BREAKING Tommy Rees hired as OC

[MILEHIGHTIDE]

Also in my opinion, as far as the OC and DC are concerned, being what is considered successful by many with the talent Coach Saban has compiled is no great accomplishment.

I want old school domination and physical play like we used to when we imposed our will on opponents.

Talent can mask a lot of poor coaching but if you have excellent coaching and elite talent watch out. We have personally experienced this first hand before. Just look what kirby does with comparable talent on d at jawja versus what golding accomplished.

RTR

Stats, stats. According to advanced metrics that take competition and other circumstances into account (maybe Connelly's, idk), ND had the 39th O in 22, 20th in 21, 19th in 20.

Total O is not very meaningful outside of context. IMO, PPP and YPP while the outcome is undecided are far more meaningful.

So, 39th out of 130 with mediocre personnel, a first time HC, and losing your starting QB in the 2nd game of the year and replacing him with one who would not be a backup on most SEC rosters, is much more impressive. Btw, ND's O took off in the 2nd half (7 games) of the season, averaging 38+ pts per games, with a low of 27. This included 35 vs Clemson, 27 vs USCw, 45 vs USCe, with victories over Clemson and USCe.

The 60, 45 and 26 is likely not as accurate as the 39, 20, 19 yielded by more sophisticated metrics. IMO, total offense or defense has never been a good measurement, especially when you have the blowouts that Bama has in a season.

How about this, regardless of the metric used his offenses declined every year there was no improvement only a substantial decline year over year. You may love the hire and be very excited and I can respect your opinion, but I for one am not. I feel that there were much better candidates with better proven results and potential, but I am confident based on your excitement that your metrics had Rees #1. The best part is is that neither of our opinion’s mean anything to anyone other than ourselves.

Guessing you were okay with Golding’s production and performance, too?

RTR

 

[Joefus]

I’m cautiously optimistic about Rees. The offensive turn around at the halfway point with a freshman qb is a good omen for us I think. He had a good rep as a schemer and is a run first guy

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

Also in my opinion, as far as the OC and DC are concerned, being what is considered successful by many with the talent Coach Saban has compiled is no great accomplishment.

I want old school domination and physical play like we used to when we imposed our will on opponents.

Talent can mask a lot of poor coaching but if you have excellent coaching and elite talent watch out. We have personally experienced this first hand before. Just look what kirby does with comparable talent on d at jawja versus what golding accomplished.

RTR

How about this, regardless of the metric used his offenses declined every year there was no improvement only a substantial decline year over year. You may love the hire and be very excited and I can respect your opinion, but I for one am not. I feel that there were much better candidates with better proven results and potential, but I am confident based on your excitement that your metrics had Rees #1. The best part is is that neither of our opinion’s mean anything to anyone other than ourselves.

Guessing you were okay with Golding’s production and performance, too?

RTR

There original starting qb got injured in game 2 of 2022.

 

[BamaInBham]

Also in my opinion, as far as the OC and DC are concerned, being what is considered successful by many with the talent Coach Saban has compiled is no great accomplishment.

I want old school domination and physical play like we used to when we imposed our will on opponents.

Talent can mask a lot of poor coaching but if you have excellent coaching and elite talent watch out. We have personally experienced this first hand before. Just look what kirby does with comparable talent on d at jawja versus what golding accomplished.

RTR

How about this, regardless of the metric used his offenses declined every year there was no improvement only a substantial decline year over year. You may love the hire and be very excited and I can respect your opinion, but I for one am not. I feel that there were much better candidates with better proven results and potential, but I am confident based on your excitement that your metrics had Rees #1. The best part is is that neither of our opinion’s mean anything to anyone other than ourselves.

Guessing you were okay with Golding’s production and performance, too?

RTR

I was glad that PG departed.

Rees was not on my radar, in fact, I don't usually have favorite candidates because Saban has NEVER gone after a big-time or hot coach. It has always been someone who he sees is a good fit and will run his offense or his defense, e.g., Steele, Smart, Tosh, Golding, Steele. Only Pruitt returning was a big time DC hire. Among the OCs it's even more pedestrian, no-name (Applewhite, McElwain, Nussmeier, Daboll, Locksley) or unwanted because of baggage and/or perception (Kiffin, Sarkisian). Saban elevated several: Daboll, Kiffin, Locksley, Sarkisian. Only O'Brien was seen as possibly a big time hire and he was fired because of GM issues, not coaching, though some trashed the hire.

