Clark Lea - Defensive Coordinator

[NDRock]

It's a joke, maybe a bad one

Oh, I know. I was kidding saying something like that could even happen. It’s still one of the craziest sports stories that ever happened.

 

[notredomer23]

Even if Lea takes it we expect him to finish the season no?

 

[IrishRazor82]

I wonder if this is why the line at ~-11 is at, well, -11? That is a huge line for a team who just lost to the other team.

 

[NDdomer2]

Even if Lea takes it we expect him to finish the season no?

That is what Kelly said

 

[notredomer23]

That is what Kelly said

I will suffer a year of Van Gorder at DC if it means Lea's d shuts down Clemson, OSU, and Bama back to back back.

 

[Rogue219]

People overreacting big time about this. Successful programs lose coordinators all the time

Agreed. Been saying it for the last few weeks. Our fan base has been so used to disappointment for so long that we don't comprehend this is how big time football works in 2021.

I wish the guy well. I think he's got an uphill road ahead of him there, but he's 38 and going to be the HC at his school in the city where he grew up. He's going to give it a shot and try to be the guy who can finally win there.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Let's assume BK sticks around another 5 years. If Lea is having enough success at Vandy that ND would want him as Head Coach, what are the chances that he would actually leave? 5 years is a long time to become entrenched and I'm pretty skeptical that he would leave at that point. 3 years, maybe there is a shot.

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

Oh, I know. I was kidding saying something like that could even happen. It’s still one of the craziest sports stories that ever happened.

Ha, missed the sarcasm. I think we'll be fine but this is a distraction in an otherwise uphill battle

 

[Meatloaf]

Pay the man.

You're going to pay him an SEC head coach's salary to be a coordinator? I love Lea and am sad to see him go, but the concessions some fans want the University to make to retain him are inane.

Lea wants to be a head coach. It's not about the money; and if it were, no one in their right mind would spend what it would take to retain him.

 

[dublinirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Notre Dame DC Clark Lea will be next coach at Vanderbilt, source told <a href="https://twitter.com/Stadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Stadium</a>, confirming multiple reports</p>— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1338535399388536837?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[dublinirish]

Also nobody ever told us Lea was a Fullback at Vandy

 

[irishff1014]

I like Lea and I hope he does well. But I am pretty sure this is a dumb move. I don’t care if it’s your school or not. You aren’t going to win anything significant at Vandy. So not the best way to start your coaching career.

 

[IrishLion]

I don't see ND making an "Elko" hire again... I'd bet the next DC is on staff, Elston being the obvious choice to get his shot at DC, but Joseph has the experience, as well.

The shocker would be taking a shot on finding the next "young up-and-comer" and seeing Mickens get promoted.

 

[IrishLax]

Let's assume BK sticks around another 5 years. If Lea is having enough success at Vandy that ND would want him as Head Coach, what are the chances that he would actually leave? 5 years is a long time to become entrenched and I'm pretty skeptical that he would leave at that point. 3 years, maybe there is a shot.

I almost reject the entire premise of this question, because how does one measure success at Vandy? An 8-4 regular season is wild success for Vandy... it's happened twice in the past 38 years. Both under James Franklin. Vandy has made 9 bowl games in their history. They've never won 10 games.

Notre Dame is not going to hire an 8-4 coach from Vandy and that is their *ceiling*... I get that the money and title at your alma mater is hard to turn down. I really do. But unless Clark Lea is even better as a HC than he is as a DC he likely just torpedoed his career. Derek Mason was in a similar situation with elite defenses at Stanford... one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches around... and took Vandy to 2 of the 9 bowl games in their history. And he's now unemployed, likely to be a retread in a worse DC situation than the one he left.

The best case scenario for Lea is that he pulls a Pat Fitzgerald, but the SEC is not the Big Ten West... and Vandy isn't even Northwestern. Which seems crazy to say about a Tier 4 football school, but it's true. It's arguably more of a dead end job than Kansas or Rutgers.

 

[Dizzyphil]

Tom Loy doesn't help posting stuff like this.....


