SOUTH BEND, Ind. — No matter how things go for Notre Dame on New Year’s Day against top-ranked Alabama, Tommy Rees probably won’t forget a single play.
“His memory is unbelievable,” Fighting Irish quarterback Ian Book said recently of his offensive coordinator. “I’ll throw a certain throw, and he’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s just like the throw in ’18 against Stanford — blah, blah, blah.’ And, boom, it resonates with me.”
Rees, the former Lake Forest star who preceded Book from 2010 to ’13, has made quite a splash in his first year as a college play-caller. After serving a three-year apprenticeship as quarterbacks coach under Chip Long, Rees has forged one of the most balanced attacks in the country.
Notre Dame averages 218 yards on the ground (20th nationally) and 238 through the air while scoring 35.2 points per game (21st nationally). While the Irish have had their issues inside their opponents’ 20-yard line, they rank ninth in third-down conversions at nearly 50%.
At 28, Rees is one of the youngest coordinators in major college football and the youngest coordinator in Notre Dame history. It helps that he’s not only at his alma mater, where he earned a degree in management consulting, but that his boss is his former coach, Brian Kelly.
Bill Rees, Tommy’s father, has been Notre Dame’s director of scouting the last four seasons. The elder Rees, the Bears’ scouting director from 1997 to 2001, also had multiple stints as a Northwestern assistant coach during his 45-year career.
His son’s calming manner and eye for detail has helped Book go 30-4 as the starting quarterback, surpassing Rees in the school’s record books along the way.
“He’s played in this position, he’s been in this position — the ups and downs of Notre Dame quarterback,” Book said. “We’ll watch film, and he’ll say, ‘Hey, I threw a pass just like this in whatever year at Purdue,’ and he can go find it on the computer immediately. He doesn’t forget anything.”
That includes the BCS Championship Game in January 2013, a 42-14 blowout loss to Alabama in which Rees backed up Everett Golson. Rees didn’t get on the field that day in Miami Gardens, Florida, but he no doubt went through his mental Rolodex for clues about how Nick Saban defended the Irish in the last meeting between the programs.
“That was a long time ago for us,” Rees said. “I was there. I remember it. It wasn’t a fun night, obviously.”
With Alabama favored by 20 points in this College Football Playoff semifinal, most pundits are expecting another Notre Dame faceplant on the big stage. A 34-10 loss in the ACC championship rematch with Clemson two weeks ago only feeds into that narrative, but Rees insists things can be different this time.
“I think the program has come a long way under [Kelly’s] leadership,” Rees said. “The way we’ve recruited, the way we’ve developed within our program has increased. We’ve been in this situation multiple times now. There’s a belief within the program [that] we’re consistently one of the best five teams in the country. We handle ourselves that way, and we have that belief.”
That same quiet confidence filters down through the players under Rees’ guidance. He’s not much for bluster, but they appreciate the way he streamlines tasks for them and provides a road map to success.
“Anytime there’s some skepticism, you really prove yourself by your work ethic and the way you build relationships,” Rees said. “That’s something I’ve always tried to put first and foremost: How can I make sure I’m doing everything I can to show that I’m here to work and make this program better?”
Just a few years older than Book and fellow graduate students such as wide receivers Ben Skowronek and Javon McKinley and offensive linemen Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer, Rees has managed to build rapport while maintaining a coach’s platform of respect.
“It’s really just being authentic,” Rees said. “If you have some authenticity to yourself, if you’re true to your word and true to who you are, those things are easy.”
It’s not easy, of course. Rees just makes it look that way.
