What's Next: Making The Right Offensive Coordinator Hire

Brian Kelly must nail the offensive coordinator hire, but his offseason moves should not stop there.

Notre Dame was quite successful during the three seasons that Chip Long was the team’s offensive coordinator.

But after three seasons together both sides of the relationship were ready to move on. Head coach Brian Kelly confirmed that during yesterday’s press conference, and he also went into detail about what his future plans are at the position.

Kelly emphatically stated that he did not know who his next offensive coordinator would be.

“No decision has been made,” Kelly said bluntly. “I know there’s a lot of speculation that one of the coaches has already been named. That’s unfounded. That’s simply not true. We’re going to do a thorough search and find what I consider the best coach that fits Notre Dame.”

Kelly noted that he has already received a great deal of attention from outsiders regarding the position, and that should not be much of a surprise. Notre Dame returns an extremely talented roster everywhere except running back, and the Irish have recruited the offensive line as well as any team in the country.

Notre Dame also has an elite offensive recruiting class coming in next season.

There’s a window over the next two to three years where Kelly should have the talent on both sides of the ball, but maximizing that talent will require he have a staff that can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country. He has that on defense, but what he does in the coming weeks in regards to his offensive staff will determine whether he can get Notre Dame over that final hump, or if the program will take a step back.

With Long gone, Kelly has a chance to put someone in charge of the offense that has the talent and experience to get the most out of the offense. So who should that be? And is that the only move that needs to be made on offense?

STAYING WITHIN THE PROGRAM

I have been extremely critical of the notion of quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees being named the offensive coordinator. I get no joy out of being so critical of this idea, because I do believe Rees is a smart young coach with a bright future.

From my limited experience around Rees, and from talking to sources around the program that I trust, I have no doubt that Rees is advanced for his age when it comes to knowledge of the game. He grew up around football and he was always known as a bright player when he was at Notre Dame.

Would Rees be a better offensive coordinator than most 28-year olds in his profession? Quite possibly. But being really, really good for his age doesn’t make him ready to lead an offense for a program that is looking to compete for a national championship.

Being a great coordinator is so much more than knowing good concepts and play-calling. It’s about developing a culture, it’s about coaching your coaches, it’s about structuring how your entire unit goes about its business every day, it’s about teaching your players how to play the game beyond just having good concepts.

This requires more than just talent and smarts, it requires experience. I’m not talking about Rees having coordinating experience, I’m talking about overall coaching experience. I advocated for Clark Lea being hired at defensive coordinator to replace Mike Elko despite him having never been a coordinator, but Lea had been a college football coach for 12 years.

He had over a decade to hone his craft as a position coach, to learn from multiple successful defensive coordinators (Elko, DeWayne Walker, Scott Shafer) and to develop his own personality as a coach. Kelly talked about coordinators having their own nuances, but it takes time and experience to develop those nuances. Lea had that time, Rees is not there yet.

Rees has been a coach for just five years, and only two as a full-time coach. Does he have potential? Absolutely, and if Notre Dame was in more of a rebuilding mode I’d be more willing to let him get some on-the-job training in hopes he would hit his stride by the time the program was up-and-running.

But Notre Dame is in win now mode, which is why I don't believe Rees can be the hire, especially if what Kelly says about this truly being an open search is true.

Kelly said that running backs coach Lance Taylor would coordinate the run game during bowl prep, and I’m curious to see if Taylor is the coach Kelly chooses to call plays in the bowl game.

Kelly absolutely needs to make this a true national search and be willing to hire the best candidate. If there was a coach on staff that has the talent and experience to be that guy I would say it is Taylor.

Talent is important for a coach, but so is pedigree; Taylor has both. He’s a bright young coach, he commands respect from his players, he’s a strong recruiter and his intellect is top-notch. But he also has experience working with some outstanding offensive minds. In his 13 years as a coach Taylor has worked under David Shaw, Norv Turner, Brian Schottenheimer, Mike Shula and Hall of Fame coach Jerry Moore. His position coach in college was Dabo Swinney. His first boss was Nick Saban.

Taylor got everything he could out of the running back position this season, and he coached Christian McCaffrey (Stanford) the year his former protege had one of the greatest seasons in history for a running back.

Kelly stated he is open to outside candidates, and Notre Dame fans should hope he is truly open minded about that. If Kelly is true to his word I would imagine there will be a number of coaches interested in pursuing the job. But part of finding the best candidate isn’t just sitting back and waiting to hear who is interested, it’s also about going after top candidates who might be at other schools.

Here is a list of a few candidates I believe Kelly should call and push for: Coordinators Notre Dame Should Pursue

I’m curious to see how this all shakes out. If Kelly is serious about making the best move to put his team in position to win a championships I would expect Taylor and a number of outside candidates to be at the top of the list.

WHAT ABOUT THE OFFENSIVE LINE?

Assuming Kelly makes a strong hire as his next offensive coordinator - whether it be from inside or outside the program - there is still a major concern about the future of the offensive line. Simply put, the play of the offensive line has not been good enough the last two seasons.

There have been a lot of excuses given for the underachieving play, including many from Kelly, but the fact is the offensive line is not being prepared to play at the level its talent should dictate.

Currently line coach Jeff Quinn simply has not done the job needed to develop the Irish line. The talent he has to work with is good enough for Notre Dame to clearly be at least one of the ten best lines in the country, and the fact the Irish fell short of that each of the last two seasons is a problem.

Kelly said he is willing to make tough choices, and if that’s true he needs to make a change up front. Everyone I have spoken with off the record about Quinn raves about his character, and he’s respected by his players for that character, so there is certainly a role on the staff for someone with Quinn’s character and experience, but in my opinion being the primary line coach is not that role.

If Kelly makes the right hire at offensive coordinator and makes the necessary change with his line there is little doubt in my mind that Notre Dame will have an offense that gives the team a chance to make a legit run at the College Football Playoff in 2020.

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