Mike Elko - Defensive Coordinator

[NDRock]

This is going to be a roundabout debate, because your statement ignores my initial stance which is "I understand why they didn't want to enter a bidding war. There is a new market to evaluate, and you don't throw unprecedented money at a guy just because LSU did."

No worries. I'm just always in favor of spending somebody else's money. It's easy. Time to find a new guy.

 

[IrishLion]

No worries. I'm just always in favor of spending somebody else's money. It's easy. Time to find a new guy.

 

[NDohio]

These salaries that are filtering down from the head coaches to the coordinators are absolutely insane. I don't see how they can be sustainable without an uprising by the players expecting to get some compensation. This has been building for a while and these salaries may be the straw.

I hate that we lost ME, I thought he was going to do well here for three years and then move on. Oh well, our talent upgrade with this last class will help the new D Coordinator. Let's get someone that runs a 4-3 and can recruit.

 

[phork]

ND did offer elko 1.5 million a year and he accepted so you can't blame the admins for at least trying. I think this is a bad judge of character on Elko's part, rumor is he is getting 2 million per year. IDK about you but I wouldn't leave ND for a shitty situation like Texas A&M just for 500,000 more. If you look at their recruiting class last year and this year so far there ain't much there for defensive players. This just sucks for the guys coming in and guys still here and for us fans, not to mention it will most likely affect recruiting next year in 2019 where we have a ton of DE/ DT type guys who are high on us.

Right aTm is shitty. Better weather, no tax, better recruiting grounds in state even with Texas and TCU, lower standard for player.. The list goes on. Regardless of player star rating shceme has a lot to do with it. Look at Michigan St. When Harbaugh was hired all the Michigan fans yelled from the mountain tops that MSU was done. Harbaugh was going to suck any and all 4star guys and MSU would get none. MSU has thrived off that. And then once you start winning its over, when kids WANT to be in your system.

Is it truly a joke? Recall when Charlie had a good initial year and the admin ponied up. How did that scenario work out? How many one year wonders within the coaching ranks have their been? BVG anyone? How huge was his hype at the beginning? The only sustained coach on the roster you could consider is HH and even HH has had some issues.

Bottom line, this does not prove anything other than Elko left. The reasons are his alone but they obv revolve somewhat around money.

Correction, the admin ponied up for Charlie. Again no decent coordinators.

Also, I love Elko, but its not like in one year he turned this into a top 3 defense in the country...

37 points to Wake, 41 to Miami, 38 to Stanford...

He did an amazing job but hes not one of the top 3 coordinators in the country... Find the next guy,

The players first year under a new system and showed giant leaps of improvement. The sky was the limit.

Hey the guy is mercenary living off one year at a DC position working with 4 star ND athletes. He wont get anywhere near that with Texas back on the rise now at A&M.

Im not saying he didnt do a good job but I think mostly our prior two DCs just were THAT BAD.

ND gets a lot of talent guys. More than most the country. There is never an excuse to give up a ton of points vs teams like MSU, Northwestern, etc.

Any DC should jump at the chance to coach at ND. It is a big time stage where you can market success into a nice pay raise (see Elko). I dont think we will have any problems finding a new DC.

Problem will be if BK hasnt learned from his past and hires someone from within

Did you ever think that our last 2 were bad because its hard to find a really good one? There isn't many people jumping at the chance to go to ND to coach, especially now, since Kelly is still on the hot seat. Possibly fired next year if the regression is bad.

Its kind of funny to me that everyone wanted Kelly to go outside his coaching tree. "He demands loyalty to a fault, he needs new blood, etc". Well he did and a non-loyal person he never worked with up and left after one season. Now I see people are mad because of the impacts on our incoming freshmen having to adjust to a new DC,....

I don't care where Kelly finds his guys, as long as they are quality guys. Failure to recognize that your friends just aren't doing their job and maintaining loyalty is a deadly combination.

Money was part of it, not all of it. You don't break up with your girlfriend because another girl has bigger tits.

Rephrase that to: You don't break up with THE ONE, because the other girl has bigger tits. Girlfriends are a dime a dozen, but you'll never get a chance at THE ONE again.

 

[GATTACA!]

