Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[stlnd01]

I am going to say Elko was BKs best hire.

Agreed. Not Elko by himself but also because he brought Lea to Notre Dame. So you got four years of very good DCs.
Freeman was also a very good hire, largely b/c he upped the recruiting game and signaled a willingness to take bigger swings for assistants than we previously had. But realistically he was never going to be in that job more than two seasons.

On offense, I'm not sure how to rank Rees/Long/Denbrock/Martin. Offensive talent has been so inconsistent, and BK obviously played a much bigger role on that side of the ball, too, so it's a little harder to parse who did what. But I know they were all better hires than Charley Molnar.

 

[stlnd01]

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.

So you're saying that after previous coaches "ruined" a long line of more talented QBs, Rees took a backup who no one ever thought was going to play much and turned him into a three-year starter who won "most" of our games and took us to the CFP twice. But Rees gets no credit for any of that because Book didn't have a big arm. OK.

 

[Irish8248]

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

Without Elko we don't get Lea or the ability to hire Freeman.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Balis is BKs best hire

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

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.

Correct. Slam dunk spot on.

Whatever his second biggest mistake was, the gap between that and BVG is so wide that it takes a minute to even recall it.

 

[irishff1014]

Clark Lea and Marcus Freeman exist.

And is now the current head coach. That would suggest the best hire.

 

[IrishLax]

My take on Tommy Rees is that there are so many people with entrenched hatred for him that it literally doesn't matter what he does. He could win super bowls as a coach and people would still be like "well, he doesn't really deserve credit because..."

At the same time, I thought he deserved to be canned this year after the Marshall debacle coupled with pure arrogance in the game plan against Stanford. I'm not happy to see him go with this timing and Hartman in the fold, but the OC position at ND will be a revolving door every couple years the same as it is with every school that has a defensive minded HC. Many of those programs are very successful, and you just have to move on and make the right hire.

 

[NDdomer2]

My take on Tommy Rees is that there are so many people with entrenched hatred for him that it literally doesn't matter what he does. He could win super bowls as a coach and people would still be like "well, he doesn't really deserve credit because..."

At the same time, I thought he deserved to be canned this year after the Marshall debacle coupled with pure arrogance in the game plan against Stanford. I'm not happy to see him go with this timing and Hartman in the fold, but the OC position at ND will be a revolving door every couple years the same as it is with every school that has a defensive minded HC. Many of those programs are very successful, and you just have to move on and make the right hire.

yeah if he is successful at bama it will be becasue of saban and nothing of his own doing.

And if we struggle this year it wont be because of who the new hire is or anything like that it will be because tommy fucked something on his way out the door.

 

[IrishLion]

yeah if he is successful at bama it will be becasue of saban and nothing of his own doing.

And if we struggle this year it wont be because of who the new hire is or anything like that it will be because tommy fucked something on his way out the door.

Gonna average 45+ PPG if they find a QB, but a vocal portion of this board will say 0% of that success will be owed to Tommy, since he didn't recruit any of the 5-star athletes that will make him look good.

 

[irishff1014]

Without Elko we don't get Lea or the ability to hire Freeman.

That's a good point. We can't say who we would have hired though. We can play the what if's all day.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

yeah if he is successful at bama it will be becasue of saban and nothing of his own doing.

And if we struggle this year it wont be because of who the new hire is or anything like that it will be because tommy fucked something on his way out the door.

If Tommy wins a title or gets scooped up as an NFL OC, you'll hear variations of:

"I could've called that offense with all that talent"
"Saban intervened and took control so Tommy was OC in name only"
"He's maturing now but only because ND gave him time to cut his teeth, it was a bad hire at the time"
"#nepotism....ugh....ugh"
"Always thinks he's the smartest guy in the room....just wait...."
"he wuz born on 3rd and thinks he hit a triple. Give me another natty light!"

 

[Free Manera]

Rees will always be polarizing. I have thoroughly mixed feelings on him.

