Alabama’s offense will seemingly be heading in a different direction in 2023. After offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien left to take his old job with the New England Patriots, coach Nick Saban replaced him with Notre Dame’s Tommy Rees.
This wasn’t Rees’ first flirtation with an SEC job. A former Notre Dame quarterback under Brian Kelly, Rees was Kelly’s first choice as the offensive coordinator at LSU last offseason. However, Rees ultimately chose to stay, and Kelly hired Cincinnati’s Mike Denbrock, a longtime former Kelly assistant.
Rees leaving his alma mater just a year later raised some eyebrows, but the reasoning makes a good deal of sense.