IMO, in Saban's universe, with both systems very well defined and Saban at the controls, the asst coaches, including the Cs, do not typically make a great deal of difference. It's mostly the talent. Though I'm glad B'OB is gone and think Sarkisian is better, IMO, the difference between the two is not like many fans think. The talent difference was far greater than the coaching difference: Very good OL, Jeudy, Ruggs, Smith, Waddle, Metchie, N. Harris, Tua, Mac vs poor OL/avg OL, Williams, Metchie, Bolden, Burton, Brooks, Prentiss, B. Robinson, Gibbs, Bryce. They were both running Saban's O. IMO, Sarkisian ran it better, but many of the specific criticisms of O'Brien were bogus or overstated.

You need to examine the circumstances of Rees year by year, 3 year career. He went from Ian Book his first year to Drew Pyne, a bad backup, for most of his 3rd year after the talented starter was injured in his 2nd game. Even then the O took off in the last half of the season.

And yet what I like most about the Rees hire is that it signifies a desire to be more physical, same with the Steele hire. IMO, Bama's primary problem was not the coordinators, though I'm glad they're gone, but the program has lost it's toughness edge (the "anxiety" before the UT game was sickening, IMO, that is on the coaches, especially CNS) partly because of Golding's more complicated approach that causes too much thinking and the more ordinary OL's that cause a deficient running game and dependence on finesse. So, I'm happy about the new Cs primarily because it means CNS has identified the real problem and has addressed it in real terms, not just talk. (I also like Rees' overall approach to offense.) Of course to think he didn't know what was going on and what to do about it is insanity. But I was beginning to wonder.

 

[TDBama78]

Rees was a good hire, he's going to do just fine.

 

[MILEHIGHTIDE]

I was glad that PG departed.

Rees was not on my radar, in fact, I don't usually have favorite candidates because Saban has NEVER gone after a big-time or hot coach. It has always been someone who he sees is a good fit and will run his offense or his defense, e.g., Steele, Smart, Tosh, Golding, Steele. Only Pruitt returning was a big time DC hire. Among the OCs it's even more pedestrian, no-name (Applewhite, McElwain, Nussmeier, Daboll, Locksley) or unwanted because of baggage and/or perception (Kiffin, Sarkisian). Saban elevated several: Daboll, Kiffin, Locksley, Sarkisian. Only O'Brien was seen as possibly a big time hire and he was fired because of GM issues, not coaching, though some trashed the hire.

IMO, in Saban's universe, with both systems very well defined and Saban at the controls, the asst coaches, including the Cs, do not typically make a great deal of difference. It's mostly the talent. Though I'm glad B'OB is gone and think Sarkisian is better, IMO, the difference between the two is not like many fans think. The talent difference was far greater than the coaching difference: Very good OL, Jeudy, Ruggs, Smith, Waddle, Metchie, N. Harris, Tua, Mac vs poor OL/avg OL, Williams, Metchie, Bolden, Burton, Brooks, Prentiss, B. Robinson, Gibbs, Bryce. They were both running Saban's O. IMO, Sarkisian ran it better, but many of the specific criticisms of O'Brien were bogus or overstated.

You need to examine the circumstances of Rees year by year, 3 year career. He went from Ian Book his first year to Drew Pyne, a bad backup, for most of his 3rd year after the talented starter was injured in his 2nd game. Even then the O took off in the last half of the season.

And yet what I like most about the Rees hire is that it signifies a desire to be more physical, same with the Steele hire. IMO, Bama's primary problem was not the coordinators, though I'm glad they're gone, but the program has lost it's toughness edge (the "anxiety" before the UT game was sickening, IMO, that is on the coaches, especially CNS) partly because of Golding's more complicated approach that causes too much thinking and the more ordinary OL's that cause a deficient running game and dependence on finesse. So, I'm happy about the new Cs primarily because it means CNS has identified the real problem and has addressed it in real terms, not just talk. (I also like Rees' overall approach to offense.) Of course to think he didn't know what was going on and what to do about it is insanity. But I was beginning to wonder.

