Chip Long out as Offensive Coordinator at Notre Dame, Now what?

Where does Notre Dame go offensively without Chip Long in the fold?

On Wednesday, December 11th, it came out that Chip Long and Notre Dame had mutually parted ways. In a lot of ways, Long mirrored head coach Brian Kelly. He was better than Notre Dame has had in a long time in his role, but something didn’t quite click 100 percent.

At times, that came from the limitations of a quarterback like Brandon Wimbush. Early this season, the uninspired play-calling seemed to hold the Irish offense back. By the end of this season, we knew it was because the running game wasn’t up to par.

Still, for any faults you could find in Long’s offense, he was still the best offensive coordinator under Kelly, who has been the best head coach since Lou Holtz. He won’t be a breeze to replace.

The immediate rumor has been that the young Tommy Rees will be promoted to offensive coordinator. Rees took an interview to be the Northwestern offensive coordinator, and Notre Dame doesn’t want to lose Rees’ recruiting and coaching ability.

The idea is he’ll be an offensive coordinator soon enough, so why not now and in South Bend?

Detractors would likely point towards his age and lack of play calling experience as issues with his potential promotion. Those are fair arguments.

In the past, Brian Kelly has called plays for his teams. Furthermore, when Rees was playing quarterback for the Irish, he had a lot of freedom to call plays at the line of scrimmage. So, there’s ways Notre Dame could work around his lack of play calling experience.

As for his age, Rees is an up and coming offensive mind. Yes, he’s young. He’s also beyond mature for his age. Notre Dame can’t afford to let his recruiting prowess, and potential get away from the program. Rees’ age is just something you have to get over, and understand that he’s still extremely knowledgeable about the game.

It’s doubtful the offense would change much under Rees. After all, Rees played under Kelly, and coached under Long. There’s room for him to bring his own ideas into the offense, but his influences have been with the program in recent years.

Rees’ strong relationships with the quarterbacks, especially Ian Book, can only benefit the Irish offense going forward. It will help quarterback development, which has been stagnating. It will help keep quarterbacks from transferring too.

While it does seem that the job is Tommy Rees’ to lose, other candidates who have been rumored includes Dan Enos, Mike Denbrock, Mark Helfrich, Sean Gleeson, and Andrew Aurich. None of them have gathered the same steam that Rees has for the job, though.

As for Long, rumors surround where he will end up next. Some say he’ll rejoin Mike Norvell at Florida State. It would also make sense for him to replace Norvell at Memphis. At any rate, he’ll land on his feet.