Pay bump, autonomy under Marcus Freeman kept Tommy Rees at Notre Dame over LSU in 2021

Then-Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees was ready to head south and follow his boss and former head coach, Brian Kelly, to LSU in late 2021. But according to Pete Sampson of The Athletic, a couple of factors kept Rees in South Bend for another season.

Firstly, Notre Dame offered a pay increase that had Rees making an amount commensurate to his contemporaries. And with the money sorted, staying at Notre Dame offered Rees a new level of autonomy.

“And I think that once the sort of, finances got taken off the board, then it was a question of ‘Well I can go with Brian Kelly and basically be the same coach I’ve been for the last five years at Notre Dame. Just with different colors. Or I can stay at Notre Dame, even though it’s the same place, and do a different job,'” Sampson said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday. “Because, suddenly, he had autonomy under a defensive head coach with Marcus Freeman. And I think that Rees really got to flex a little bit last season in some spots.”

Under Kelly, who himself has a background as an offensive coach, Rees didn’t get to really get his hands fully around running the offense.

“When you’re an offensive coordinator for an offensive head coach, you’re sort of — you’re not quite the full coordinator, some times. And I think that Rees got a taste of that last season, under Marcus Freeman. So ultimately that was why he decided to stay. But I think it’s also the reason he decided to leave, the professional development question,” Sampson said.

Rees recently was announced as the new Alabama offensive coordinator. It was perhaps an unexpected choice from Nick Saban, but an opportunity Rees couldn’t pass up.

“And frankly, there’s nobody in college football better at finishing an offensive coordinator’s development than Nick Saban,” Sampson said.