Let’s just agree to disagree. To me based on everything I could research Rees was not the best proven candidate with the most potential. For you maybe he was but you even stated yourself in your response that he was not even on your radar, and this is with your more advanced metrics. Hopefully he does incredibly well but a knock it out home run hire initially on the surface he is not, imo. Potential is just that potential so nothing is determined yet.

You also state that “the asst coaches, including the Cs, do not typically make a great deal of difference.”
Do you really believe this? Where do you think the toughness and mentality comes from? The S&C coach has more contact with the players than any coach and can have an immense impact on mentality, conditioning, attitude, enthusiasm and overall play.

As far as talent goes BO and PG had arguably the best talent in the country to work with and comparable to their predecessors.

So PG taking over the previous years #1 defense in 2018 and finishing #15 in 2018, #23 in 2019, #29 in 2020, #6 in 2021, and finished #17 in 2022 is solid coaching to you and that no other DC could have done better given the talent he had to work with? Keep in mind, whether you find recruiting rankings a valuable tool and good information source, metric or not, we have dominated and have been ultra consistent in recruiting so comparable talent is present on paper.

You feel that Lane Kiffen calling offensive plays and schemes is comparable with Major Applewhite, that Kiffen can not be a difference maker?

Kirby running defensive schemes versus PG is equal and it is all about talent?

When it comes to talent in general and especially elite talent coaching can often be the most impactful deciding factor and or difference maker, imo.

Look I do not need to re-examine Rees tenure at notre dame, I can respect your opinion whether I agree with your opinion and logic or not. This has always been a respectful board with varying opinions. For some reason Coach Saban did not call me for my input, so I just roll with it. I just was not super pumped and excited with the hire and imo there were better candidates, but then again I am not a Coach at the university and my opinion is just that my opinion. However, I do realize elite talent or not, coaching can be the difference in sitting at home or winning it all.

RTR

 

[Bear-Nick]

This was an excellent hire

 

[CoolBreeze]

Three Changes to Expect with Tommy Rees at Alabama

The Crimson Tide offense will see big changes. Alabama hired Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees for the same position.

lastwordonsports.com

 

[Bamabuzzard]

So PG taking over the previous years #1 defense in 2018 and finishing #15 in 2018, #23 in 2019, #29 in 2020, #6 in 2021, and finished #17 in 2022 is solid coaching to you and that no other DC could have done better given the talent he had to work with? Keep in mind, whether you find recruiting rankings a valuable tool and good information source, metric or not, we have dominated and have been ultra consistent in recruiting so comparable talent is present on paper.


Look I do not need to re-examine Rees tenure at notre dame, I can respect your opinion whether I agree with your opinion and logic or not. This has always been a respectful board with varying opinions. For some reason Coach Saban did not call me for my input, so I just roll with it. I just was not super pumped and excited with the hire and imo there were better candidates, but then again I am not a Coach at the university and my opinion is just that my opinion. However, I do realize elite talent or not, coaching can be the difference in sitting at home or winning it all.

RTR

The flaw I see in your comparisons is Golding (and BOB) had elite talent to work with and WE KNOW what they did, especially Golding. You can look on tape and see his scheme flaws. Rees on the other hand, no matter how dismissive you are about it, was working with chicken crap compared to the chicken salad Golding (and BOB) were working with regarding talent. However, schematically, you can watch the tape and SEE Rees doing everything he can to maximize the talent he had. It's out there, some of it posted on here, at how his scheming has been praised by former NFL players now turned analyst. Go watch some of it and tell me how many times you saw BOB do any of the stuff with our offense Rees was doing with ND's offense. Rees at least was making the defense work pre snap where as BOB was routinely doing stuff that ran the play clock down under 5 seconds which at that point shifted the advantage heavily into the defense's favor. There is an article out this morning about the upgrade we should see in schematics and player development with Rees compared to BOB.

