If you’ve paid attention to the college football news over the last week, then you’ll likely know that the headline dominating the sport is not surrounding the College Football Playoff, but rather what it happening at North Carolina.
That is because the Tar Heels recently hired Bill Belichick as the program’s next head coach, bringing likely the greatest professional football coach of all-time to Chapel Hill in a move that sent shock waves across the sport.
However, just what would have happened if the Tar Heels wouldn’t have hired Belichick? Well, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, North Carolina could have looked to a former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator to fill their head coaching vacancy, Tommy Rees.
Currently an assistant with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL, Rees was the former offensive coordinator at Alabama during the 2023 season under Nick Saban. That season, Rees led Alabama’s offense to an average of 34 PPG to rank No. 24 nationally, but did not remain in the role when Kalen DeBoer took over in Tuscaloosa in 2024.
While although not happening, it appears that Rees was nearly the latest in the Nick Saban coaching tree to land a P4 head coaching job.
Had talks between Bill Belichick and North Carolina broken down, Browns passing game specialist and tight ends coach Tommy Rees was considered the favorite to land the Tarheels head coaching job, per league sources. Rees interviewed for the NC HC job twice, and had Nick Saban as…
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 11, 2024