Mike Elko - Defensive Coordinator

[Whiskeyjack]

Don't let Lea follow Elko to College Station. The roster has been revamped for this system and with Phil coming in you can't do a hard reboot and give him no D.

Seems to be the only way to salvage this situation. We need someone who can run Elko's system or the drop-off in defensive recruiting and performance will set us back years. If Lea turns down a coordinator position at ND to be a position coach at aTm, we'll have to reevaluate where we sit in the CFB hierarchy.

 

[andre784]

Disappointed...but you can't be shocked by this. Knowing where he came from he likely didn't grow up rooting for us. Stepping stone move is the reality for anyone that coaches here and doesn't have those Irish roots.

 

[NDVirginia19]

Got this from the school meme page, got a laugh out of me at least

 

[Domina Nostra]

Well feck. ND has every moral and financial reason to outspend every program in the country and won't. Why is $2.6M/per obscene but $1.5M is not? i give up on that front.

Anyways, in some other thread I mentioned if Elko took a job, move Lea up and hire LB coach, Brad Sherrod from Wake. He's a Duke grad, has been a coordinator at Sam Houston when they were #1 in FCS. The rest of his career was all in ND's ACC footprint from Umass down to the Carolinas... where he's from.

Don't let Lea follow Elko to College Station. The roster has been revamped for this system and with Phil coming in you can't do a hard reboot and give him no D.

Just curious, what moral reason is there to outspend every team in the country?

 

[BeauBenken]

Koon, where did you get the name Hazelton from? Like, did you just think of that yourself?

 

[snoopdog]

a couple of thoughts:

Jimbo went to TAMU because he thought FSU wouldn't spend to what was necessary to really compete for the NC. He took the TAMU job and was apparently promised they would spend to get what he wanted.

If Jimbo identified Elko as a must have DC....then it really REALLY sucks because Jimbo feels he is one of the very top DC's in the country. ND loss.

It also appears that TAMU would have just kept increasing the offer until Elko said yes....so it was probably a fait accompli that he would be going.

The loss of Elko and Lea will undoubtedly hurt, primarily on the recruiting side.

So BK needs not only to hire a quality DC....he needs to find someone who can recruit at or near the level of Elko and Lea....which is a very tall order.

Final point....Elko's gone...no sense crying over spilled milk and pointing blame. Time to move on. No sense rushing the hire as BK may have alluded to in his tweet.

Get the best guy and move forward.

 

[NorthDakota]

Does anyone know anything about Scott Hazelton? On paper he sounds like a great candidate.

He was the D coordinator at North Dakota State my first few years there.

Took a dumpster fire 3-4 defense and turned them into a pretty good 4-3. Beyond that I know very little about him.

 

[koonja]

Koon, where did you get the name Hazelton from? Like, did you just think of that yourself?

Yeah, my inside sources.

No, never heard of him before. ISD mentioned a bunch of possible guys, and I googled him because I had no idea who he was.

They're not saying there's any traction there, but just someone who might be a hot, under the radar name.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">no interviews.</p>— Ovie Oghoufo (@OvieOghoufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/OvieOghoufo/status/949034135825338368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[koonja]

He was the D coordinator at North Dakota State my first few years there.

Took a dumpster fire 3-4 defense and turned them into a pretty good 4-3. Beyond that I know very little about him.

Did he coach you? I'm assuming not, otherwise you'd have a strong opinion of him. Just wondering if you were a student or player of some sort during that time.

 

[BeauBenken]

Yeah, my inside sources.

No, never heard of him before. ISD mentioned a bunch of possible guys, and I googled him because I had no idea who he was.

They're not saying there's any traction there, but just someone who might be a hot, under the radar name.

Ah, okay. Didn't see anyone post such a list so I was going to be impressed if you came up with that name by yourself.

 

[NorthDakota]

Did he coach you? I'm assuming not, otherwise you'd have a strong opinion of him. Just wondering if you were a student or player of some sort during that time.

Apologies, should have specified that. I was just a student at the school. I was 5' 9" 150 lbs in college. Lmao. Bout the furthest thing from a college football player.

The defense was lights out amazing though. no idea how active he was in recruiting or anything like that.

