Notre Dame football: Tommy Rees staying where his heart is
The Notre Dame football team is not losing their offensive coordinator, as Tommy Rees is staying on as a member of Marcus Freeman’s staff.
It had been widely reported that Notre Dame football offensive coordinator Tommy Rees had been offered the same position at LSU. He’d be following Brian Kelly and an undeniable mentor in both his playing and coaching careers. On top of that, LSU would be giving him a $400,000 raise to move to Baton Rouge.
Tommy Rees said, “No.”
With the news that Marcus Freeman is taking the head coaching position, while Matt Balis is staying on as the strength coach, this means that Notre Dame is going to have as much stability as possible during the coaching transition from Brian Kelly. Rees is widely considered one of the best up-and-coming play callers in the game.
He’s also not even 30 years old yet. He has a bright future ahead of him a Notre Dame.
Notre Dame football retaining key talent on staff
The truth is that Notre Dame is a special place. It has some changes that need to be made to keep up in the modern college football landscape, like improving facilities, but it’s still iconic. It’s important to the culture and history of the sport. Notre Dame is a legendary program, and those who truly love it never want to leave it.
On top of all this, Rees knows the modern structure of Notre Dame football better than just about anyone in the world. He played on bad Irish teams that had yet to modernize. He was there for the 2012 season. He learned under Kelly on how to modernize the program as effectively as possible.
He brings those skills to the Marcus Freeman era, and they will be able to bring the energy on the recruiting trail to develop the depth to dominate and win in the Playoff.
Make no mistake, for recruiting, for stability, for development, and the future of the Notre Dame football program this is a good thing. Having someone who understands the program and is a modern offensive mind is great news. It means Freeman has stability on the side of the ball he was always going to need help on.