Report: Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees a ‘top target’ for Alabama OC job
The coaching carousel seemed oddly still for Notre Dame this offseason. Now it might finally start spinning.
ESPN’s Chris Low reported Thursday that Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has emerged as the “top target” for the same job at Alabama. Low said Rees has already had discussions with Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban, and Rees is expected to be on campus in Tuscaloosa on Thursday.
Rees, 30, has been Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator since 2020. He has worked with four different starting quarterbacks — Ian Book, Jack Coan, Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne — in the last three seasons. He was set to lead the offense in the final season of Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman‘s final collegiate season.
The Irish’s best offensive season with Rees as the OC was his first. Notre Dame ranked 26th nationally in total offense at 448.5 yards per game. That number has decreased in each of the last two years to 426.5 (45th) in 2021 and 396.2 (60th) this past season.
Rees began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northwestern in 2015 following a four-year playing career, including 30 starts in 45 games played, at Notre Dame. He was an offensive assistant with the San Diego Chargers in 2016 before going back to his alma mater as a quarterbacks coach from 2017-19.
Alabama is replacing former offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, who spent two years with the Crimson Tide after his seven-year stint as the Houston Texans’ head coach. O’Brien is going back to the NFL as the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator. So, as has often been the case in recent history, Saban is left searching for his next OC.
Rees had the opportunity to follow his former coach and mentor, Brian Kelly, to the SEC when Kelly took the head coaching job at LSU in November 2021. Rees chose to stay at Notre Dame to work with first-time head coach Marcus Freeman. He emphatically said his choice was predicated upon wanting to win a national championship at the place it all started for him over a decade ago. Just over a year after a video went viral of him telling his players he’s staying put in South Bend, Rees could be headed south after all to join the staff of one of LSU’s biggest rivals.
