Mike Elko - Defensive Coordinator

[ThePiombino]

Guys, I like Elko and all that but relax. Who knows how teams were going to adjust to his defense next year with a full year of film to look at. Not saying it doesn't suck to lose him but it's not the end of the world. You can't just pay people way above market just because some desperate team is willing to.

That is a POSSIBILITY, yes. But a couple things that are DEFINITE:

1) Recruiting will be impacted -- if not kids wanting out of their LOI, then '19 kids
2) D will now be on their 3rd scheme in 3 years

F*ck!

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Guys, I like Elko and all that but relax. Who knows how teams were going to adjust to his defense next year with a full year of film to look at. Not saying it doesn't suck to lose him but it's not the end of the world. You can't just pay people way above market just because some desperate team is willing to.

Excellent post. You can't give a guy who has been at the university for 1 year whatever pay he wants, way above market value. Again I put this more on the type of person and character of Mike Elko. Breaking a contract after 1 year for money.

 

[benneboy]

Something absolutely needs to be done about salary caps. It completely destroys the parity in the sport when you have a group of cultish oil billionaires who will throw any amount of money necessary to hire the best coaches.

Really feels like fans should be saying this in reference to us and not the other way around. Good to know we're little brother now.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Offer Clark Lea the job, keep the system in place.

If you don't keep the system in place, I would think Tranquill might reconsider the NFL option. I know he loves ND, but who knows how the next DC will use him.

 

[Luckylucci]

Well T&M threw a boat at LSU's coordinator and he stayed. Im sure they threw the same boat at Elko and he bit.

ND and BK are a bunch of friggin idiots. Im sure neither would match their absurd offer

Way to go guys

Well the difference is, LSU is now paying Aranda 2.5MM/year. That's insane money.

 

[Southside Sully]

Offer Clark Lea or move Elston up

 

[MNIrishman]

Feels wrong? It doesn't feel wrong to have incredibly high academic standards and other challenges unique to all things ND. We should pay more than all the easier football factories because of those challenges. We have the money, and should never lose a bidding war for a quality coach that fits in.

How do you compete with schools willing to empty the endowment to pay for their football programs while ignoring academics? If we paid Kelly at the same proportional rate as Mississippi State relative to our endowment, we'd be paying $68M a year for the head coach. I just think there should be a salary cap to stop this sort of bidding war, because ND probably isn't willing to make the sacrifices it takes to win.

 

[IrishinTN]

Wow. From the excitement of a bowl win to back in the shitter in 3 days.

 

[greyhammer90]

Guys, I like Elko and all that but relax. Who knows how teams were going to adjust to his defense next year with a full year of film to look at. Not saying it doesn't suck to lose him but it's not the end of the world. You can't just pay people way above market just because some desperate team is willing to.

Sure will be fun to rub that in the face of all those other fans.

"Yeah our defense sucks and we won't ever become a consistent national championship winner again, but y'all overpaid for your coaching staffs! Notre Dame never even needed to touch its endowment in order to pay the second-tier coaches we have on staff! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Profitability!!!!!!"

 

[gkIrish]

Excellent post. You can't give a guy who has been at the university for 1 year whatever pay he wants, way above market value. Again I put this more on the type of person and character of Mike Elko. Breaking a contract after 1 year for money.

Yeah recruits value loyalty. If word got out that Elko was willing to leave for more money and ND matched it then they also know he is just chasing the paycheck.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

This isnt about academics or integrity... this is about compensation.

ND makes a crap load of money... they even do dumb sh*t like move games to Yankee stadium for no other reason than seemingly to make even more money. There is nothing in ND's supposed values which prevents them from using more of the massive amount of money the football program generates to help the on field product.

The BoT believes compensation and integrity are closed linked:

“Most athletic budgets are somewhere around the 3-8 percent range” of the total university budget, according to Swarbrick. “The Stanfords of the world are not going to allow that 4 percent business unit [to] take them places they don’t want to be.”

That whole article is well worth your time if you're interested in understanding how our admin views the situation. They are unwilling to allow the AD budget to grow in relation to the school's overall budget because they feel that's when values start to get compromised.

