Tag: Rees

Notre Dame officially names Marcus Freeman head coach

The #Freemanera has officially begun.

The first domino to fall in Notre Dame’s head coaching search went down Wednesday night as offensive coordinator Tommy Rees did his best impression of “The Wolf of Wall Street” and declared he was coming back.

Seemingly no time later reports that Marcus Freeman would be the next Notre Dame head coach came out.  On Friday morning Notre Dame made it official as they announced Freeman as the 30th head football coach in program history.

Freeman spent one year as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator while previously spending time at Cincinnati, Purdue, and Kent State.  The former Ohio State linebacker also served as a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel.

Freeman is a rising star in the coaching ranks and is a star recruiter.  The biggest concern upon is his lack of head coaching experience and that’s something that makes me uneasy as well, but him taking this job now, especially with the strong assistant coaches who have opted to return to Notre Dame instead of follow Brian Kelly to LSU.

Freeman’s introductory press conference will come at 2 p.m. ET on Monday.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire for everything related to the Freeman hire!

Related Links:

Twitter reaction to Notre Dame’s hiring of Marcus Freeman

5 reasons Marcus Freeman is the right man for the Notre Dame job

Photos: New Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman through the years

Kirk Herbstreit shows Notre Dame coach some love

Who has had a better 2021 season: Tommy Rees or Marcus Freeman? And share with us why…

The word “interesting” can barely describe what the experience of watching Notre Dame’s offense has been like through the first seven games of 2021.  With an almost entirely reworked offensive line, a new quarterback, a second new quarterback, a third new quarterback, back to the second and first quarterbacks again, and new receivers have meant for growing pains.

With all of that said it’s easy to see why Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has had his hands full this year.  At times I’ve thought he’s done a magnificent job getting what he has from a flawed group.  At others, like the play-calling immediately following Bo Bauer’s interception against USC, he leaves you flustered.

But how much of the blame can really go on him when he’s been dealt a far from ideal hand?

Rees grabbed the attention of ESPN’s most notable college football analyst over the weekend for the job he did against USC, even with that mishap I mentioned above.

Kirk Herbstreit named his top coaching performances of the college football weekend and Rees checked in seventh.

The interesting part to me is that looking at stats, Notre Dame was outgained by nearly 50 yards and secured just one more first down than USC on the night.  The Bauer interception changed the complete dynamic of that game and made life easier on the Notre Dame offense.

With that said, Rees handled the difficult quarterback situation about as well as he could as Jack Coan played his best game since the opener and Tyler Buchner shined when given the opportunity.

Related:

Kirk Herbstreit updates his top six college football teams

Notre Dame’s long history of dominance over North Carolina

No Kyle Hamilton for Notre Dame against North Carolina

How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared last week

ESPN’s Power Rankings after Week 8

Notre Dame opens only a slight favorite vs. North Carolina

It appears Jack Coan to start for Notre Dame at Virginia Tech

Like it, love it, or hate it?

I have nothing against Jack Coan.

His teammates at Wisconsin clearly looked at him as a leader and you haven’t heard any Notre Dame players say a bad word about him. Clearly Notre Dame’s coaching staff thinks highly of him seeing as he received another start at Virginia Tech.

I really hope the best for Notre Dame over the next few hours and that Coan plays the game of the year in Blacksburg. I hope this entire post gets sent to the Old Takes Exposed Twitter account and a mockery is made of this.

Reporters at the game in Blacksburg, Virginia have indicated that it appears the transfer graduate-senior will start the game for Notre Dame.  

But for the life of me I don’t understand how Brian Kelly, Tommy Rees, and the rest of the Notre Dame coaching staff came to conclusion that Coan gives Notre Dame their best chance to win at Virginia Tech.

The Hokies aren’t likely to light up the scoreboard as their offense has struggled. They likely won’t be great at slowing down the run, either.

What you can expect them to do is get after Notre Dame’s quarterbacks as the Irish line has issues and Coan doesn’t exactly offer escapability.

Based on Virginia Tech’s strengths and weaknesses it would appear obvious that either Drew Pyne or Tyler Buchner would make significantly more sense of the mission of the night is for the offense to give you a better chance to win. I’ve stated I’d go with Pyne in part because of the way you see the rest of the offense seemingly get a spark when he’s on the field.

Is a loud road environment that much of a reason to not start the significantly less experienced Pyne or Buchner? One of them will have to start in the 2022 opener at Ohio State, right? On top of them being better built to face the Virginia Tech defense was that at all considered?

This isn’t meant as a post to knock Jack Coan. It’s not his fault he isn’t built to move like the other quarterbacks are.

