ND Coaching Changes 2016

[Bogtrotter07]

Late 40's :

Hart and Martin played for three national championship teams at ND, and were screwed out of a fourth by Detroit sportswriters for Michigan in 1948. They won all of 'em, except for two they tied. Were joined by George Conner after the first one was in the books.

Leon Hart, Heisman Trophy winner.
Jungle Jim Martin, Fifth Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion, and ND All-American, 14 seasons in the NFL including two pro-bowl selections.
George Connor, ND All American, College and Pro Football Hall of fame.

Who else did they have?

Zygmont "Ziggy" Czarobski, All American and Pro-Bowler
Bill Fischer Two time Consensus All American and Outland Trophy winner.

This group, which doesn't convert well in today's standards was the beefcrust of the line both ways for what everyone in sports calls the second greatest college sports dynasty of the 20th century.

Every member of this group is an All-American.
All but one won Consensus All-American honors more than one year.
The group has two Outland Trophy winners.
The group has the only lineman to win the Heisman Trophy.
The group has five Pro-Bowlers, and you can see all of them in the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

Pretty good huh? And by the way, three of them interrupted or delayed their college careers for a little thing called WW2. Yes, the all had distinguished service records.

 

[ND Fan Vancouver]

I think that's the best case scenario.

Polian's special teams weren't great under Weis. Will they be better? Most likely, but until this fall, Booker didn't do a horrible job.

Is Quinn going to be on staff? I don't think we know that. If he is, he certainly isn't going to be an assistant at this point and an analyst has a limited role. I don't think you insult your offensive coordinator and turn his position group over to an analyst, who technically can't be on the field during practice.

I think the QB or WR coach needs to have recruiting connections in Georgia. This is the part that is getting overlooked with the loss of Booker. Booker was a good recruiter, not great, but good. Notre Dame has no one in Georgia right now. I am not sure you want Elko taking on the state of Georgia and the East Coast.

You're not worried about Elston? I think this is a huge issue. He had the most talented defensive line in Notre Dame history with Stephon Tuitt, Louis Nix, Sheldon Day, Prince Shembo, etc and underachieved greatly.

The defensive line is going to determine how far Notre Dame goes in 2017 and it's vital they develop and progress during the year. The secondary and linebackers will be more than to win games, however, the defensive line has many questions.

I agree, I don't know if Gilmore is the answer, but how had very successful defensive lines at every school he has coached at. Was it him or was his coaching impacted by BVG? The defensive line got better last fall when BVG was let go. Was it great? Definitely not, but you saw progress from where they started.

I agree with a lot of what you said, I just tend to try to stay positive. I am worried about Elston in that he didn't seem to do the greatest job as DL coach in the past but I do think sometimes fans put way too much of the fault on the position coach when a position group fails to produce. I truly feel ND gets talented kids on the DL with size and strength but what ND's DL OFTEN lacks is toughness. We get high academic kids. Nice kids that often come from great families. We don't get the big nasties who may not take school as seriously. This is the #1 issue with our DL in my opinion. Not coaching or talent.
I have huge concerns about our DL this year and am very concerned that that unit will hold us back again. A few players HAVE TO step up this year for us to be successful. I think Elko's D will help produce sacks and negative plays regardless of elite play from our DL but guys like Daelin Hayes, Jerry Tillery and Khalid Kareem HAVE TO step up. It starts with S&C.

 

[ND Fan Vancouver]

Notre Dame: 247Sports Arizona State tight ends coach DelVaughn Alexander will interview for the Notre Dame wide receivers job. Alexander worked at ASU with new Irish offensive coordinator Chip Long.
Coaching Search Ticker | CoachingSearch.com

He also has coaching experience with the SD Chargers as well as a slew of top college programs. Seems like a great hire. He's on campus right now apparently. I hope they wrap him up and get him recruiting right away. Getting him on board could go a long way with a few top end recruits, possibly even Pouncey. Apparently he's a good recruiter who shoots straight, not a lot of fluff.

