How Tommy Rees has created a tight quarterback culture at Notre Dame
After nearly 45 minutes of back and forth on the Inside the Garage podcast, it came time for Notre Dame offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees to answer some rapid fire questions from cohost KJ Wallace.
The questions were all over the place. Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers? Rees chose the latter. Country or the city? Movies or TV shows? The Midwest or the West Coast? City, TV shows and the Midwest, Rees said with authority each time. Calvin Johnson or Randy Moss? Rees definitively said Moss without hesitation.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, Rees was asked what the last thing he cooked was. Again, the response came quickly. Barbecue chicken and rice. He whipped it up for the Notre Dame quarterbacks. It foreshadowed what Rees would say to the very last question he was asked, one that wasn’t meant to be tended to swiftly. He could take his time now.
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How does Rees keep such a tight-knit culture within the position group he coaches?
“The biggest thing is you have to coach them hard and know when to get on them, but you also have to have the ability to have a relationship outside of football,” Rees said. “That’s where our strength has been. It’s not only football. We’ll talk about whatever. They’ll come up to the office and talk about whatever.”
Sometimes, over chicken and rice.
“We’ve been able to build a lot of trust in the room to where whatever is going on, it’s kind of a safe place for them,” Rees continued. “It’s probably because I’ve gone through it. I was here, I played and I’m still young enough to know what it feels like. You have to have a relationship with them that isn’t only centered on one thing. When you can treat them like a person and not just as an athlete and a player, they’re going to have more buy-in and they’re going to want to be a part of the group.”
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Take this for example. After his pro day at Notre Dame’s Irish Athletic Center in late March, Jack Coan could have easily hopped on a plane that afternoon or early the next day to get back home. His work in South Bend was done. He didn’t have to throw one more pass there the rest of his life if he didn’t want to.
But he did want to. And that was telling.
Coan stuck around for an early-morning Notre Dame practice the very next day. He was on the field with Rees and the current Irish quarterbacks for the entirety of the session. Coan only spent one year with Rees and sophomore Tyler Buchner and junior Drew Pyne. But that was long enough to develop a sense of belonging that clearly won’t go away any time soon, if ever.
Pyne might play second fiddle to someone else for the third straight season, but he still seems as devoted as ever to Notre Dame and the people around him — including Buchner, the favorite to start over him. Those two walk across the street from the IAC to the Guglielmino Athletic Complex after practice seemingly everyday, always deep in conversation. They’re self-proclaimed best friends.
Culture doesn’t win championships, but it helps breed champions. Rees is currently doing his part with that at Notre Dame.