I get it. Elko apparently agreed verbally and then A&M kept offering more. I'm not saying I agree with Elko's ethics if that's how it played out.
But my career isn't college football and that's the way it's played now a day's. So your comparison isn't applicable. The market was set with Aranda and that set the market. If Notre Dame is going be serious about being a contender you can't lose these types of battles.
When it comes to battles of money Notre Dame shouldn't lose many of those and that's how it equates to winning in today's college landscape. If we can't recruit everyone we want because of academic standards then we sure as hell better pay top dollar for coaches. Whatever the perceived budget is, it needs to change for more on the field success. Notre Dame can control that

Aranda has also been one of the best DC for almost a decade now. 1.5 million is more than fair compensation for Elko based on the market that had been set.

I'd argue Elko isn't even worthy of top 3 money.

Off the top of my head I would take Aranda, Venables, Don Brown, Bud Foster, and Jeremy Pruitt over Elko.

 

[Irish#1]

I'm curious how a school with a freakin' lawyer as an AD doesn't kick ass at building contracts that are at least neutral in who the contract benefits

This is what puzzles me as up until now Jack has been on top of things. I'm assuming the legal department would put together the baseline and Jack would insert his provisions.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Random:

Isn't Elko's mom buried in an ND blanket? That's going to be an awkward reunion one day.

 

[NDRock]

Random:

Isn't Elko's mom buried in an ND blanket? That's going to be an awkward reunion one day.

He’s sold his soul, there will be no reunion.

 

[IrishLax]

Random:

Isn't Elko's mom buried in an ND blanket? That's going to be an awkward reunion one day.

I hadn't heard that, but wow if true. I had heard that he came from an ND family and coveted the job... and that'd he'd liked it here in his first year. Which is what makes how this all went down even more perplexing.

 

[arahop]

And this is the way ND operates. When have they been at the forefront of anything lately (regarding football)? We always seen to wait, see what others are doing, study the implications, and then years later decide to catch up. Seems like a very conservative approach and one that hasn't translated into desired results.

Spot on. 1.5 is going to be the new baseline for a Top tier coordinator. ND whiffed. Now we will go conservative again and promote Elston.

 

[GATTACA!]

Spot on. 1.5 is going to be the new baseline for a Top tier coordinator. ND whiffed. Now we will go conservative again and promote Elston.

........we offered him 1.5??

 

[indianamouse]

Spot on. 1.5 is going to be the new baseline for a Top tier coordinator. ND whiffed. Now we will go conservative again and promote Elston.

Why the hate for Elston? He's a good DL coach, recruits pretty good, and did decent filling in in 2016.

 

[wizards8507]

These salaries that are filtering down from the head coaches to the coordinators are absolutely insane. I don't see how they can be sustainable without an uprising by the players expecting to get some compensation. This has been building for a while and these salaries may be the straw.

Because the players are players. They're participating in an extracurricular activity. The coaches are going to work.

 

[koonja]

Per ISD - there's some coaching conference or something from January 7th-10th. Apparently that's an opportunity for coaches to talk to one another, and they said don't be surprised if BK uses that time to close in on a DC.

Never heard of the conference before so TIFWIW.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Per ISD - there's some coaching conference or something from January 7th-10th. Apparently that's an opportunity for coaches to talk to one another, and they said don't be surprised if BK uses that time to close in on a DC.

Never heard of the conference before so TIFWIW.

BK goes every year; pretty sure he held off firing Gilmore last year until the conference so he could find a job for Keith.

 

[dang227]

Per ISD - there's some coaching conference or something from January 7th-10th. Apparently that's an opportunity for coaches to talk to one another, and they said don't be surprised if BK uses that time to close in on a DC.

Never heard of the conference before so TIFWIW.

It’s the AFCA national convention that every coach in every division in college football attends. Quite a few coaches conduct interviews down there because everyone is in one place. I believe it’s in Charlotte this year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NDdomer2]

LSU may have been willing to give aranda such a large increase knowing he is their next HC. Elko most likely was not that at ND.

 

[PANDFAN]

Per ISD - there's some coaching conference or something from January 7th-10th. Apparently that's an opportunity for coaches to talk to one another, and they said don't be surprised if BK uses that time to close in on a DC.

Never heard of the conference before so TIFWIW.

https://www.afca.com/afca/Convention2018

THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONVENTION IS THE PREMIER NETWORKING EVENT FOR COACHES FROM ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY.

6,000+
ATTENDEES
200,000
SQ FT EXHIBIT HALL
100+
SPEAKERS

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

I hadn't heard that, but wow if true. I had heard that he came from an ND family and coveted the job... and that'd he'd liked it here in his first year. Which is what makes how this all went down even more perplexing.