This seems to be the clearest and most recent indication that ND is opting out of the current funding arms race in CFB. Something's gonna have to give.

 

[IrishLion]

This gets back to the perennial debate over whether ND can maintain its values while remaining competitive in the current environment. If Swabrick and the BoT had an opportunity to match aTm's offer and opted not to, then this is the most obvious sign that no, we cannot have our cake and eat it too. We either have to dramatically increase investment (which the BoT isn't willing to do) or try to convince other like-minded programs to split off and form a "League for Kids Who Read Good and Want to Do Other Stuff Good Too".

The frustrating thing is that offering the D-Coordinator more money has absolutely zero to do with maintaining a moral high ground or staying true to ND's values... paying an elite d-coordinator more money isn't an issue for a school like ND from a money perspective, and spending said money won't compromise the institution in any way.

 

[IrishLax]

It's being reported that they're going to be paying Elko near 2.5 mil per year.

Between this and what they're paying Jimbo Fisher that's absolutely insane. A new market has been set. The "cap" just a year ago was like $1.5mil/year for a DC.

What sucks is that Elko is EXACTLY what you wanted in a ND defensive coordinator. Really smart dude, tenacious recruiter.

 

[greyhammer90]

Really feels like fans should be saying this in reference to us and not the other way around. Good to know we're little brother now.

Was just about to point out how ridiculous it is that Notre "Does it look like we need the money" Dame fans are saying that a salary cap is needed. Except for maybe Texas, we are literally the definition of the football money school.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

Guys, I like Elko and all that but relax. Who knows how teams were going to adjust to his defense next year with a full year of film to look at. Not saying it doesn't suck to lose him but it's not the end of the world. You can't just pay people way above market just because some desperate team is willing to.

It's not the end of the world, but it's unquestionably very bad.

How many of our star defensive recruits signed on thinking they were getting Elko? How many of them will try to back out now that he's gone, and does ND really want to go through an EV situation again? And how many of those stud DTs in 2019 trending our way will balk?

Who the hell do we get to replace him? He's leaving at the absolutely tail-end of the coaching carousal and completely fucking us when it comes to getting another homerun hire. Maybe there's some diamond-in-the-rough candidate out there right now, but it's basically a guarantee ND will have a mediocre and/or inexperienced DC.

Anyway you slice it, this sucks.

 

[BoredIrish]

Wow. From the excitement of a bowl win to back in the shitter in 3 days.

How does ND not have a name for their curse??? Something this epic and undeniable should definitely have a name.

 

[RDU Irish]

Kind of shows Mike Elko's character, that it's all about the money for him. He had a 3 year contract and he broke it. As mentioned in the other thread Aranda said thank you, but no thanks.

I think Lea will do a fine job as a defensive coordinator.

Shove off - of course it is a business. Who goes into coaching expecting to be in the same spot more than a few years? Stupid to throw loyalty at those that have none for you.

Lax is 100% right - ND should have contracted a $3 million buyout, which A&M probably would have eaten anyway but at least you get some compensation for the shit storm thrown on you.

New tax laws taxes non-profit employees over $1M - weird time for these salaries to go ape, IMO.

 

[IrishLion]

It's being reported that they're going to be paying Elko near 2.5 mil per year.

Between this and what they're paying Jimbo Fisher that's absolutely insane. A new market has been set. The "cap" just a year ago was like $1.5mil/year for a DC.

What sucks is that Elko is EXACTLY what you wanted in a ND defensive coordinator. Really smart dude, tenacious recruiter.

I warned ya'll about this like 5 hours ago lol

 

[Whiskeyjack]

How do you compete with schools willing to empty the endowment to pay for their football programs while ignoring academics?

You don't.

I just think there should be a salary cap to stop this sort of bidding war, because ND probably isn't willing to make the sacrifices it takes to win.

That's one of many reforms that would improve the NCAA, but no one with anyone power has an incentive to change that.