<samp class="EmbedCode-container"><code class="EmbedCode-code"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Will the departure of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NotreDame</a> defensive coordinator Clark Lea impact the commitment of elite linebacker Prince Kollie?<br><br>The latest at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IrishIllustrated?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IrishIllustrated</a>: <a href="https://t.co/H7WugT20iY">https://t.co/H7WugT20iY</a> (VIP)<a href="https://twitter.com/247Sports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@247sports</a> <a href="https://t.co/X6qSdAAZF6">pic.twitter.com/X6qSdAAZF6</a></p>— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomLoy247/status/1338535790540967938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </code></samp>

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

I will suffer a year of Van Gorder at DC if it means Lea's d shuts down Clemson, OSU, and Bama back to back back.

I've already suffered 3 years of Van Gorder.

If I get to see ND beat Clemson 2x, OSU, and Bama - I'll suffer with BVG as a HC for a while, and watch Kelly's statue is being built.

 

[Irishman77]

Very happy for Coach Lea! Wish Kelly would have moved on to the NFL and Lea got the job here but hopefully Lea is the head coach here in the near future...

 

[irishog77]

If Lea's desire is to get back home, coach pretty decent kids that aren't dumb as shit, and win a couple games a year, then this is a great move by him.

If his desire is to win games, then eventually be in a position to stay or move on and compete for and win Natty's, then this is a terrible decision by Lea.

I don't think most people understand what a complete disaster and dumpster fire of a program Vandy football is. If Lea can win 6 games in a season by year 3 or 4, it will be a miracle (and that's taking into account 3 or 4 non-conference cupacakes). And other programs won't be looking to hire you because you won 6 games.
Would ND fans be happy if, in a few years, the school hired a guy that, at his best, won 5 or 6 games in a season? Any young coach will go to die at Vanderbilt.

 

[ab2cmiller]

I almost reject the entire premise of this question, because how does one measure success at Vandy? An 8-4 regular season is wild success for Vandy... it's happened twice in the past 38 years. Both under James Franklin. Vandy has made 9 bowl games in their history. They've never won 10 games.

Notre Dame is not going to hire an 8-4 coach from Vandy and that is their *ceiling*... I get that the money and title at your alma mater is hard to turn down. I really do. But unless Clark Lea is even better as a HC than he is as a DC he likely just torpedoed his career. Derek Mason was in a similar situation with elite defenses at Stanford... one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches around... and took Vandy to 2 of the 9 bowl games in their history. And he's now unemployed, likely to be a retread in a worse DC situation than the one he left.

The best case scenario for Lea is that he pulls a Pat Fitzgerald, but the SEC is not the Big Ten West... and Vandy isn't even Northwestern. Which seems crazy to say about a Tier 4 football school, but it's true. It's arguably more of a dead end job than Kansas or Rutgers.

Agreed. You probably made the point better than what I could. But the chances of Lea coming back to be head coach is extremely small.

 

[Irish YJ]

I almost reject the entire premise of this question, because how does one measure success at Vandy? An 8-4 regular season is wild success for Vandy... it's happened twice in the past 38 years. Both under James Franklin. Vandy has made 9 bowl games in their history. They've never won 10 games.

Notre Dame is not going to hire an 8-4 coach from Vandy and that is their *ceiling*... I get that the money and title at your alma mater is hard to turn down. I really do. But unless Clark Lea is even better as a HC than he is as a DC he likely just torpedoed his career. Derek Mason was in a similar situation with elite defenses at Stanford... one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches around... and took Vandy to 2 of the 9 bowl games in their history. And he's now unemployed, likely to be a retread in a worse DC situation than the one he left.

The best case scenario for Lea is that he pulls a Pat Fitzgerald, but the SEC is not the Big Ten West... and Vandy isn't even Northwestern. Which seems crazy to say about a Tier 4 football school, but it's true. It's arguably more of a dead end job than Kansas or Rutgers.

I agree with a lot of the above, but honest question. Do you think Lea is better than Franklin?

 

[IrishRazor82]

If he can make ~$5M a year versus ~$1.5, who can blame him. I think we'd all take that. It sucks but it was inevitable. I really hope and expect him to finish the job this year though.

 

[Rogue219]

I'm not crossing who the next HC after Brian Kelly will be until we get to that bridge.

 

[rtrn2glory]

If he can make ~$5M a year versus ~$1.5, who can blame him. I think we'd all take that. It sucks but it was inevitable. I really hope and expect him to finish the job this year though.