1. I believed he should not have been hired in the first place because there were better candidates.
2. I also believed he would be a really good OC eventually.
3. His recruiting was bad until Freeman took over as head coach. Not a coincidence.
4. He has shown flashes of genius with his setups. A good gameplanner is like a good fighter; they show something enough times to get a reaction, then when they know they have you, they feint and hit you with the real attack. He has this quality and once he fully develops and sustains it, he will be a dangerous OC.
5. The cumulative Marshall, second half Navy, and Stanford performance is a fireable offense.
6. At a white board, he is probably super impressive. With unlimited talent (like at Bama or in the NFL) I think he will be a great playcaller and gameplanner, eventually. If he stays at Bama for a couple years, I could see him putting up very impressive numbers. That does not mean those results would have been possible at ND though. I don't think they would have, frankly.

I was ready for him to go, because I felt like he had a foot out the door all year and was auditioning for the NFL. He got NFL lite instead, but nonetheless he is not long for the CFB world.

I also think there are absolutely opportunities to upgrade the OC position now. Ludwig, Lewis, and Johnson would probably all be better fits and also get better results. The II podcast was alluding to some fit issues with Rees, and some players maybe not buying into him as much as it appeared. I'm sure more will come out on this over time.

 

[GreenGemsOmally]

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.

All we needed in 2015 was a different DC. Just somebody marginally better than BVG, and that team was loaded with enough talent and depth to win it all.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I am going to say Elko was BKs best hire.

Agreed. That self audit after the 2016 season was Kelly's best work. Hiring Elko was proof he could reach out of the GVSU contact list and get someone to turn things around.

Man, 2016 was just a stupid year.

Clark Lea and Marcus Freeman exist.

So, wait, assistant coaches can like.....leave.....but you have the ability to go out and hire other ones who are equally good if not better?

Tell me more about this!

You actually don't get Lea without Elko because Lea came with Elko. I was very unsure about promoting Lea when Elko left, but man did that end up being a good move by Kelly as well. Then Freeman was just a stroke of genius by....the man who now dry humps LSU recruits in Tik Tok videos.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

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

IMO, Elko was the more obvious hire at the time with his track record at Wake; I think the better "hire" was actually promoting Clark Lea when Elko bolted to College Station.

I also think you have to add Harry Hiestand to this list

 

[fightingirish26]

Elko changed everything. Just watching the team tackle in 2017 felt different, he turned things around for that defense which played a big part in reaching the playoffs twice. JOK/Lea don't happen without Elko, and honestly with how things would have turned out Freeman probably doesn't happen either.

 

[IrishMoore1]

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.

We have 3 blue chip QBs AFTER Freeman took over as head coach...not before. Whether it was low aim or average recruiting, Rees was not targeting top 100 players until Freeman showed up.

Ian Book is one of those guys who made it to the next level because of the player and his work ethic, not the coach. Does anyone really believe Brian Polian developed Michael Floyd and Golden Tate into NFL draft picks and eventual super bowl champs? Those guys were going to the next level regardless of who was coaching them.

In the football world outside the ND fanbase, Rees is very well respected and highly regarded for his genius offensive mind. Maybe he's the type of guy who would excel in the NFL, but as a recruiter and developer of talent, he's still unproven. Even if he wins at Bama, it will be with guys he did not recruit or develop.

 

[TorontoGold]

Agreed. That self audit after the 2016 season was Kelly's best work. Hiring Elko was proof he could reach out of the GVSU contact list and get someone to turn things around.

Man, 2016 was just a stupid year.


So, wait, assistant coaches can like.....leave.....but you have the ability to go out and hire other ones who are equally good if not better?

Tell me more about this!

You actually don't get Lea without Elko because Lea came with Elko. I was very unsure about promoting Lea when Elko left, but man did that end up being a good move by Kelly as well. Then Freeman was just a stroke of genius by....the man who now dry humps LSU recruits in Tik Tok videos.

