was vital to the program. He was negotiating with MF before he went back to TR to lock him in. So TR staying was actually contingent upon what MF wanted.

And according to what TR said on the Ryen Russillo podcast, the main reason JS couldn't wait to make the deal with TR as he initially wanted - JS wanted to talk to TR at a later date - is because TR told him it would be too late.

 

[IrishLax]

Here's the FootballScoop article you are referencing -

Inside The Two Weeks That Forever Change Notre Dame Football

An in-depth look at how Brian Kelly's tenure so rapidly unraveled and gave way to the Marcus Freeman Era for the Fighting Irish

footballscoop.com

It supports my version of events. Here's the key quote:

"I really wanted to understand where Tommy was and what he was thinking, and wanted to make sure he understood how good a coach I thought he was and how important he was to the program,” said Swarbrick, who returned to his alma mater in July 2008 to chair its athletics programs. “There were no commitments made that evening, it was more both of us being candid with each other and subsequently as Marcus and I continued to develop our conversation, still hadn’t offered Marcus the job yet, what I came to understand is that he shared my view of Tommy.​

​

“So I was comfortable going back to Tommy and making a commitment.”​

​

JS clearly said he did not commit to Tommy until after MF agreed TR was vital to the program. He was negotiating with MF before he went back to TR to lock him in. So TR staying was actually contingent upon what MF wanted.

And according to what TR said on the Ryen Russillo podcast, the main reason JS couldn't wait to make the deal with TR as he initially wanted - JS wanted to talk to TR at a later date - is because TR told him it would be too late.

Thanks for digging up that article, that's close to what I remembered. What I heard when it was all going down was that Jenkins was on the fence with promoting Freeman but that he loved Tommy and if Tommy was willing to stay then he was comfortable with promoting Freeman. Once they knew from Rees that he was willing to stay and work with Freeman, then they were comfortable moving forward there. So not A-then-B, it's A-and-B simultaneously.

Me speculating, I do not believe that if they had lost Rees + expected major staff turnover that they would've promoted Freeman. I think that the idea of continuity was the major selling point in his favor. I think they probably would've leaned towards hitting the reset button. But who's to say? They clearly went all in on Freeman as the top choice very shortly after Kelly left.

 

[Dizzyphil]

Thanks for digging up that article, that's close to what I remembered. What I heard when it was all going down was that Jenkins was on the fence with promoting Freeman but that he loved Tommy and if Tommy was willing to stay then he was comfortable with promoting Freeman. Once they knew from Rees that he was willing to stay and work with Freeman, then they were comfortable moving forward there. So not A-then-B, it's A-and-B simultaneously.

Me speculating, I do not believe that if they had lost Rees + expected major staff turnover that they would've promoted Freeman. I think that the idea of continuity was the major selling point in his favor. I think they probably would've leaned towards hitting the reset button. But who's to say? They clearly went all in on Freeman as the top choice very shortly after Kelly left.

Agreed. I believe there were options (HCs) that may have been in the 'talks', but I truly believe MF was the front runner. I have always thought that a HC should have that rapport not only with their staff, but with the players as well and by the video of MF being announced as HC to the team, the players responded in a way that really made me feel better about the hire. I'm not going to base the first game on what is to come with MF in the 'Driver's seat'.

 

[bumpdaddy]

Thanks for digging up that article, that's close to what I remembered. What I heard when it was all going down was that Jenkins was on the fence with promoting Freeman but that he loved Tommy and if Tommy was willing to stay then he was comfortable with promoting Freeman. Once they knew from Rees that he was willing to stay and work with Freeman, then they were comfortable moving forward there. So not A-then-B, it's A-and-B simultaneously.

Me speculating, I do not believe that if they had lost Rees + expected major staff turnover that they would've promoted Freeman. I think that the idea of continuity was the major selling point in his favor. I think they probably would've leaned towards hitting the reset button. But who's to say? They clearly went all in on Freeman as the top choice very shortly after Kelly left.

