Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[Irish du Nord]

Passing awakening was put on hold. We had Drew Pyne at qb. Guy could barely see over our linemen.

Pyne wasn’t great but we also had a really thin and young receiver corp. Both of which reflect poorly on the way the offense was run as a whole

 

[ulukinatme]

Sorry but you’re just wrong. The fact a player is a sophomore has no bearing on talent. Alt was rated out as our best OL. Would you prefer a worse player who was a senior? Should Tyree have gotten more Carrie’s than our stud sophomore running backs? The talent was there to perform better than they did. The problem with offense was the QB position and he was a Junior who your boy recruited and developed.

The fact that you have no ability to find a single fault with Rees’s coaching shows just how biased you are. First the problems with the offense were the OL then it was the WRs then it was the fact they were young. I’m convinced you and Irishdrunk are the same guy just posting opposite takes. If so, well done.

Sorry, but you're just wrong. Age doesn't necessarily have a bearing on talent, but it does come in to play with knowledge, experience, and often times execution. Alt is a tremendous talent that many missed on, some of which is due to his pedigree and the fact he got a full year as a freshman once Big Fish went down. He's more the exception to the rule because it's rare to find freshmen outperforming upperclassmen in a healthy roster, especially on the OL. The point is on good teams you'll rarely find a guy like Alt starting as a freshmen if OL development and recruiting have been going well. That speaks to the struggles under Quinn's leadership.

As far as Tyree he's an exceptional back, but running between the tackles is not his strong suit. He's very effective as a receiving threat in space, the Fiesta Bowl is a great example. In that area of the offense Tyree is better and more dangerous than both Diggs and Estime.
I would say the QB position "is what it is" but more aptly it "is what it was." Look at the difference in recruiting from BK to Freeman. Rees was on both staffs. Under BK we went after "RKGs," but since Freeman came on board Rees went after Dante Moore, and successfully landed Minchey, Carr, and Hartman. That's a pretty damn good haul in 6 months. Seems likely that the "recruiting problem" lie with BK and not Rees there. As far as QB development Rees has arguably gotten more out of less almost every year, so you don't really have a leg to stand on there.

I readily admit Rees has faults, but I'm typically too busy refuting some of ya'll's fallacies and exaggerations to discuss them. I do think at times he's been slow to make adjustments. I think some game plans have been awful while others were great. I think he's misused a few talents, like forcing Tyree to run between the tackles too often when he's not suited to it. Nobody is perfect. You have to take the bad with the good though, as well as acknowledge the limitations he's worked with as far as Long and BK's failed recruiting. His worst season was still 9 wins with a backup QB. He had multiple Top 10 wins. He broke a Fiesta Bowl record. He had two bowl wins against ranked SEC teams. There's plenty more, but the point is he's not nearly as awful as some people make him out to be, and the fact he received interest from Alabama and other top jobs reinforces that.

Again, a healthy roster is typically comprised of mostly experienced upperclassmen, something we haven't had the luxury of having the last two seasons. When you have guys that are just a few months removed from high school or a year out you're not going to see the same confidence, knowledge, and execution as you will a Junior or Senior who is familiar with the system. I'm not sure why citing the OL and WR struggles is inflammatory, were those not understood to be sore spots holding the team back? We didn't retain Quinn and Del for those very reasons. It doesn't matter who the OC is, if your OL isn't getting it done in the trenches you're not going to be executing like you should. Look how the offense struggled in the first 6 games last season as the OL faltered, then they took off midseason once they finally gelled. This isn't rocket science, is this not a valid point? As far as the WR, are you under some impression that WR recruiting and development was exceptional under BK? In most seasons we were lucky if we had one receiver hit the 1,000 yard mark, let alone a situation like having two guys combine for 2000: Tate/Floyd, Stovall/Samardzija, Samardzija/McKnight, etc. BK never accomplished that, the closest was 2011 with a Weis protege in Floyd along with Eifert. Again, I thought this stuff was pretty common knowledge, but we're seeing WR recruiting turning around in the last year. I believe development has started to improve too under Stuckey yet no receiver eclipsed 361 yards last season in part due to the QB injury.

Quite frankly I find it funny that some people are upset about the Rees move when they wanted him out to begin with (Not calling you out personally here). Whatever happens next season I fully expect the new OC to be successful though. Rees and Freeman have built one of the most experienced and talented offenses that we've had in some time, they're primed to breakout next season. When that inevitably happens I'm sure a number of posters will come back here to say "LOLZ REES SUXORS!" despite the fact he added all the ingredients and has been baking the cake for the last two years.

