Tommy Rees from an ND perspective

I am a recent graduate of ND, live in South Bend, and went to every home game this last year

No, Tommy Rees is not universally beloved at ND, but he is also not universally hated. The beginning of the season, he was fairly unpopular (losing to Marshall and Stanford at home because of offensive ineptitude will do that) and you had people saying very negative things about Rees. The team averaged 23.7 points per game in the first 6 games. However, as the season went on and the offense continued to mesh, people more or less were fine with him. ND offense scored 38.7 points per game in the last 7 games. Finished the season scoring 31.8 ppg for 42nd in the nation.

My opinion having watched Rees closely last 3 years: he's not a bad coordinator. He's able to sometimes be creative and is definitely growing and learning. I would take him 10/10 times over LSU OCs like Cam Cameron and Jake Peetz. But sometimes he makes boneheaded decisions. Our offense was definitely not the strength of the team this year. IMO, Rees was a young guy who was a good coordinator when he was just gameplanning BK's vision; after BK left, Rees just looked lost for a good while. I mean idk, but 42nd in the nation just doesn't scream "Alabama OC #1 candidate" to me. I think Rees could do a good job under Saban and learn a TON but... as an ND fan, I have to admit I did think "wow we can go out and finally hire a real OC now!" when I first read the news!

Tl;dr- ND fans are split on the guy, but probably lean negative to mediocre. Almost no one here thinks him a top-tier OC. Take it for what it's worth.