I think the ranking of hires should be
1. Lea - 10/10
2. Freeman - 9/10 (rough start to 2021 knocks him down a point)
3. Elko - 8.5/10 (tremendous turn around, brought Lea, but only stayed 1 year)

Lea lead the defense to the playoffs twice and performed exceptionally well. Freeman's program impact is what makes him greater in his 1 year as DC than Elko. Don't get me wrong, Elko was a great hire but Lea didn't have the proven background of Elko and maintained a level of sustained success at a championship level.

I love each of those hires so I could be swayed to put either at the top.

 

[IrishLax]

Elko changed everything. Just watching the team tackle in 2017 felt different, he turned things around for that defense which played a big part in reaching the playoffs twice. JOK/Lea don't happen without Elko, and honestly with how things would have turned out Freeman probably doesn't happen either.

If Kelly had hired an Elko equivalent instead of BVG I’m convinced ND wins a natty or comes close with that 2015 team.

 

[notredomer23]

I think the ranking of hires should be
1. Lea - 10/10
2. Freeman - 9/10 (rough start to 2021 knocks him down a point)
3. Elko - 8.5/10 (tremendous turn around, brought Lea, but only stayed 1 year)

Lea lead the defense to the playoffs twice and performed exceptionally well. Freeman's program impact is what makes him greater in his 1 year as DC than Elko. Don't get me wrong, Elko was a great hire but Lea didn't have the proven background of Elko and maintained a level of sustained success at a championship level.

I love each of those hires so I could be swayed to put either at the top.

I get your point on Lea, but didn't he just say in an interview he never spoke to Kelly until he was already at ND as Elko brought him along? In a world where Lea was DC in 2021, I find it hard to believe ND goes with him to be HC, making it hard for anyone but Freeman to be #1 in my mind.

 

[FWIrish4]

I think the ranking of hires should be
1. Lea - 10/10
2. Freeman - 9/10 (rough start to 2021 knocks him down a point)
3. Elko - 8.5/10 (tremendous turn around, brought Lea, but only stayed 1 year)

Lea lead the defense to the playoffs twice and performed exceptionally well. Freeman's program impact is what makes him greater in his 1 year as DC than Elko. Don't get me wrong, Elko was a great hire but Lea didn't have the proven background of Elko and maintained a level of sustained success at a championship level.

I love each of those hires so I could be swayed to put either at the top.

Lea was a tremendous defensive coordinator, but I don’t think 10/10 is warranted because of his recruiting. We are feeling the effect of lack of high ceiling guys on that side of the ball. The blue chip ratio on defense lagged comparing to offensive recruiting during his time.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I think the ranking of hires should be
1. Lea - 10/10
2. Freeman - 9/10 (rough start to 2021 knocks him down a point)
3. Elko - 8.5/10 (tremendous turn around, brought Lea, but only stayed 1 year)

Lea lead the defense to the playoffs twice and performed exceptionally well. Freeman's program impact is what makes him greater in his 1 year as DC than Elko. Don't get me wrong, Elko was a great hire but Lea didn't have the proven background of Elko and maintained a level of sustained success at a championship level.

I love each of those hires so I could be swayed to put either at the top.

Elko was the hire I'd been waiting for BK to make for years. Extend your reach and go get someone with zero connection to you or the program. He was finally able to do that with Elko and Long.

There probably is no Lea or Freeman without the Elko hire. He could have easily brought back some ghost of Grand Valley State past. It was an important hire and a very good one.

 

[pumpdog20]

Elko is the best hire to date, Freeman is going to end up being the best before it's said and done.

 

[Ndaccountant]

It's scottie booker and it's not even close.

 

[Luckylucci]

Elko was the hire I'd been waiting for BK to make for years. Extend your reach and go get someone with zero connection to you or the program. He was finally able to do that with Elko and Long.

There probably is no Lea or Freeman without the Elko hire. He could have easily brought back some ghost of Grand Valley State past. It was an important hire and a very good one.

Elko "most important" and Freeman "best"? Elko was an extremely pivotal hire but Freeman's impact will likely be far greater.