 

[ulukinatme]

I’ve known Brent for a few years over at RBR and I think he gives a little better insight into the Rees hire than Erik did. We shall see I guess.

Did Nick Saban usher in the end of the Alabama Dynasty by hiring Tommy Rees for Offensive Coordinator?

Opinions are torn, but Alabama has a new offensive coordinator for 2023, for better or for worse.

www.rollbamaroll.com

That was a pretty good breakdown of the Irish offense the last few seasons.

Yeah, that was a pretty fair and well researched breakdown.

 

[Domina Nostra]

Like Brian Kelly, Rees will not be able to handle the SEC West.

 

[MacIrish75]

Like Brian Kelly, Rees will not be able to handle the SEC West.

Kelly actually did better this year against the SECWes than he did against the SECEast.

 

[GoldenAura]

Like Brian Kelly, Rees will not be able to handle the SEC West.

BK won the SEC West in his first year lol

 

[Domina Nostra]

BK won the SEC West in his first year lol

I looked it up, and by goodness, you're right. It says he's now 1-1 against Saban. I guess he wasn't such a crappy coach after all!

(I apparently forgot to use sarcasm italics last time, so I am being more careful this time.)

 

[Irishdrunk]

I looked it up, and by goodness, you're right. It says he's now 1-1 against Saban. I guess he wasn't such a crappy coach after all!

(I apparently forgot to use sarcasm italics last time, so I am being more careful this time.)

Don't let the anger blind you on Kelly. He is a damn fine Head Coach. He didn't ditch his Alma Mater.

Let the healing begin!

 

[stlnd01]

Don't let the anger blind you on Kelly. He is a damn fine Head Coach. He didn't ditch his Alma Mater.

Let the healing begin!

Yes, it is true, the list of schools BK has left high and dry does not include Assumption College of Worcester, Mass.

 

[ulukinatme]

Don't let the anger blind you on Kelly. He is a damn fine Head Coach. He didn't ditch his Alma Mater.

Let the healing begin!

LeBron gave up on Cleveland to learn how to win a championship, then he came back and fulfilled the prophecy. I bet Rees returns someday.

 

[Domina Nostra]

Don't let the anger blind you on Kelly. He is a damn fine Head Coach. He didn't ditch his Alma Mater.

Let the healing begin!

Hahaha! I’m obviously doing this wrong. I’ll just say it straight:

- People said Kelly was bad and would never be able to handle the SEC—they were wrong. Kelly was always a good coach.

- People say that Rees was bad and will not make it Alabama. I suspect they’re wrong as well.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

LeBron gave up on Cleveland to learn how to win a championship, then he came back and fulfilled the prophecy. I bet Rees returns someday.

I don't know how anyone can possibly predict this when not more than a year ago if someone told us Brian Kelly would be HC at LSU and Tommy Rees would be OC at Alabama, we'd have collectively laughed our asses off. Let's be real, this profession is completely unpredictable and fluid. There are very few absolutes outside of the Ferentz Cabal running Iowa no matter what. There could be more movement in the weeks ahead on the current ND staff for all we know, and if anything, by now we should expect it and be prepared for it.

If nothing else, what we've been hearing in recent months with regards to NIL, The Portal and Recruiting. A lot of guys want nothing to do with it and would rather be in the League with professionals rather than kiss asses of teenagers. Like do you want to watch film of the Chiefs or do you want to go watch a junior DT recruit play high school basketball on a Friday night to show him how much he really means to you?

I think Rees has NFL aspirations and falls in that category. For that, I'm willing to bet he doesn't come back to ND.

 

[IrishMoore1]

I'm still not sold on Tommy Rees as an OC.

Consider the following questions:

• What trophy or bowl win of any significance can we point to and attribute to Tommy as player or coach?
• What QB has Tommy both recruited and developed to be prolific in college and/or get drafted?
• How much more efficient was the Rees offense over his predecessor, Chip Long?

My personal answers are none and not much if at all. As OC and the QB coach, he's responsible for recruiting, so please don't give me the "well he didn't have a good QB on the roster" or "the receiver talent hasn't been there". The "he did the best he could with Pyne" is probably the worst apologist argument - why is Pyne even on the roster in the first place!? Rees recruited him.

For those of you trying to reason he will have better talent to work with at Alabama, I don't think I would trade any of our offensive position groups for Bama's right now. I wouldn't trade our running backs, QBs, or O-lineman, and I would definitely take our incoming WR class over theirs.

