Inside the mind of Tommy Rees, the coach who revived Alabama offense en route to Rose Bowl
The wheels in Tommy Rees’ head spin constantly when he surveys the playing field.
The Alabama football offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach examines his options. He looks to setup his next play. He ponders what move will pay off the most in the future. He analyzes all his choices, not just what’s in front of him.
“He has always just had that mindset of, how can I win?” said his older sister, Meghan Ganzer. “What do I have to do? How do I get myself in that position to beat whoever I’m playing against?”
That’s his complete and thorough approach to … Scrabble.
Yes, the word game. Rees has played since middle school. He even has the deluxe Scrabble set. He first competed with his childhood friend, Mitch Hopfinger, and family. The bond built over that game even prompted Hopfinger’s family to gift Rees a dictionary when he graduated high school with a note inside that read “May you always find the words you’re looking for.”
Rees took the game and ran with it, ultimately bringing it back to his family. To this day, his family members will jokingly ask to play Scrabble, even though they know full well for what they’re signing up.
“He will leave the party, leave the room, get really mad if he loses Scrabble,” Ganzer said. “We sit down to play Scrabble and have fun with it. He looks at it like a game of Xs and Os.”
That encapsulates why Rees was able to find a way to transform a flat-lining Alabama offense in September into one that will play in the College Football Playoff semifinals Monday (4 p.m. CT, ESPN) against No. 1 Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
“He’s incredibly competitive,” Hopfinger said. “He does a good job of staying calm, but nobody wants to win more than that guy.”
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No time to talk
Rees had never gone three days without saying anything to his close friends such as Hopfinger and Brad Bartuch after a loss. Then the Texas game happened. The Longhorns walked into Bryant-Denny Stadium and beat Alabama 34-24 in only the second game of the season.
“We checked in on him after the Texas game, make sure he’s doing alright,” Bartuch said. “It’s the longest we’ve ever gone.”
Rees’ mother couldn’t even get ahold of him after the game, Ganzer said. They went a couple weeks without hearing from him.
“It wasn’t anything personal,” Ganzer said. “It was more he has a job to do and he is going to do what he has to do to get that done.”
Rees had plenty of work with his offense flailing after three games in his first season with the Crimson Tide. Not only did Alabama lose to Texas, but it also followed it up with an uncomfortably close 17-3 win over South Florida in which the offense sputtered. Heading into SEC play, the Crimson Tide had far more questions than answers. It ranked No. 100 nationally in passing offense, 54th in scoring offense and 123rd in sacks allowed, just to name a few stats. Alabama needed plenty of self-assessment.
Rees joined the Crimson Tide after serving in the same role at Notre Dame, and in South Bend, Indiana, he used to take part in a self-evaluation process with the Fighting Irish each week. Rees, the special teams coordinator and defensive coordinator met with head coach Brian Kelly. They discussed what they did well, what they could do better and what they learned from the game.
“When you would listen to Tommy evaluate the game through that lens, it was incredibly mature,” said Brian Polian, the former Notre Dame special teams coordinator. “It was incredibly honest and thorough. He was always one of those guys where no matter whether it was a win or a loss, he was going to learn something about the team.”
Rees gleaned plenty from the Texas and South Florida games, particularly what didn’t work and who shouldn’t be quarterback. Alabama then announced Jalen Milroe as its starter heading into the Ole Miss game, and the Crimson Tide offense began its climb.
“It’s pretty cool,” Bartuch said, “to see what’s come out of that.”
Tommy Rees vs. Mike Elko
Polian remembers the battles well. Rees vs. Mike Elko.
When Elko, now the Texas A&M coach, coordinated Notre Dame’s defense, he took part in lunch-time pickup basketball. He often found himself matched up against Rees, the offensive coordinator, and they went at it. Polian and other coaches played mainly to sweat a little, but not Rees and Elko. “We would just sit there and watch and giggle about it,” Polian said.
Rees and Elko made shots. Then they talked some noise. It became clear this was more than a way for them to get their heartrates up.
“If there’s a scoreboard, (Rees) wants to win,” Polian said. “Intensely competitive.”
That fuels Rees’ work ethic. Growing up in Lake Forest, Illinois, Hopfinger saw how Rees channeled that drive. In high school, Rees often got shots up on the basketball court at 6 a.m. before school was even open. He also frequently arrived early for football lifting.
“He’s always done those types of things,” Hopfinger said. “I know it’s a big part of his preparation now as a coach. A lot of long hours.”
That’s been no different this season, especially when Rees needed to figure out how to make the offense work. The staff had a decision to make early in the season, coach Nick Saban said: Should Alabama stick to what it wanted to do systematically? Or should it shift to what it needed to do relative to what the players can do?
“When we took that step, it sort of progressed through the season where we did more things that featured the talent that we have,” Saban said. “I think the players bought into it as well as developed confidence in it.”
Rees’ collaborative approach played a role in that buy-in. He’s the guy who, when his mom said he could have two kids over, brought five. “I think that holds true now,” said his brother, Danny Rees, who played football at UCLA. “I think he wants everyone to be involved in the game plan, the scheme, in his quarterback room.”
For Rees, a former quarterback at Notre Dame, that has included working directly with Milroe, who has seen no shortage of growth through the season. The first month, Milroe threw six touchdowns and three interceptions. Over the final two months, he tossed 17 touchdowns and three interceptions. Milroe also only has one turnover since the beginning of November. And it's worth mentioning, he has eight rushing touchdowns since October.
“Tommy’s a competitive guy, but he also sees the different talent that he has and works with the best of each person,” Ganzer said. “So building Milroe into the offense was something that he had to take a step back, reevaluate and moved forward with.”
That thinking paid off. Milroe, voted the team MVP and a captain, has been the catalyst for an offense that sits two wins away from a College Football Playoff championship.
Rees hasn’t played Scrabble with his family since he took the Alabama job in early 2023. He’s been too busy. That could change soon, though. Of course, the Crimson Tide hopes not too soon. And if all goes as planned, he’s not going to have time to play for at least the next two weeks. Then, there could be only one word for him to spell. One eight-letter word.
Champion.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: Inside the football mind of OC Tommy Rees
