We thought we had a pretty good idea as to who would call plays a few weeks ago when Chip Long was removed as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator and on Thursday, Brian Kelly made things official before practice.
Former Notre Dame quarterback and current quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees will handle the play-calling duties in Saturday’s Camping World Bowl versus Iowa State.
Brian Kelly confirmed moments ago that QB coach Tommy Rees will call plays from the booth in #NotreDame’s Camping World Bowl vs. Iowa State. He also said all plays would come through him (Kelly) but that he’s not inclined to make play-call changes.
— Irish Illustrated (@timprister) December 26, 2019
It’s hardly surprising as his was the first name mentioned the second we found out about the Long news.
Rees was given an interview for the Northwestern O-C opening earlier this month but didn’t make the second round of interviews with Pat Fitzgerald.
Is this an actual audition or is it a “just don’t mess entirely up and the job is yours” type of thing? I’m curious to know.
What I do know is that earlier today Texas hired Ohio State’s passing game coordinator Matt Yurcich to be their new offensive coordinator. I know stars make plays but that offense has been pretty much entirely unstoppable all season long, making the transition from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day even smoother than the biggest Ohio State fans in the land could have missed.
This is purely feel and based on nothing I’ve heard but I would be pretty surprised if Rees doesn’t have the O-C title come next August so I’m not walking away today stunned or shocked by any means, I’d be more-so if they did go on a national search for their next O-C like Kelly has said they’re going to do.