Report: Notre Dame's Tommy Rees Top Candidate to Join Nick Saban, Alabama as OC

Tommy Rees may be going from the golden helmets to the gold standard of modern-day college football.

Chris Low of ESPN reported the Notre Dame offensive coordinator is Alabama head coach Nick Saban's "top target" for the same role with the Crimson Tide. Alabama is looking for a new offensive coordinator after Bill O'Brien left to fill that position with the New England Patriots.

This is the second consecutive coaching cycle that there is speculation Rees could leave his alma mater to join an SEC team.

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN reported in December 2021 that Brian Kelly gave the offensive coordinator the chance to go with him from the Fighting Irish to the LSU Tigers. However, Rees remained on the staff with "an enhanced contract" after Notre Dame hired then-defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to be its head coach.

"I love this place," he told the players at the time. "I believe that we can win a national championship here. And I'm committed to doing everything we can to get to that point."

While Notre Dame is a traditional powerhouse that has been to the College Football Playoff twice, it is 0-2 in those two playoff games and is coming off a 9-4 season. The vast majority of programs would gladly take that level of success, but Alabama is anything but the vast majority of programs.

The Crimson Tide have played in six of the last eight national championship games and won three of them. A 9-4 season is basically unheard of in Saban's program, and Rees would have a better chance with a better caliber of player to accomplish those championship dreams should he join Alabama.

Yet that would also mean leaving the place where he played quarterback from 2010 through 2013.

While Rees didn't make it in the NFL, he shifted into a coaching career that included brief stops with Northwestern and the San Diego Chargers before he arrived back at his alma mater as a quarterbacks coach in 2017. He was eventually promoted to offensive coordinator in 2020.

If he does take the Alabama job, he will be tasked with leading an offense that will be in a transition period with the departure of 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young at quarterback.