Notre Dame expert explains new Alabama coordinator Tommy Rees' thought process

New Alabama coordinator Tommy Rees drew some eyeballs around the country when he made the cut to be Nick Saban‘s new offensive coordinator, but Saban can probably thank the Fighting Irish in some sense for Rees being willing to make the jump.

Had it not been for Notre Dame’s own process in finding a new head coach, Rees might still be coaching for the Fighting Irish.

“He got essentially what I would call a courtesy interview,” the Athletic’s Pete Sampson said of Reese on The Paul Finebaum Show. “I wouldn’t say that he was considered as much as he thought he should have been perhaps more considered than he was, and I think that got him thinking about, ‘OK, if the athletic director, Jack Swarbick, doesn’t see me as a viable candidate here, what do I have to do to become one?’

“And I think that sort of led him down this path of professional development. Well, I can have more autonomous offense at Notre Dame without Brian Kelly. Now I can go work at Alabama with Nick Saban. It’s a way to round out his resume or enhance his resume that following Brian Kelly around to the next stop wouldn’t have done.”

That’s not to say Notre Dame didn’t do what it could to take care of Rees, helping keep him around when Rees could have bolted for Baton Rouge.

“Brian Kelly wanted him to go and Rees was ready to go,” Sampson explained. “He was headed to Baton Rouge. Notre Dame, I think, adjusted how it viewed paying top-level coordinators, so they made it make economic sense for him to stay. So he chose to stay at Notre Dame.”

New Alabama coordinator Tommy Rees rounding out his profile

If autonomy in calling an offense is what Rees wanted, he’s certainly put himself in some positions to be able to show what he can do once granted it.

First he got out from under the shadow of Brian Kelly. Working under a defensive coach like Marcus Freeman, he had plenty of freedom. He’ll have more of that at Alabama, though with the guiding hand of Saban there to steady him.

All of that is positive career progress for the new Alabama coordinator, Tommy Rees.

“Once the finances got taken off the board, then it was a question of, ‘Well I can go with Brian Kelly and basically be the same coach I’ve been the last five years at Notre Dame just with different colors, or I can stay at Notre Dame, even though it’s the same place, and do a different job’ because suddenly he had autonomy under a defensive head coach with Marcus Freeman,” Sampson said.

“And I think Rees sort of got to flex a little bit last season in some spots. Helped put the staff together. When you’re an offensive coordinator under an offensive head coach, you’re sort of not quite the full coordinator sometimes, and I think Rees got a taste of that last season under Marcus Freeman, so ultimately that was why he decided to stay but I think it’s also the reason he decided to leave.”

Summed up nicely on his decision to move on to Alabama:

“It’s a professional development question, and frankly there’s nobody in college football better at finishing an offensive coordinator’s development than Nick Saban,” Sampson said.