Rees may ultimately not be an upgrade from BOB, but it won't be for the same reasons, I am willing to bet that. I want to see what the guy does with elite talent before drawing a negative opinion of him.

 

[LittleLexi]

Put this guy's play calling with Alabama's players. I think we are going to see a power offense that no team is going to want to be facing in the 4th quarter. What player on ND offense would you want to replace any of Alabama's? I see none.

 

[CoachJeff]

Three Changes to Expect with Tommy Rees at Alabama

The Crimson Tide offense will see big changes. Alabama hired Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees for the same position.

lastwordonsports.com

Whoever wrote that doesn't seem very familiar with Alabama's offense under O'Brien.

"With Rees, there should be likely a more well-balanced offense where the running backs are utilized more effectively as opposed to last year for Alabama where the running back was mostly an extra pass-catcher in the backfield "

Not even close to accurate. Gibbs led the team in catches for most of the year because the WRs were inexperienced and no one stepped up as a go-to guy. Bama ran the ball with the the RBs plenty under O'Brien (although not as much as many would have liked). Bama RBs ran the ball 377 times and caught it 66 times.

" The only short-to-mid-range passing plays that were efficient for the Tide, outside of the constant screens to receivers, were passes to Cameron Latu. "

Constant screens to receivers? What?

 

[MILEHIGHTIDE]

The flaw I see in your comparisons is Golding (and BOB) had elite talent to work with and WE KNOW what they did, especially Golding. You can look on tape and see his scheme flaws. Rees on the other hand, no matter how dismissive you are about it, was working with chicken crap compared to the chicken salad Golding (and BOB) were working with regarding talent. However, schematically, you can watch the tape and SEE Rees doing everything he can to maximize the talent he had. It's out there, some of it posted on here, at how his scheming has been praised by former NFL players now turned analyst. Go watch some of it and tell me how many times you saw BOB do any of the stuff with our offense Rees was doing with ND's offense. Rees at least was making the defense work pre snap where as BOB was routinely doing stuff that ran the play clock down under 5 seconds which at that point shifted the advantage heavily into the defense's favor. There is an article out this morning about the upgrade we should see in schematics and player development with Rees compared to BOB.

Rees may ultimately not be an upgrade from BOB, but it won't be for the same reasons, I am willing to bet that. I want to see what the guy does with elite talent before drawing a negative opinion of him.

Look apparently something is getting lost in translation but all I have said is that I was not super excited by the Rees hire and that given the pool of candidates I do not feel he was the best available candidate with the most potential upside, imo period. His track record is not super impressive. Now that he has been hired I am 100% behind him, not that it matters to anyone.

I do not want him to fail and again imo, BoB was definitely not the best OC in the country or the best fit for Alabama, so Rees being better than him or having more upside potential than BoB still does not make him the best available candidate, imo. Sure we may have upgraded but did we maximize our opportunity to potentially secure future success and hire the best available candidate, imo there were better, more proven candidates from a success and track record, ie. “risk vs reward”, available.

It is only my opinion nothing more or less, an observation. I was not super stoked when Saban was initially hired and look how that turned out. How many of you can admit the same.

RTR

 

[MILEHIGHTIDE]

Put this guy's play calling with Alabama's players. I think we are going to see a power offense that no team is going to want to be facing in the 4th quarter. What player on ND offense would you want to replace any of Alabama's? I see none.

Michael Mayer is not too bad of an option, just saying.

RTR

 

[CoachJeff]

I was not super stoked when Saban was initially hired and look how that turned out.

Wut

 

[J0eW]

I don't think we are going to abandon the things that began to bring in elite WR's, but I do think the pendulum is being pulled back a little bit on those things and getting back to the foundational component of the game of football and that's being physical. Rees is going to definitely pass the ball with all the talent we have at WR, but we are also friggin loaded at RB as well and it would be a travesty not to force teams to have to deal with that as well. Saban knew exactly what and who he wanted and got him. RTR!!!

I thought that first, Tommy Clements, was named OC. I got a bad feeling from that!!

 

[MILEHIGHTIDE]

Wut

I said super stoked not just happy, lol.