Yeah, if you read that article further, Swarbrick points out his first move was to lock in Balis because he was key to maintaining the culture the players wanted to keep and he was going to tell the new coach, whoever it would be, that Balis would have to be his S&C coach no matter what. So the one guy JS was committed to keeping from the start was Balis.

 

[Luckylucci]

I’m in this weird place where Rees has a lot to prove but he’s so much better than what else we could probably get, at this stage in the process that it’s kind of scary if he were to leave.

I think if Rees was just given the talent he’d put together a top 5 offense that was lights out. He’s an “offensive mind” as they say. But, he’s struggled at putting/getting all the talent together. There is always something missing. When he has the OL, he doesn’t have the WR’s or vice versa. He still hasn’t found the QB. Kind of shocking to think that Rees has been QB coach since 2017 and he hasn’t recruited a QB, out of HS, that has started and won a single game, at ND. He inherited Book and then couldn’t get anyone in behind him so we had to get Jack. All that just screams mediocrity. I was excited about Rees having autonomy over the offense because I’d like to see if he can get that QB. Because of what type of offense he could generate with that type of QB. But, unless Buch is the real deal we may not ever know even if he stays.

 

[IrishLax]

Looks like Reesus is safe.

 

[Dale]

Loy had a somewhat wet blanket summary of it. In short, it wasn’t just Rees turned down Miami.

 

[Free Manera]

Loy had a somewhat wet blanket summary of it. In short, it wasn’t just Rees turned down Miami.

Yeah. Waiting for the other shoe to drop on that lol.

 

[StPaul_Irish]

Loy had a somewhat wet blanket summary of it. In short, it wasn’t just Rees turned down Miami.

Sorry, I'm an idiot, what does this mean?

 

[benneboy]

Think Harbaugh calls up Rees? Might as well. Nearly everyone seems to want to dirty dance with our OC. Don’t buy into these pervs, Tommy. Stay Irish.

That would make 0 sense. Irish alumni passes on his Alma Mater as well as Kelly who offered to make him highest paid oc in college football to go coach for a lame duck at Michigan of all places.

I assume the concern is still the Rams/and or NFL.

 

[Dale]

I think Loy is just being cautious making a sweeping statement that Rees is returning. I only take it to mean Rees picks up his phone from suitors, not that he’s leaving or anything.

 

[GoldenAura]

I think Loy is just being cautious making a sweeping statement that Rees is returning. I only take it to mean Rees picks up his phone from suitors, not that he’s leaving or anything.

That's how I interpreted it too.

 

[GoldenAura]

Also per Loy, Tommy was heavily leaning towards going to Miami because the money/incentives we're so good.

 

[Free Manera]

Also per Loy, Tommy was heavily leaning towards going to Miami because the money/incentives we're so good.

Just spitballing but I wonder if “incentives” includes stuff like $2 million in NIL money earmarked for the QB of your choosing. Miami allegedly has some boosters ready to go wild with NIL.

 

[benneboy]

Just spitballing but I wonder if “incentives” includes stuff like $2 million in NIL money earmarked for the QB of your choosing. Miami allegedly has some boosters ready to go wild with NIL.

If that's the case, at least he'd be able to relay what other programs are doing so we'd know what we're up against.

 

[Calabrese's People]

I think one of the things that stood out for me from the BEBK to MFMF changeover is how Tommy, his friends and girlfriend looked at the offer from LSU as a lifestyle move. Tommy mentioned how everyone was like 'Hell Yeah' and the push was there to move. The opportunity to live in Miami would have significant pull.
If UCLA had any brains they'd offer TR the OC position.

 

[T-Boone]

If Tommy goes do they promote the RB coach to OC?

 

[ThePiombino]

It's bad enough Tommy can't recruit a decent QB. Now he's going to flirt with non-NFL gigs? FOH

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Irish4life]

I think one of the things that stood out for me from the BEBK to MFMF changeover is how Tommy, his friends and girlfriend looked at the offer from LSU as a lifestyle move. Tommy mentioned how everyone was like 'Hell Yeah' and the push was there to move. The opportunity to live in Miami would have significant pull.
If UCLA had any brains they'd offer TR the OC position.

He wants autonomy on offense, not to not be the play caller at UCLA