 

[Giddyup]

If you wait 7 months you’ll have more answers. Pretty hard to fail at Alabama. Impressive he got that chance, which is coveted by almost all assistants and 50% of head coaches.

 

[stlnd01]

I'm still not sold on Tommy Rees as an OC.

Consider the following questions:

• What trophy or bowl win of any significance can we point to and attribute to Tommy as player or coach?
• What QB has Tommy both recruited and developed to be prolific in college and/or get drafted?
• How much more efficient was the Rees offense over his predecessor, Chip Long?

My personal answers are none and not much if at all. As OC and the QB coach, he's responsible for recruiting, so please don't give me the "well he didn't have a good QB on the roster" or "the receiver talent hasn't been there". The "he did the best he could with Pyne" is probably the worst apologist argument - why is Pyne even on the roster in the first place!? Rees recruited him.

For those of you trying to reason he will have better talent to work with at Alabama, I don't think I would trade any of our offensive position groups for Bama's right now. I wouldn't trade our running backs, QBs, or O-lineman, and I would definitely take our incoming WR class over theirs.

Confused here. Is Tommy a shit recruiter or does he get no credit for developing five-foot-nothing Ian Book into a fourth round draft pick?

 

[ulukinatme]

Confused here. Is Tommy a shit recruiter or does he get no credit for developing five-foot-nothing Ian Book into a fourth round draft pick?

It's like revisionist history. If he's a shit recruiter how did he land Minchey, Carr, and Hartman in 6 months? Doesn't compute. Makes more sense that BK had his staff securing lower hanging fruit "RKGs" because he was lazy and didn't want to chase 5 stars out of state. Easier to go to LSU and let the talent in your backyard come to you.

 

[IrishMoore1]

Confused here. Is Tommy a shit recruiter or does he get no credit for developing five-foot-nothing Ian Book into a fourth round draft pick?

I don't credit him for Book - Let's wind clock back to 2017. Tommy arrives in 2017 as the QB coach in Book's sophomore year. Book doesn't even start the year. It's Wimbush, one QB in a long line of QBs ruined by Kelly. Book takes over by October and plays good enough to win most games except the big ones that matter (except Clemson 2020*). His performance didn't change much from year to year with Rees. He still didn't see the wide open guy most plays and almost never threw downfield. I don't consider that development.

It's like revisionist history. If he's a shit recruiter how did he land Minchey, Carr, and Hartman in 6 months? Doesn't compute. Makes more sense that BK had his staff securing lower hanging fruit "RKGs" because he was lazy and didn't want to chase 5 stars out of state. Easier to go to LSU and let the talent in your backyard come to you.

Tommy Rees said in an interview that when Marcus Freeman came in, he was shocked at how much Freeman had staff pushing paperwork through for recruitment. It was a wake up call to step up his recruitment game. So pre-Freeman Tommy was either an average recruiter or was not putting in the effort, and maybe that's partly on Kelly. Post-Freeman, we got Minchey, Carr, and Hartman...so how much of that is due to the Freeman effect vs Tommy Rees stepping up his recruitment? I don't think you can say Tommy all of a sudden started landing high ranking high school players all on his own. The last QB he recruited before Freeman was Steve Angeli...

 

[T-Boone]

It's like revisionist history. If he's a shit recruiter how did he land Minchey, Carr, and Hartman in 6 months? Doesn't compute. Makes more sense that BK had his staff securing lower hanging fruit "RKGs" because he was lazy and didn't want to chase 5 stars out of state. Easier to go to LSU and let the talent in your backyard come to you.

He wasn’t a shit recruiter - but he was average/below average when ND needed someone to come in and blow the doors off like Freeman later did.
Rees was BKs mistake. He should never have got the job from BK the way he did get it.

 

[T-Boone]

I think the Rees hire as OC was the biggest screw up of BKs time at ND.

 

[Wild Bill]

I think the Rees hire as OC was the biggest screw up of BKs time at ND.

Were you here for BVG?

 

[Luckylucci]

Uh, BVG is by far and away the biggest mistake of BK's tenure. The team was immediately better just from him no longer be present in the Gug.

 

[T-Boone]

Uh, BVG is by far and away the biggest mistake of BK's tenure. The team was immediately better just from him no longer be present in the Gug.

Okay I agree except that if you factor timing in and that BVG was terrible only in hindsight it’s a different story.
All ND needed in 2019/2020 was a great OC and we might have won a ship.
So BK absolutely had to go out on a hunt for the best. You have to know not to just give the job to your kid friend next door on the wild off chance he is the best option.
It turned out he had no idea what he was doing.
Also defensive hires just aren’t as important as offensive hires.
I’ve had a few so I am open to criticism.