 

[PerthDomer]

He's listed as the lead recruiter for ASU's top recruit, a CB out of Bishop Gorman named Alex Perry... I'm just saying. Also likely an in to some of the USC feeders in SoCal we never seem to make headway with. P

 

[BobbyMac]

We already have the mid west covered

Do you have the breakdown, I don't.

Denbrock had Illinois and Iowa.

Gilmore had Michigan (or was it just Detroit?)

Who has Missouri? St Louis is going to be very important in '18 & '19.

 

[BobbyMac]

He's listed as the lead recruiter for ASU's top recruit, a CB out of Bishop Gorman named Alex Perry... I'm just saying. Also likely an in to some of the USC feeders in SoCal we never seem to make headway with. P

Between Polian, Long and Alexander, they'd have the westcoast covered as well as ever. Washington being back, SC coming out of their funk and the general parity of the PAC won't make it any easier especially if Michigan or OSU get any traction.

Alex Perry isn't a fit for ND unfortunately. I was on him and Bubba Bolden long ago and couldn't figure out whey they weren't getting offers. Well, I still don't know why Bubba went without one.

 

[irishff1014]

Do you have the breakdown, I don't.

Denbrock had Illinois and Iowa.

Gilmore had Michigan (or was it just Detroit?)

Who has Missouri? St Louis is going to be very important in '18 & '19.

I was saying in general we do good here. We need to well in other areas.

 

[TheTurningPoint]

I agree with a lot of what you said, I just tend to try to stay positive. I am worried about Elston in that he didn't seem to do the greatest job as DL coach in the past but I do think sometimes fans put way too much of the fault on the position coach when a position group fails to produce. I truly feel ND gets talented kids on the DL with size and strength but what ND's DL OFTEN lacks is toughness. We get high academic kids. Nice kids that often come from great families. We don't get the big nasties who may not take school as seriously. This is the #1 issue with our DL in my opinion. Not coaching or talent.
I have huge concerns about our DL this year and am very concerned that that unit will hold us back again. A few players HAVE TO step up this year for us to be successful. I think Elko's D will help produce sacks and negative plays regardless of elite play from our DL but guys like Daelin Hayes, Jerry Tillery and Khalid Kareem HAVE TO step up. It starts with S&C.

Then who is at fault? Notre Dame had as talented as a defensive line as anyone in the country at some points when Elston has the DL coach. You're a position for a reason. To develop guys.

Elston did good at on the DL, but it should have been one of the better defensive lines in the country and it was far from good. It was average.

 

[ND Fan Vancouver]

Then who is at fault? Notre Dame had as talented as a defensive line as anyone in the country at some points when Elston has the DL coach. You're a position for a reason. To develop guys.

Elston did good at on the DL, but it should have been one of the better defensive lines in the country and it was far from good. It was average.

There were some factors like Tuitt have a hernia and coming in totally out of shape. Louis Nix seemed out of shape in his last year as well. I'm not defending Elston completely. The DL should've been better. I hope he does better this year but with the players we have I'm not holding my breath

 

[BobbyMac]

I was saying in general we do good here. We need to well in other areas.

I see what you mean but they don't do any better on average there.

Commits vs Offers per State: (Currently)

IN: ... 0 - 3
IL: ... 2 - 3
MI: ... 0 - 7 ..... Simmons in play
OH: ... 0 - 7
WI: ... 0 - 2
IA: ... 0 - 1 ..... Martin in play
KY: ... 0 - 1
MO: ... 0 - 0
MN: ... 0 - 0

Midwest = 2 - 24 ..... 8.3% success rate

Other areas:

FL: ... 3 - 35 ..... 8.6%
CA: ... 2 - 22 ..... 9.1%
TX: ... 3 - 20 ..... 15%
PA: ... 4 - 6 ....... 67%

Other stats:

6 - 17 ..... Catholic Schools ..... 35.3%
8 - 17 ..... Private Schools ....... 47.1%
9 - 17 ..... Public Schools ......... 52.9%

 

[woolybug25]

Strange that we don't do better at Catholic high schools.

