Clark Lea - Defensive Coordinator

[fightingirish26]

So, next year the DTs are flipped? Lacey+Jay start and Kurt and MTA back them up, maybe more Howard cross? Lacey should be solidly plus 300 next season, we don't have much of that on our roster. Aidan might play right away for that exact reason, and then there's Ja'mion, Spears, Rylie mills..point is, shouldn't we field a competitive unit at that position between those 9 names?

The most BK thing will be when kurts a captain next year and gets even more snaps

 

[Valpodoc85]

D is going to get cooked when the offense is three and out
Corner play has been an issue all year.
Keeping a safety over the top leaves you open to the run game
DL play is mediocre an it exacerbates the mediocre linebacker play
And so it goes

 

[stpeteirish]

ND lost 4 NFL players -- Tillery, Tranquill, Love, and Coney. Coney is a borderline athlete and borderline pro talent, but he was a stud college player.

DT has taken a big step back. ILB has taken a MASSIVE step back. Corner has taken a large step back. The lack of players stepping up to fill those shoes is what the issue is. ILB is by far the biggest issue.... they don't do anything well. They aren't physical, they aren't athletic, they aren't instinctual, they aren't big, they aren't sure tacklers...

The biggest issue I see is the lack of help on the way. No LBs this year. No CBs of note. So unless there is someone on the roster right now that is sitting for no reason, the prospects look a little bleak until we get to the '21 recruiting. And with the '21 recruiting, you're going to need to win to keep that class together.

I still think Lea is a fantastic coach, but they've got to increase their talent level on that side of the ball and they to give some other guys shots to improve heading into 2020. White and Bilal should both be sat regardless of what you think about the guys behind them.

Pretty good coaching in our previous 6 games if our talent is so lacking. Going to have to make some personnel changes with Hamilton being the most obvious. He has to play every down not just when we are in nickel/dime.

 

[Irish in Ohio]

Would definitely like to see a change at the LB position. The play of the starters has been average at best all season. And yes please play Hamilton as a starting safety.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Notre Dame's defense is mainly set up as a pass defense unit. ... not a Bo Schembechler-in-the-mud run defense unit. Our linebackers are not good enough as many of us have said from August on, at least. We are decent against passing as that masks these linebacker faults (by getting two of them usually off the field.) This is not Lea's fault primarily, as the defense is pretty good against a normal pass-oriented team as most good college teams are.

Had Harbaugh not decided to go back to Big-Boy football (a la Stanford days running it right at you), the Lea defense probably would have been OK. Big Boy running exposes the poor linebacking plus the pass-oriented DEs. Pass rushers aren't much good vs someone who chooses not to pass.

 

[stlnd01]

Notre Dame's defense is mainly set up as a pass defense unit. ... not a Bo Schembechler-in-the-mud run defense unit. Our linebackers are not good enough as many of us have said from August on, at least. We are decent against passing as that masks these linebacker faults (by getting two of them usually off the field.) This is not Lea's fault primarily, as the defense is pretty good against a normal pass-oriented team as most good college teams are.

Had Harbaugh not decided to go back to Big-Boy football (a la Stanford days running it right at you), the Lea defense probably would have been OK. Big Boy running exposes the poor linebacking plus the pass-oriented DEs.

Good point. The weak spots of our D - up the middle, basically - got exposed by a physical ground game, accentuated by the weather and, frankly, Michigan getting ahead by so much so fast. I think it would have been a very different game if we don't fumble that punt but rather get the ball on their 25 and go score a TD.
And, yeah, for all the hype, Okwara isn't going to do much when the QB only drops back like ten times all night.

 

[ThePiombino]

Notre Dame's defense is mainly set up as a pass defense unit. ... not a Bo Schembechler-in-the-mud run defense unit. Our linebackers are not good enough as many of us have said from August on, at least. We are decent against passing as that masks these linebacker faults (by getting two of them usually off the field.) This is not Lea's fault primarily, as the defense is pretty good against a normal pass-oriented team as most good college teams are.

Had Harbaugh not decided to go back to Big-Boy football (a la Stanford days running it right at you), the Lea defense probably would have been OK. Big Boy running exposes the poor linebacking plus the pass-oriented DEs. Pass rushers aren't much good vs someone who chooses not to pass.

So they're good enough to limit Swift and Georgia's run game, but not Michigan's? Nah, something else was at play last night.

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[ARALOU]

Notre Dame's defense is mainly set up as a pass defense unit. ... not a Bo Schembechler-in-the-mud run defense unit. Our linebackers are not good enough as many of us have said from August on, at least. We are decent against passing as that masks these linebacker faults (by getting two of them usually off the field.) This is not Lea's fault primarily, as the defense is pretty good against a normal pass-oriented team as most good college teams are.

