https://www.si.com/college/tennessee/football/alabama-football-hires-tommy-rees Rees has commandeered the Fighting Irish offense since 2020. He formerly was an offensive assistant with the then-San Diego Chargers and was a graduate assistant at Northwestern. He played for Notre Dame during his collegiate career. Rees was a three-year starter, totaling 61 touchdowns and 37 interceptions before briefly moving on to the NFL.
I expect he will have more success at Alabama than he did at ND. We are now all spared the pain of seeing a Dan Mullen Offense with Nick Saban recruited talent, which would have been an exasperating exercise in what could have been (but was never going to be)...
Great opportunity for him. He’ll be a HC in 2yrs if he’s the goods, at only 32yo then. Some are already predicting a return to more of a physical Derrick Henry style downhill running based offense, away from the throw-throw-run. “The Fighting Irish offense thrived under Rees prior to a 2022 season that was hampered by a Week 2 injury to starting quarterback Tyler Buchner. In the other two years under Rees, the Irish averaged at least 6 yards per play. This past year, Rees oversaw an offensive shift from Buchner to Drew Pyne at quarterback while focusing on a ground-based approach.”
Mighty strong remark. Ugly too. Is it based on some real knowledge or just thrown in to stir a little venom into the pot?
Updated thread title to reflect Kevin Steele just hired as their Defensive Coordinator..... Sources: Steele reunites with Saban as Tide's DC
I wonder if saban has lost some of his appeal. We'll see how Rees works out but not someone I'd call a home run and he was turned down by the guy from washington before that and seems to be scrapping the bottom of the barrel for DCs.
Miami's defense was #65 in FBS, but their terrible offense constantly put them in bad situations. Miami's offense was #86. By comparison, Florida's offense was #37, our defense was #97. So the Hurricane's defense was considerably better than ours.
I know, there was an article saying Todd Grantham was under consideration before going to the NFL. Damn, the SEC can't catch a break.
How many self respecting up and coming coaches would want to be tagged as Saban's former assistant coach for the rest of their lives. And if you are already proven to be good, a winner in your own right, would you want to live with that tag? That is a media label that never goes away... not even for Kirby Smart.
Two very good hires. Rees will do very well, especially with the talent at Bama. Steele will do just fine. Knows the game very well and will have tons of talent to work with.