I was pleasantly surprised and happy but still had some questions, but then again I was not included in the discussions during the process so my concerns regarding this ultimately fell on deaf ears. I am still waiting on a call.

You know what they say about opinions.

RTR

 

[BamaInBham]

Let’s just agree to disagree. To me based on everything I could research Rees was not the best proven candidate with the most potential. For you maybe he was but you even stated yourself in your response that he was not even on your radar, and this is with your more advanced metrics. Hopefully he does incredibly well but a knock it out home run hire initially on the surface he is not, imo. Potential is just that potential so nothing is determined yet.

You also state that “the asst coaches, including the Cs, do not typically make a great deal of difference.”
Do you really believe this? Where do you think the toughness and mentality comes from? The S&C coach has more contact with the players than any coach and can have an immense impact on mentality, conditioning, attitude, enthusiasm and overall play.

As far as talent goes BO and PG had arguably the best talent in the country to work with and comparable to their predecessors.

So PG taking over the previous years #1 defense in 2018 and finishing #15 in 2018, #23 in 2019, #29 in 2020, #6 in 2021, and finished #17 in 2022 is solid coaching to you and that no other DC could have done better given the talent he had to work with? Keep in mind, whether you find recruiting rankings a valuable tool and good information source, metric or not, we have dominated and have been ultra consistent in recruiting so comparable talent is present on paper.

You feel that Lane Kiffen calling offensive plays and schemes is comparable with Major Applewhite, that Kiffen can not be a difference maker?

Kirby running defensive schemes versus PG is equal and it is all about talent?

When it comes to talent in general and especially elite talent coaching can often be the most impactful deciding factor and or difference maker, imo.

Look I do not need to re-examine Rees tenure at notre dame, I can respect your opinion whether I agree with your opinion and logic or not. This has always been a respectful board with varying opinions. For some reason Coach Saban did not call me for my input, so I just roll with it. I just was not super pumped and excited with the hire and imo there were better candidates, but then again I am not a Coach at the university and my opinion is just that my opinion. However, I do realize elite talent or not, coaching can be the difference in sitting at home or winning it all.

RTR

Thanks for disagreeing in a civil manner.

Yes, coaching obviously matters, but running Saban's systems greatly reduces the difference any specific coach will make, assuming a decent floor. Maybe a better way of expressing my opinion is that In a Saban program, the difference a specific coach makes is greatly diminished because he has designed it in a way to establish and maintain stability regardless of who is hired - again, assuming a decent floor in the abilities of the coaches which usually exists.

IMO, this is the primary key, along with consistently great talent, to the amazing consistency in greatness that he has achieved. Not consistently hiring great assistants, which IMO he has rarely done (maybe Pruitt), but consistently hiring easily findable "good enough" coaches willing to run the same good systems year after year.

E.g., IMO, if BO'B had been the OC in 2020 Bama would have won the NC because of the transcendent players, even though I agree that Sarkisian is a better college OC than he. Oh, the heresy . They almost won in 21 with far less ability. They are all running his systems.

I do admit that Golding challenges my thoughts on that but he was not as bad as some charge, but he and the team have been hurt by mental, psychological and physical toughness leaving the program; partly due to Pete and his defensive approach, partly due to the finesse O implemented since Kiffin (not Kiffin's fault, he was following Saban's charge. A change that was needed btw.), partly by the fear/concern and uncertainty engendered by the current "NIL, transfer atmosphere", and finally partly by the 0 "abuse" tolerance where you might lose a player or even your job if you say "you're not performing well" in too harsh a tone.

It's tough to develop toughness in the current world of college football. UGA has had an advantage recently because they have been like Ahab stalking the great whale. They have had an easy purpose to exploit in order to get their kids' buy-in.

 

[Tidelines]

When Saban was hired, well , at my age ….it was better than sex.

 

[BAMAVILLE]

When Saban was hired, well , at my age ….it was better than sex.

Ummm ... as much as I love and appreciate CNS I will have to respectfully disagree lol

 

[Bamabuzzard]

When Saban was hired, well , at my age ….it was better than sex.

One of y'all ain't doing something right.