Had Harbaugh not decided to go back to Big-Boy football (a la Stanford days running it right at you), the Lea defense probably would have been OK. Big Boy running exposes the poor linebacking plus the pass-oriented DEs. Pass rushers aren't much good vs someone who chooses not to pass.

Correct, plus the tackling was/is suspect. It is almost like the second level defenders are tackling the ball, or trying to. It is either that or they are not as physical as they think they are. They lost that straight up, man to man battle last night. The "push" that they should get on defense was absent. The scheme was not right for the Michigan style.
They could not out power Michigan, plain and simple. That does not mean that they could not stay in the game. They should have adjusted and had a better plan to counter the physical advantage Michigan obviously had.

 

[ARALOU]

So they're good enough to limit Swift and Georgia's run game, but not Michigan's? Nah, something else was at play last night.

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There was better weather in that game. They tackled better. They were quicker. I AGREE with you about Georgia. They were better prepared. I think they under estimated Michigan and got smacked in the face and had no answer.

 

[IrishLax]

There was better weather in that game. They tackled better. They were quicker. I AGREE with you about Georgia. They were better prepared. I think they under estimated Michigan and got smacked in the face and had no answer.

Yeah, if you watched Michigan's offense in the beginning of the year, there was no reason to fear them. They had been improving massively in their running game over the past couple weeks, and they thoroughly dominated Penn State in the second half last week. And Penn State has a *much* better defense than Notre Dame. So it's just crazy to me that we're still at a point where we're having Drew White and Asmar Bilal try to shoot gaps because we don't trust them to read+react, and we saw against a (comparatively) soft USC team how the LBs get carried for YAC because they aren't physical.

 

[irishandy]

Clark Lea is fine...

Our offense has looked horrible the past 2 games, no compliment to our defense at all.

If Kareem isn't getting double teamed (or held on some replays I've seen) then Okwara is; that is why they are quiet.

I'd consider a new OC before a new DC.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Yeah, if you watched Michigan's offense in the beginning of the year, there was no reason to fear them. They had been improving massively in their running game over the past couple weeks, and they thoroughly dominated Penn State in the second half last week. And Penn State has a *much* better defense than Notre Dame. So it's just crazy to me that we're still at a point where we're having Drew White and Asmar Bilal try to shoot gaps because we don't trust them to read+react, and we saw against a (comparatively) soft USC team how the LBs get carried for YAC because they aren't physical.

It's remarkable the narrative we twist after one game.

Up until this point, Bilal and White were having very good seasons, as were the defense overall.

Against USC, they were carried, because ND played almost entirely with 8 in coverage and Stepp had a full head of steam. That's not going to end well for most LB's.

I get people are angry at the LBs for getting physically worked last night, but it was across the board. Everybody was physically destroyed.

That doesn't tell me there's a talent issue or a physicality issue. There's a preparation issue. This team had 2 weeks to prepare for this game. The defense came out and played well, then adversity struck. This team got a bad break and they let it send them into a death spiral.

This loss wasn't because of personnel (at least not defensively), it was because of poor preparation, poor leadership and poor coaching. ND had sufficient talent defensively to hold Georgia in check, so they damn sure had enough to shut Michigan down.

 

[BeatSC]

No doubt Clark Lea deserves a mulligan this one time but he is also the LB coach and by and large they stink but not sure they would be starting on too many teams, certainly White wouldn’t. The safety play has regressed. Elliott has the passion but gets out of position constantly and Gilman stinks on pass coverage. I suppose it can be considered good news that this game will keep anyone from coming out early. Book vacancy transfer for a fifth year but doubt he would start on any D1 team.

Lea can stay
Chip can go and he can pound sand while he’s at it. He was lucky as F to get ND level exposure.

 

[EddytoNow]

I fear the VanGorder experience has us setting our defensive goals too low, and as a result Lea has been getting a pass. Not because he's a great defensive coordinator, but because he's not as bad as VanGorder.

Am I the only one that is getting tired of our defense being unprepared for the first half of the game? Doesn't anyone else think it takes Lea far too long to make adjustments to counter the other team's offense? Up until the past few weeks, the defense (under Lea) has made halftime adjustments and played a better second half. But that seems to have disappeared.

Kelly's coaching past has caught up with him. He himself is a pretty good coach, but he seems to lack a network of coaching connections that would enable him to hire highly qualified and experienced assistants who can recruit and coach at a national level. Clark Lea was a shot in the dark after Elko left. It is beginning to look like Clarke Lea stepped up to a defensive coordinator's position a few years before he was ready. Although he has the makings of someday being a very good defensive coordinator, he is not quite ready to take on that role against good teams.