 

[T-Boone]

It leads to a good question. Who was BKs best hire in his time?
Freeman?
Elko?
Earlier?

 

[Crazy Balki]

Okay I agree except that if you factor timing in and that BVG was terrible only in hindsight it’s a different story.
All ND needed in 2019/2020 was a great OC and we might have won a ship.
So BK absolutely had to go out on a hunt for the best. You have to know not to just give the job to your kid friend next door on the wild off chance he is the best option.
It turned out he had no idea what he was doing.
Also defensive hires just aren’t as important as offensive hires.
I’ve had a few so I am open to criticism.

Disagree entirely.

ND's shortcomings in 2019 and 2020 weren't due to a poor OC. It was due to a lack of skill talent and the lack of a great QB. Now, Chip Long being a d*ck didn't help matters at all, but he was by many accounts, a good OC.

All the credit in the world to Ian Book for making the most of his opportunity, but he wasn't going to win you a title. The sheer lack of skill position talent was on full display against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

 

[T-Boone]

Disagree entirely.

ND's shortcomings in 2019 and 2020 weren't due to a poor OC. It was due to a lack of skill talent and the lack of a great QB. Now, Chip Long being a d*ck didn't help matters at all, but he was by many accounts, a good OC.

All the credit in the world to Ian Book for making the most of his opportunity, but he wasn't going to win you a title. The sheer lack of skill position talent was on full display against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

When I referred to 2019/2020 I don’t mean that season I mean the hire at that time (replacing Long)
The hire had to be the best guy because we had the other areas pretty close.
If we got the right guy we may have won in 20 or 21 or 22.
Probably not.
But don’t go with some kid.

 

[T-Boone]

I am going to say Elko was BKs best hire.

 

[ulukinatme]

I don't credit him for Book - Let's wind clock back to 2017. Tommy arrives in 2017 as the QB coach in Book's sophomore year. Book doesn't even start the year. It's Wimbush, one QB in a long line of QBs ruined by Kelly. Book takes over by October and plays good enough to win most games except the big ones that matter (except Clemson 2020*). His performance didn't change much from year to year with Rees. He still didn't see the wide open guy most plays and almost never threw downfield. I don't consider that development.


Tommy Rees said in an interview that when Marcus Freeman came in, he was shocked at how much Freeman had staff pushing paperwork through for recruitment. It was a wake up call to step up his recruitment game. So pre-Freeman Tommy was either an average recruiter or was not putting in the effort, and maybe that's partly on Kelly. Post-Freeman, we got Minchey, Carr, and Hartman...so how much of that is due to the Freeman effect vs Tommy Rees stepping up his recruitment? I don't think you can say Tommy all of a sudden started landing high ranking high school players all on his own. The last QB he recruited before Freeman was Steve Angeli...

So we have 3 Bluechip QBs on roster and Ian Book became a 4th round draft pick (Despite the fact he never started before Rees was QB coach) totally in spite of Tommy Rees' coaching? He just completely conned Saban into hiring him then. That's quite a reach, my friend.

 

[TorontoGold]

I am going to say Elko was BKs best hire.

Clark Lea and Marcus Freeman exist.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Disagree entirely.

ND's shortcomings in 2019 and 2020 weren't due to a poor OC. It was due to a lack of skill talent and the lack of a great QB. Now, Chip Long being a d*ck didn't help matters at all, but he was by many accounts, a good OC.

All the credit in the world to Ian Book for making the most of his opportunity, but he wasn't going to win you a title. The sheer lack of skill position talent was on full display against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

Not that this is anything that hasn't been said a thousand times before, but BK's biggest fault was he just didn't like recruiting and it showed. I think when he really tried, he was pretty good at it, but most of the time he was just lazy about it. He didn't even seem to try and make up for that by hiring himself a few world class recruiters to stock the cupboard with talent. Compare that with Saban who's a relentless beast at recruiting and packs his staff with world class recruiters. ND is not a hard place to recruit to. It sells itself. Yeah, you've got some hurdles because of academics, but Kelly could've done a LOT better if he'd tried.

 

[ulukinatme]

I think the Rees hire as OC was the biggest screw up of BKs time at ND.

Were you here for BVG?

There may be a few others that could make the list, but absolutely correct. Rees isn't even remotely close to BVG when it comes to BK screwups.