Notre Dame’s assistant coaching staff may have added only two names this winter, but much more of Irish head coach Brian Kelly’s staff changed than that. At the top of the list, of course, is promoting Tommy Rees to offensive coordinator in place of Chip Long. While that decision came with an unspoken interim tag, and an oft-repeated “collaboration” qualifier, leading up to the Camping World Bowl, Kelly acknowledged Thursday that month was very much a job interview period for Rees.
Blowing out Iowa State while gaining 455 yards certainly helped Rees’ candidacy, but perhaps not as much as his time coaching Notre Dame’s quarterbacks.