 

[BeatSC]

Yes anything is better than BVG but I bet his kid would be a better QB than Book.

 

[ND88]

Elliot and Gilman and Pride and Kareem and Okwara.

Are not living up to expectations.

No one honestly expected our linebackers to be great.

 

[NDIrish88]

Agree with all this. The limited UGA because they tried to. Against Michigan they tried to stop the pass. What baffles me is that they did not try and stop the run while it was a monsoon. Nobody was gonna throw the ball in that weather so Lea should have adjusted until the weather subsided.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Wait.

People are actually upset with Lea because of one game over 30 points (most under 20) where his offense couldn't stay on the field?

The number of 3 and outs and short fields for Michigan was staggering. Yes there were more missed tackles this game, but that has not been the case for the past two years, at all. Everyone is going some tackles, it happens, unfortunately.

Lea is not not not even close to our biggest problem.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I think this game says more about UM's coaching staff and their ability to target ND's weakness. I've watched more UM games this year than I'd like to admit. They are not as good as ND made them look.

As pointed out, our LBs aren't great, so UM said "here, stop the run." We didn't.

As pointed out, Book sucks, so UM said "we'll stop the run and you beat us Ian." He couldn't.

That is a massive oversimplification of events, but it's why so many ND fans are pissed at the coaching staff. We have obvious weaknesses, and the coaching staff doesn't seem to be doing much to compensate for them, exposing us to mediocre teams like UM.

 

[Irish in Ohio]

Clark Lea is not the problem. ND has not recruited well on the defensive side of the ball on a consistent basis for a long time. Things seem to have changed these past couple years and appears to be strong going forward. Yes some things need to change and they should as these younger players start to mature and learn his system.

 

[Wingman Ray]

Clark Lea is not the problem. ND has not recruited well on the defensive side of the ball on a consistent basis for a long time. Things seem to have changed these past couple years and appears to be strong going forward. Yes some things need to change and they should as these younger players start to mature and learn his system.

Face it, can you envision a scenario where ND's LBs would start on any team not in the MAC? What about the DTs? When you have 5 of the 11 players, especially the center core of the defense, being as they are, what can you realistically expect?

I just dont get it. ND gets the players. They just dont develop. Or at least not enough of them dont develop.

 

[NDRock]

Face it, can you envision a scenario where ND's LBs would start on any team not in the MAC? What about the DTs? When you have 5 of the 11 players, especially the center core of the defense, being as they are, what can you realistically expect?

I just dont get it. ND gets the players. They just dont develop. Or at least not enough of them dont develop.

I always feel it takes an entire year of starting before they develop. Rarely does a new starter come in on D and we see little to no drop-off.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason will return next year.</p>— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1196835379044868096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lea was the frontrunner to replace Mason, so this is great news.

 

[beryirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason will return next year.</p>— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1196835379044868096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lea was the frontrunner to replace Mason, so this is great news.

Vanderbilt's pipedream frontrunner or known that Lea would leave if this job came open?

 

[dad4aa]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason will return next year.</p>— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1196835379044868096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lea was the frontrunner to replace Mason, so this is great news.

Where did you see that? The article I saw had five potential replacements and Lea was not mentioned.

 

[Luckylucci]

Curious as well because I saw nothing substantiating that other than nervous message board members.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

"Frontrunner" may have been pushing things a bit on my part; I was thinking about this piece which listed Jeff Fisher as the frontrunner but was later updated with a denial from the administration. Lea was the first listed of the runner ups. https://footballscoop.com/news/espn-jeff-fisher-potential-target-vanderbilt/

In any case, it's a potential headache out of the way.

EDIT: Loy says there was a lot of mutual interest, but now he fully expects Lea to return next year.

 

[Circa]

It's almost criminal that Lea Isn't on this list.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Semifinalists for the Broyles Award <a href="https://t.co/HC7rSa9UBQ">pic.twitter.com/HC7rSa9UBQ</a></p>— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDFischer/status/1199416521786683392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[arrowryan]

Keep him off the list. I want him under wraps as long as possible.

 

[General Colon Bowel]

Wanted to give a quick shout out to this year's defense. Quietly, Lea may have just put together the best defense of the BK era or at least one that belongs in the same discussion as 2012 and 2018.

From a statistical standpoint:

Stat [Nationally] (BK era rank)
Yards per play - 4.68 - [11] (1)
Yards per game - 324.3 - [21] (2)
Points per game - 18.7 - [14] (3)
Turnovers gained - 26 - [5] (1)
TFLs per game - 7.17 - [22] (1 - by a wide margin)
Stop Rate - 75.2% - [15] (2)
3 and out rate - 38.9% - [16] (2)
3rd down conversions against - 32.42% - [20] (1)