 

[IRISHMAN]

Absurd - finally get one part of our coaching staff totally ironed out only to get bought out from under us...

what is wrong with ND? we struggle to get the best coordinators and when we do we loose them to TAM and OSUs of the world.

 

[IrishinTN]

me either. pretty sure he has no control over the purse strings or contract writing.

Maybe they didnt get along? Do we know what their working relationship was like? Although doubling your salary is a pretty nice compensation.

 

[BoredIrish]

It's being reported that they're going to be paying Elko near 2.5 mil per year.

Between this and what they're paying Jimbo Fisher that's absolutely insane. A new market has been set. The "cap" just a year ago was like $1.5mil/year for a DC.

What sucks is that Elko is EXACTLY what you wanted in a ND defensive coordinator. Really smart dude, tenacious recruiter.

If Elko is the new highest paid assistant in the country, I dont blame ND for balking.

I really liked the guy... but lets be real here. He isnt the best coordinator in the country.

 

[Emcee77]

This gets back to the perennial debate over whether ND can maintain its values while remaining competitive in the current environment. If Swabrick and the BoT had an opportunity to match aTm's offer and opted not to, then this is the most obvious sign that no, we cannot have our cake and eat it too. We either have to dramatically increase investment (which the BoT isn't willing to do) or try to convince other like-minded programs to split off and form a "League for Kids Who Read Good and Want to Do Other Stuff Good Too".



Someone who's interested in doubling his salary.

Increasingly I think the bolded is the way to go.

Guys, I like Elko and all that but relax. Who knows how teams were going to adjust to his defense next year with a full year of film to look at. Not saying it doesn't suck to lose him but it's not the end of the world. You can't just pay people way above market just because some desperate team is willing to.

Yeah, I tend to agree, especially with the bolded. Lots of people look good after just one year. I can understand not wanting to go all in at this point. Not saying I know it was right, but I can't say it was necessarily wrong.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not missing the old beat today. I'm sure it's full freak out mode on the 'ol Notre Dame message boards. Yikes.</p>— Jake Brown (@Jake_Brown) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jake_Brown/status/949012945517862912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Eff you Jake. Why do I still follow you anyway.

 

[Blazers46]

I just read an article about how the guys that just signed rave about Elko..... I would be pissed if I were them right now. Here is an argument against an early signing period.

 

[RDU Irish]

The BoT believes compensation and integrity are closed linked:



That whole article is well worth your time if you're interested in understanding how our admin views the situation. They are unwilling to allow the AD budget to grow in relation to the school's overall budget because they feel that's when values start to get compromised.

This seems to be the clearest and most recent indication that ND is opting out of the current funding arms race in CFB. Something's gonna have to give.

They have Crossroads to pay for too - kind of funky how they segregate the AD budget from so much else when it is a total driver of overall university support.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

Guy grew up in a fucking trailer, of course he’s going to jump at a million a year raise. I hope we get to keep Lea, he seems to be a great guy and will offer some continuity.

 

[loomis41973]

Hope this move isn't part of something bigger.

 

[IrishLax]

FWIW, Elko's defenses have routinely played progressively better from year 1 to year 2 to year 3.

 

[NorthDakota]

It's not the end of the world, but it's unquestionably very bad.

How many of our star defensive recruits signed on thinking they were getting Elko? How many of them will try to back out now that he's gone, and does ND really want to go through an EV situation again? And how many of those stud DTs in 2019 trending our way will balk?

Who the hell do we get to replace him? He's leaving at the absolutely tail-end of the coaching carousal and completely fucking us when it comes to getting another homerun hire. Maybe there's some diamond-in-the-rough candidate out there right now, but it's basically a guarantee ND will have a mediocre and/or inexperienced DC.

Anyway you slice it, this sucks.

Call up North Dakota State's head coach. Literally my only idea right now

 

[benneboy]

If Elko is the new highest paid assistant in the country, I dont blame ND for balking.

I really liked the guy... but lets be real here. He isnt the best coordinator in the country.

No, but he probably was the best for ND given the players had picked up the system. Let me know when we hire someone who you think will put together a better defense than Elko would have next year.