Former Notre Dame QB, OC Tommy Rees promoted to Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator
One of Notre Dame’s own is now an offensive coordinator in the National Football League. Former Fighting Irish quarterback (2010-13) and assistant coach (2017-22) Tommy Rees has been promoted to the OC position with the Cleveland Browns at just 32 years of age, per multiple credible reports.
Rees completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 7,670 yards with 61 touchdowns and 37 interceptions in his Notre Dame career. He became the third Notre Dame quarterback to ever pass for 3,000-plus yards in a single season in 2013. He joined Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen in that category at the time. Since then, Everett Golson, Ian Book and Jack Coan have accomplished it.
Rees began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northwestern in 2015. He spent a year as an offensive assistant with the San Diego Chargers in 2016 before returning to his alma mater in South Bend for half a dozen seasons.
Rees held the title of Notre Dame quarterbacks coach from 2017-19. He was elevated to offensive coordinator in 2020 while still overseeing the QBs. Those are the duties he had tasked to him before he left for the same positions at Alabama ahead of the 2023 season.
In 2024, Rees was the pass game specialist and quarterbacks coach with the Browns.
Everywhere Rees has gone, fan bases have been known to scrutinize him — even that of Notre Dame. As the OC for the Irish, Notre Dame’s offenses ranked 26th, 45th and 60th in total offense from 2020 through 2022. There was regression every year in that regard, but the quarterbacks went from Ian Book to Jack Coan to, for most of the 2022 season, Drew Pyne.
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Still, some say the quarterback talent at his disposal at Notre Dame was of his own doing. He was the lead quarterback recruiter during his time in South Bend, after all.
At Alabama, the Crimson Tide ranked 58th in the country in total offense during Rees’ one season as the offensive coordinator. The Tide still made it to the College Football Playoff, though, and almost beat eventual national champion Michigan in the Rose Bowl for a spot in the national championship game.
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was better with Rees as his OC than he was this past season under the Kalen DeBoer regime. Milroe passed for 23 touchdowns and 6 interceptions at a 10.0 yards per attempt clip in 2023. In 2024, Those numbers went to 16, 11 and 8.9, respectively. His rushing numbers were up from 531 yards to 726, 12 touchdowns to 20 and 3.3 yards per carry to 4.3, though.
The Browns had the 22nd ranked passing offense and the fifth-worst total offense in the NFL in 2024. Rees has his hands full trying to turn around an offense that was largely inept this season.