I don't see what everyone is so worried about him finishing the job. I don't foresee that being an issue. Yes it sucks we're losing him, but he'll be here through the end of the year. I'll be shocked if not.

 

[GATTACA!]

You're going to pay him an SEC head coach's salary to be a coordinator? I love Lea and am sad to see him go, but the concessions some fans want the University to make to retain him are inane.

Lea wants to be a head coach. It's not about the money; and if it were, no one in their right mind would spend what it would take to retain him.

Yes. Money should never be a factor at ND.

 

[Huntr]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clark Lea informed Notre Dame’s defensive players on Monday he intends to coach at Notre Dame for the remainder of this season and "all I care about right now is the next three weeks.”</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1338543701484851202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2020</a>

 

[NDRock]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clark Lea informed Notre Dame’s defensive players on Monday he intends to coach at Notre Dame for the remainder of this season and "all I care about right now is the next three weeks.”</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1338543701484851202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2020</a>

Perfect. Let’s roll.

 

[irishog77]

I almost reject the entire premise of this question, because how does one measure success at Vandy? An 8-4 regular season is wild success for Vandy... it's happened twice in the past 38 years. Both under James Franklin. Vandy has made 9 bowl games in their history. They've never won 10 games.

Notre Dame is not going to hire an 8-4 coach from Vandy and that is their *ceiling*... I get that the money and title at your alma mater is hard to turn down. I really do. But unless Clark Lea is even better as a HC than he is as a DC he likely just torpedoed his career. Derek Mason was in a similar situation with elite defenses at Stanford... one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches around... and took Vandy to 2 of the 9 bowl games in their history. And he's now unemployed, likely to be a retread in a worse DC situation than the one he left.

The best case scenario for Lea is that he pulls a Pat Fitzgerald, but the SEC is not the Big Ten West... and Vandy isn't even Northwestern. Which seems crazy to say about a Tier 4 football school, but it's true. It's arguably more of a dead end job than Kansas or Rutgers.

^ This. All. Day. Long.

To add to that, people also don't realize that the "glory" days of franklin also incorporated tons and tons of luck.
He was not only able to let players and the program get away with all kinds of behavior that won't ever be allowed again (the drinking, drugs, and rape culture that prevailed under his tenure), but tennessee, georgia, and florida had some of their worst seasons EVER while he was vandy's coach. I think franklin had one win against a Top-25 team. I know they beat georgia while they were ranked...but georgia was down something like 8 starters and had to use a 3rd string QB. I think franklin beat 2 teams, total, with a winning record in his entire time in Nashville (one being that georgia team). And florida and georgia are trending up, so Lea isn't going to have it tough with them. Tennessee still isn't great, but they're in a much better place than they were during the franklin years. Missouri and kentucky are decent programs that will be tough for Lea to beat. Ole Miss, Lea's permanent opponent from the sec-w, will be decent as well. Lea will have to go 3-1, 4-0 OOC, then get 2 or 3 wins against south carolina, missouri, ole miss, and kentucky to get to the magical 6-7 wins. It ain't happening. Lea is staring down 2 to 5 win seasons at Vandy. And nobody will look to hire him with that record.

 

[irishff1014]

And we won’t know who our new DC is until February the way things go around here.

 

[IrishLax]

I agree with a lot of the above, but honest question. Do you think Lea is better than Franklin?

As a football coach? Yeah. Positioned to win games at Vandy? I don't know. Franklin won at Vandy through a weird combination of the SEC East being really down and simply recruiting at a high enough level to compete. In 2012, Franklin lost to every ranked team they played. In 2013, Franklin lost to every ranked team they played except Georgia (who finished the year unranked). So Franklin wasn't really "competing" at Vandy as much as he was capitalizing on a soft schedule and winning the games he could/should win.

 

[Old Man Mike]

James Franklin did the trick however. Any other high-self-confidence coach can now say, legitimately, that using this job as a stepping stone is possible. ... can't deny that outlier of a fact, but it nevertheless happened. ... and recently. HATE losing Lea --- almost as devastating to my view of our "complete" team as would be losing Kelly.

We got lucky that Lea was as good or better than his previous boss --- maybe we'll get lucky again. To bad that Coach Kelly doesn't quite have the inbred connections to widespread coaching talents that exist with most of the powerhouses (i.e. his "tree" isn't deep and rich like theirs.) My biggest hope is that we hold the recruit list.