Marcus Freeman 'surprised' by timing of Tommy Rees' decision to leave Notre Dame for Alabama

Tommy Rees went from one historically great program in Notre Dame to another in Alabama this offseason.

The former Irish quarterback joined Nick Saban‘s staff ahead of spring practice after Bill O’Brien left to take over as the offensive coordinator for the Patriots.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman joined David Hale on The Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday and shared his reaction to Rees leaving for Alabama.

“You always have a list. The timing, though, I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little bit caught off… surprised, you know,” Freeman said.

Rees spent three seasons as the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and six seasons overall on the Irish staff. The Irish won at least 10 games in five of those six seasons, before winning nine games in 2022.

Freeman is thankful for everything Rees did, even if the timing of his departure was a bit of a shock.

“Tommy did an unbelievable job, and when he decides to leave, you say, ‘OK, man, what is the next steps to replacing that guy.’ And you look internally and you look externally,” Freeman said. “The only thing I wanted to do is make sure we kept some type of pro-style offense. And when I say pro-style I’m talking terminology, I’m talking concepts. I’m not talking two backs, run the ball down hill and try to run the clock out. But I wanted to make sure we can keep the terminology and keep the concepts the same offensively. Because I think we owe it to our players to help them translate to the NFL, if they’re good enough to make that transition.”

After going through the search, Freeman ultimately settled on Gerad Parker as the new OC.

Parker was previously the tight ends coach for the Irish. The 42-year-old played wide receiver at Kentucky, before getting into coaching. He has served as an offensive coordinator at West Virginia and a receivers coach at Purdue, Duke, Penn State and other spots.

Freeman feels good about the hire he made and what Parker will bring to the offense as the OC.

“Like our season, it was an interesting journey,” Freeman said. “We vetted a couple of guys and we looked at a couple of guys. And ultimately we came back and we hired the right guy that was in our building. And we promoted Gerad Parker, who was our tight ends coach, to be offensive coordinator. And I can’t tell you how pleased I am with one, the relationship he’s truly gained with the players on offense, but also what the production has been throughout the spring and as we’ve gotten into the summer.”