I'm 99.9% sure I heard that she was buried with one... I believe it may have even been on NBC against Temple... I feel like I remember the camera panning to his family...Talking about Elko's IQ (introducing him to casual fans) and his family's passion for ND.

 

[arahop]

........we offered him 1.5??

Per Sampson
And that wasn't enough. why not spice the pot up 300- 500 grand? Drop in the bucket. I'm not saying give him Aranda money but 500-700 grand less than Aranda is reasonable.

 

[indianamouse]

Per Sampson
And that wasn't enough. why not spice the pot up 300- 500 grand? Drop in the bucket. I'm not saying give him Aranda money but 500-700 grand less than Aranda is reasonable.

So make him the #2 highest paid assistant off of 1 year?

 

[vuirish]

So make him the #2 highest paid assistant off of 1 year?

Pay the guy based off success in one year? Charlie Weis says hello.

 

[arahop]

Why the hate for Elston? He's a good DL coach, recruits pretty good, and did decent filling in in 2016.

I'm not hating on him I just don't think he will become elite. Elko was on the verge of that and the recruiting momentum he was building was better than we have seen since 2012.

 

[BobbyMac]

LSU may have been willing to give aranda such a large increase knowing he is their next HC. Elko most likely was not that at ND.

Been told this by 2 unrelated big shot boosters. ND will never hire another non-HC again.

 

[indianamouse]

Pay the guy based off success in one year? Charlie Weis says hello.

Weis had 2 good years, and a different admin.

 

[Irish#1]

On the other hand, when they negotiated the most recent raise they should've have had him sign it then and made sure the terms locked him in.

JS: You'll take $1.5M?
Elko: Yes,
JS: OK, sign here.

While I see where you're coming from, this isn't typically how it happens.

It would take several days at a minimum for a contract to be written and both parties agree to and sign (I have to believe Elko would want his lawyer to read it first). There have been many instances where coaches accept an offer, but don't end up signing the contract for several months.

Given that Elko came back asking for more after agreeing tells me his interest is purely financial. At that point any respect JS or BK had for Elko would be gone and that would make for an uncomfortable work environment.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Per Sampson
And that wasn't enough. why not spice the pot up 300- 500 grand? Drop in the bucket. I'm not saying give him Aranda money but 500-700 grand less than Aranda is reasonable.

Because it wouldn't have stopped there. ND gave him an elite contract (top 10 money) when he was hired. He got a raise after the season ended. aTm offered him more, ND countered, and he verbally accepted. aTm came after him again, and rather than doing the honorable thing by saying, "I appreciate the continued interest, but I've reached an agreement to stay at ND", he decided to start a bidding war, indicating he'd go to whoever offered him the most money. Yeah, it's a business, but that's a nakedly mercenary way to handle yourself, and will burn bridges even in some of the most cutthroat industries out there. I don't blame Jack for telling him to go f*ck himself after that.

 

[IrishLax]

So make him the #2 highest paid assistant off of 1 year?

But why should anyone care? In the end, a couple hundred grand is inconsequential relative to total buyouts should this all go south. And it's not it's your money or my money.

People should want ND throwing around the most money in CFB. And if we go with an outside hire, ND is going to end up paying north of a million anyways so we're talking about a delta that is peanuts... and probably going to cost us three of our best players. You don't think it's worth a couple hundred grand to get back Coney, Tillery, and Tranquill? Because if we could pay them directly, I'm damn sure it is.

LSU has negative money and they just spent absurd amounts to retain "their guy"... ND has billions and was like "nah"... I understand both sides of it, but the bottom line is we should've been locking him in from a contractual standpoint way before it got to be a "bidding war" in the first place and once it did we should've made an attractive best-and-final that was ironclad and not let him leave the room without signing.

 

[greyhammer90]

Because the players are players. They're participating in an extracurricular activity. The coaches are going to work.

It's a separate argument as to whether or not players get a good enough deal as it is with the free scholarship and room and board, or if they deserve a bigger cut of the market share, but don't kid yourself by thinking that this isn't a job for them. They just get paid (for now) in a round-about way.

 

[arahop]

So make him the #2 highest paid assistant off of 1 year?

Elko was successful at the same position on the same platform.The risk isn't as great with a coordinator. Look market has been set with Aranda. Plenty of coordinators will be making 1.75 to 2.5 mil a year within the next 2 years. . Elko was worth it to keep the defensive continuity going and other coordinators like Veneables will be paid what the market dictates here soon.