I still don't think BK gets enough credit for getting Freeman to ND. If you love Freeman then you have to give major props to BK for getting him here over LSU, of all places. Folks seem to forget that some in Baton Rouge thought Freeman was going to end up there until BK "recruited" Freeman to ND at the end.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I get your point on Lea, but didn't he just say in an interview he never spoke to Kelly until he was already at ND as Elko brought him along? In a world where Lea was DC in 2021, I find it hard to believe ND goes with him to be HC, making it hard for anyone but Freeman to be #1 in my mind.

Elko definitely brought him along, not BK's decision to hire Elko as LB Coach originally, but he couldn't looked for a much more proven and experienced DC than Lea. He made the decision to promote him and it stabilized our defense tremendously for the two playoff runs in 2018 and 2020. That's why included Lea on that list in addition to Elko, separately.

I was gonna add Tony Alford as well but I think that was actually Weis who brought him in in 2009; though kudos to BK for seeing the potential there and retaining him in 2010. Dude was a MONSTER on the recruiting trail for us.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Elko "most important" and Freeman "best"? Elko was an extremely pivotal hire but Freeman's impact will likely be far greater.

I still don't think BK gets enough credit for getting Freeman to ND. If you love Freeman then you have to give major props to BK for getting him here over LSU, of all places. Folks seem to forget that some in Baton Rouge thought Freeman was going to end up there until BK "recruited" Freeman to ND at the end.

I don't know. I guess.

Elko, Lea and Freeman are both head coaches now. Bob Diaco's career went that of David Caruso after NYPD Blue and Chuck Martin is grinding away at Miami Of Ohio.

Kelly was never going to get any good assistants until he branched out of his comfort zone and hired someone he didn't know. Elko was that hire and it probably gave him the persuasive skill set to eventually land Freeman away from LSU and everyone else.

Whatever Freeman ends up doing, I'm giving Jack the credit for hiring him as HC and not Kelly for hiring him as DC. I'm bitter like that.

 

[ulukinatme]

We have 3 blue chip QBs AFTER Freeman took over as head coach...not before. Whether it was low aim or average recruiting, Rees was not targeting top 100 players until Freeman showed up.

Ian Book is one of those guys who made it to the next level because of the player and his work ethic, not the coach. Does anyone really believe Brian Polian developed Michael Floyd and Golden Tate into NFL draft picks and eventual super bowl champs? Those guys were going to the next level regardless of who was coaching them.

In the football world outside the ND fanbase, Rees is very well respected and highly regarded for his genius offensive mind. Maybe he's the type of guy who would excel in the NFL, but as a recruiter and developer of talent, he's still unproven. Even if he wins at Bama, it will be with guys he did not recruit or develop.

My, oh my...sounds like you should have been the one hired by Saban. You've seen through Rees' ruse for the charlatan that he is! The man has played all these coaches for fools. Truly amazing.

 

[stlnd01]

I don't know. I guess.

Elko, Lea and Freeman are both head coaches now. Bob Diaco's career went that of David Caruso after NYPD Blue and Chuck Martin is grinding away at Miami Of Ohio.

Kelly was never going to get any good assistants until he branched out of his comfort zone and hired someone he didn't know. Elko was that hire and it probably gave him the persuasive skill set to eventually land Freeman away from LSU and everyone else.

Whatever Freeman ends up doing, I'm giving Jack the credit for hiring him as HC and not Kelly for hiring him as DC. I'm bitter like that.

Bolstering your case, it was Swarbrick who opened up the checkbook to hire Freeman as DC. Prior to that we were not paying top-of-the-market salaries to coordinators. (which worked OK when they were BK's buddies or internal promotions like Rees and Lea, but is also why we lost Elko).

Anyway we all know the real most important hire was Mickens. Without his good buddy on staff here maybe Freeman doesn't come.

 

[Irish#1]

Speaking of tommy, I saw this in The Athletic.

Also: Rees will not be coming in and installing his Notre Dame playbook. Alabama’s OCs run the Alabama/Saban offense. Each of those hires above has put their own spin on it, but the Tide have had a top-20 offense for seven straight years. That’s built through continuity, not blowing up the base offense and installing a new one every other year.