Toby, while I get the fact that fans will be fans, some of the vitriol expressed here and on other ND fan boards over TR's hire is, at least IMHO, a bit over the top. How many of us have accepted new jobs being perhaps a little short on experience, but full of confidence in our abilities to perform the job well? In 1924, with only a handful of games under his belt in the major leagues, the Yankees inserted a young kid in the lineup to play first base in place of an aging Wally Pipp: Lou Gehrig. That gamble worked out pretty well for the Yankees. Is TR going to be a Lou Gehrig hire? Or the next Greg Bird? (I think you're a Yankees fan?) I don't know, and none of us do. Time will tell.
Sports Illustrated ran a good piece on the TR hire:
https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/notre-dame-football-analysis-tommy-rees-to-oc
I think this quote from the article pretty accurately sums it up for me:
"Sometimes a coach will recruit a player who might not be ready to play as a freshman, but he has tremendous upside, so you take a chance on him. Sometimes you play a talented young player, not knowing what he’ll do, because you know he has the potential and upside to be really good.
Most head coaches aren’t willing to take that kind of chance on a coach, but Kelly is showing a willingness to do just that. The reality is no one knows how this will pan out. Not Kelly, not me, not any of Rees’ detractors and not any of his supporters. It could blow up in Kelly’s face, or Rees could reward Kelly’s confidence and loyalty, and make his boss look like a genius. It all depends on how quickly Rees can adapt to the job, which goes far beyond just play-calling.
Kelly is betting on Rees’ talent and potential meshing well with a veteran staff and a veteran football team. If you’re going to take a chance on a young coach, you do it with someone who you know as well as Kelly knows Rees, and you do it on someone that you believe has a lot of potential and upside as a coach. I don’t think anyone can make a case that Rees doesn’t possess a great deal of potential as a coach."