 

[koonja]

Ah, okay. Didn't see anyone post such a list so I was going to be impressed if you came up with that name by yourself.

One I did come up with myself is Kevin Kane.

Northern Illinois DC. Young, knows Illinois obviously, also coaches safeties. They gave up 5 YPP this year, and ~320 total a game. Good enough for top ~30 in the country.

There's probably a reason his name isn't popped up yet, but he looks good on paper to me.

 

[dad4aa]

A lot of people saying Lea is gone too but cannot find that confirmed anywhere. Anyone have a link?

 

[IrishLax]

A lot of people saying Lea is gone too but cannot find that confirmed anywhere. Anyone have a link?

Definitely not confirmed. All scuttlebutt at this point.

 

[irish4ever]

Oh no, BVG redux!

 

[wizards8507]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Notre Dame football is bigger than any one player or coach. This is an incredible university with a rich football history and tradition. Coach Kelly will attract and hire a great DC and the improvement made by this team will continue in 2018! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoIrish?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoIrish</a></p>— Brian Polian (@BrianPolian) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianPolian/status/949027456945713153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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This reads like a Trump tweet.

 

[Hammer Of The Gods]

Is Bo Pelini's son on the team? Patrick Pelini

 

[EddytoNow]

The defense under VanGorder was terrible. The defense under Elko was good, but not great. The new defensive coordinator will benefit from some solid defensive recruiting this year at linebacker and defensive back. If Irvin and/or Boykin sign with Notre Dame we will be reaping the results of this year's recruiting class for 3-4 more years. Hopefully, Coach Kelly will stay away from old friends and choose a dynamic defensive coach who can sell what Notre Dame has to offer. That coach may already be part of Notre Dame's current staff or he may be somewhere else and just waiting for the opportunity that Notre Dame presents.

Coaches come and go, but we are Notre Dame. We will be fine.

 

[ulukinatme]

This reads like a Trump tweet.

I knew there was a reason I liked Polian.

 

[Domina Nostra]

I think the best play is Lea PLUS a riskier, motivated co-coordinator like Hazelton.

 

[ThePiombino]

The defense under VanGorder was terrible. The defense under Elko was good, but not great. The new defensive coordinator will benefit from some solid defensive recruiting this year at linebacker and defensive back. If Irvin and/or Boykin sign with Notre Dame we will be reaping the results of this year's recruiting class for 3-4 more years. Hopefully, Coach Kelly will stay away from old friends and choose a dynamic defensive coach who can sell what Notre Dame has to offer. That coach may already be part of Notre Dame's current staff or he may be somewhere else and just waiting for the opportunity that Notre Dame presents.

Coaches come and go, but we are Notre Dame. We will be fine.

We are ND which is why we won't be fine. Or haven't you been paying attention. This is epically bad.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[NDRock]

I think the best play is Lea PLUS a riskier, motivated co-coordinator like Hazelton.

Would be funny if ND spent more on two co-coordinators than just matching A&M.

 

[KizerWilhelm]

Mike's not holding back.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ND is so much more than one player or coach. The leadership and culture in place will carry the program even further to success. It’s about serving ND, not ND serving you. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoveThee?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LoveThee</a>🍀</p>— Mike McGlinchey (@mmcglinch68) <a href="https://twitter.com/mmcglinch68/status/949042775479209984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[wizards8507]

So wait, is what 'Tuna said true? That our assistant coach salary pool is top ten in the country? If so, everyone is bitching about the wrong thing because we ARE paying our guys and we still can't keep them around.

 

[STLDomer]

Get Manny Diaz

 

[irishff1014]

A lot of people saying Lea is gone too but cannot find that confirmed anywhere. Anyone have a link?

From what I have read if he doesn’t get the DC spot he is probably gone.

 

[loomis41973]

From what I have read if he doesn’t get the DC spot he is probably gone.

From what you've read? It's all speculation at this point.

 

[dad4aa]

From what I have read if he doesn’t get the DC spot he is probably gone.

Again.....link?

 

[condoms SUCk]

We are ND which is why we won't be fine. Or haven't you been paying attention. This is epically bad.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

yup, I'm right there w/ you. take two steps forward and then take a step back.