When Chip Long was relieved of his coaching duties about one month ago, Irish fans immediately divided between giving current QB’s coach Tommy Rees the offensive coordinator role, and the Irish going out and finding a top candidate for the job.
In an interesting turn of events, as reported by IrishSportsDaily, Rees has been interviewed for the offensive coordinator role at the University of Oregon.
The Naysayers
Perhaps the biggest concern to giving Rees the job is his lack of experience – on paper. Others said perhaps he has the ability, but it should be at a group five school.
Not for a power five team that is perennially in the championship conversation.
Well, Oregon in 2020 has one of the tougher schedules and experts expect the Ducks to contend for the National Championship.
They start the year against FCS powerhouse North Dakota State University. While the Ducks should take care of business, NDSU’s resume over the past decade is far better than a large number of FBS programs.
From there the Ducks draw Ohio State before taking on their normally weak PAC12 schedule. In addition, there was also a rumor that Northwestern University, where Rees was a graduate assistant back in 2015, had some interest in bring him back “home.”
The Rees family grew up in North of Chicago and Rees’ father coached at Northwestern in the late 1970’s.
High Praise
At the least, Rees receiving attention from a top program should offer validation that he has impressed among his peers.
While Rees may not have been the top candidate, it is a wake up call for Brian Kelly and the Irish to make a formal announcement on the direction the team will take at the OC position.
Business As Usual
For now though, we will have to believe that the Irish intend to go down the path of a collaborative role between the rest of the assistant and position coaches.
If/when the full-time offensive coordinator is named, they will be gifted with a third year quarterback in Ian Book, two five star offensive recruits in Chris Tyree and Jordan Johnson and some shifty play makers in Braden Lenzy and hopefully, Kevin Austin.