I just don’t get how something that myself and so many other Notre Dame observers thought was so obvious and necessary was avoided.

Good luck tonight to the Notre Dame defense and special teams because unfortunately without a big few plays from them I really don’t like the Irish chances to score much whatsoever.

Now please go prove my big mouth wrong, Jack.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight and can be seen on ACC Network.

Related:

ESPN FPI projects Notre Dame-Virginia Tech winner

Brian Kelly’s final quarterback comments before Virginia Tech game

Notre Dame releases hype tape for Virginia Tech game

Notre Dame releases first depth chart for Virginia Tech game

College football experts make Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech predictions

Notre Dame loses wide receiver for rest of season

Tale of the Tape: Starting Quarterbacks in Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

Tale of the Tape: Starting Running Backs in Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech

Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech: All-time head-to-head results

Notre Dame’s Patrick Surtain Problem

Patrick Surtain might not have been a Heisman finalist like three of his teammates but he’s just as good as any of them.

They may almost never get the same love of their offensive counterparts but the value of a truly great cornerback can’t be overstated when it comes to assembling a great defense.

Notre Dame has been fortunate to have many over the years, with it being Julian Love most recently setting the bar as a first-team All-American in 2018.

In the Rose Bowl this Friday, Notre Dame’s offense will be taking on one of the best in recent memory in Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II.

And before you ask, yes, that is the son of the former Miami Dolphins standout defensive back.

The younger Surtain stars in Alabama’s defensive backfield and figures to be one of the first 10 players selected in the next NFL Draft.  A quick whip around Notre Dame’s key offensive players and coaches tells you all you need to know about the star.

“Surtain is special,” offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said, “He’s probably the strength of their defense in terms of an individual”.

Notre Dame wide receiver Ben Skowronek sees one thing that especially stands out for Surtain.

“I think it starts with his feet,” Skowronek said. “He has really good feet, able to mirror routes. When you combine that with his length and over athleticism, that’s going to make him a top cornerback prospect for the upcoming NFL draft. He has all the tangibles. I’m excited to go out there on Friday and compete against him.”

Veteran Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book had nothing but praise for the future NFLer as he discussed how you have to play against a talent like his.

Yes, he’s really good,” Book said. “No doubt about that. Just means you’ve got to be on time. If you’re late, he’s going to take it. And he’s a really good corner who is going to play a lot of football for a lot of years in the future. So you’ve got to be on time. You’ve got to be confident that you made the right read, the right choice. And then at the end of the day, you’ve got to trust your receivers to go out and help you out. And that’s really what it’s about. You can’t really be lackadaisical, and you can’t be late. And you don’t want to find that out the hard way.

“But we know he’s there. We know how he plays. We studied a lot of film on him. So it’s going to be really good. I’m not saying you can’t throw the ball there ever. But he’s just a really good corner. No doubt about that. It’s about being on time. Especially from my perspective as a quarterback.”

Surtain defended 10 passes during Alabama’s march through the SEC while pulling down one interception.  He also stepped up to make a pair of tackles for loss.

It’s one thing to be aware of an opposing talent but it’s another to not let them actually beat you.  Will Rees, Book, Skowronek, and the rest of the Notre Dame offense be able to accomplish that?

That’s just one of the many challenges awaiting the Irish as they’ll try and pull off a monumental upset in the Rose Bowl.

Notre Dame’s Rees: Tom or Tommy?

When he was Notre Dame’s quarterback it was Tommy Rees but when he moved to the coaching staff he apparently grew up and became Tom.

Former Notre Dame quarterback Rees from 2010-2013 returned to campus in 2017 as quarterbacks coach before being promoted Tuesday to offensive coordinator at the school.

When he was Notre Dame’s quarterback it was Tommy Rees but when he moved to the coaching staff he apparently grew up and became Tom. Or at least some people in more powerful positions or something wanted him to be.

What has happened is that we’ve entered to one of the hottest debates of our time: is it Tom or Tommy Rees?

Because I first heard of him as Tommy he has always been Tommy Rees to me.

Just like one of my best friends from childhood – I grew up calling him Ronnie. Just because we’re in our thirties now and he’s married doesn’t mean I’m going to call him Ron, even if he calls himself that now. You were Ronnie when I first met you and you’re Ronnie now, dammit.

But back to Rees. I have been a Tommy loyalist like I said. When others went with Tom, I’ve stayed with Tommy. Had he made some formal request to be called Tom I suppose I would have changed it, but I never got that memo.

The good news is this great debate that has captivated Notre Dame nation of whatever you want to call it can be officially put to rest because the man himself has spoken.

It doesn’t get much more official than that. Now get changing and fixing all your press releases, Notre Dame!

Good start.