I wonder how much these stats are effected by how much our staff pursues certain kids? What I mean is that not all offers are created equal. Do we blanket areas where we don't do a lot of in person recruiting and just see those as bonus? Then focus in person efforts in areas with what they regard as the "best" recruits (i.e. FL, CA, etc)?

If so, I don't like that strategy.

 

[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Notre Dame's RB's and TE's are going to be happy with Brian Kelly calling plays and <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachChipLong">@CoachChipLong</a> as the OC .....</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817919633751678976">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Over the last four seasons, ND's RB's and TE's averaged 57 catches and 619 yards per SEASON. Typed per game earlier.</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817921887644827648">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In the three years Kelly called plays at ND, RB's and TE's averaged 102 catches, 1134 yards and 6.3 TD's per season.</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817919899058180096">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Offenses Long was a part of the last 5 seasons averaged 88 catches, 928.4 yards and 11.2 TD's per season.</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817919982193569794">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">None of this is meant to say the offensive coaching wasn't good. It was, obviously, it's just to point out it will be different in 2017.</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817922111792672772">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Doing some homework on <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachChipLong">@CoachChipLong</a>'s O's the last 5 years. If ND ran as many plays per game it would have averaged 50 more yards per game</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817911452623376384">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[BGIF]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Doing some homework on <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachChipLong">@CoachChipLong</a>'s O's the last 5 years. If ND ran as many plays per game it would have averaged 50 more yards per game</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817911452623376384">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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I recall fans here excited about ND gaining something like an additional 10 to 15 plays/game and another 100 yds/game based upon Kelly's offense at Cincy.

Funny thing how playing an ND schedule instead of a UC or Memphis schedule tones down the big fish in the small pond when they hit the likes of Southern Cal, etc.

 

[BGIF]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Doing some homework on <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachChipLong">@CoachChipLong</a>'s O's the last 5 years. If ND ran as many plays per game it would have averaged 50 more yards per game</p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/817911452623376384">January 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I recall fans here excited about ND gaining something like an additional 10 to 15 plays/game and another 100 yds/game based upon Kelly's offense at Cincy.

Funny thing how playing an ND schedule instead of a UC or Memphis schedule tones down the big fish in the small pond when they hit the likes of Southern Cal, etc. ND doesn't play the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.

 

[greyhammer90]

I recall fans here excited about ND gaining something like an additional 10 to 15 plays/game and another 100 yds/game based upon Kelly's offense at Cincy.

Funny thing how playing an ND schedule instead of a UC or Memphis schedule tones down the big fish in the small pond when they hit the likes of Southern Cal, etc. ND doesn't play the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.

You can say that again.

 

[dublinirish]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: Notre Dame expected to hire Wake Forest's Clark Lea as linebackers coach. <a href="https://t.co/WiORaIHzU2">https://t.co/WiORaIHzU2</a></p>— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIPeteThamel/status/818461585530376193">January 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: Notre Dame expected to hire Wake Forest's Clark Lea as linebackers coach. <a href="https://t.co/WiORaIHzU2">https://t.co/WiORaIHzU2</a></p>— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) <a href="https://twitter.com/SIPeteThamel/status/818461585530376193">January 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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***Notre Dame coaching staff

per wiltfong wake did everything to keep him there

 

[Dizzyphil]

***Notre Dame coaching staff

per wiltfong wake did everything to keep him there

We have a salesman in Winston-Salem. He was keeping me updated on Elko. He told me Saturday the sports-talk radio stations were steadily stating why any coach would want to go to ND under the current coaching conditions. He also said that the stations were hoping Lea would move into Elko's position after he left.

 

[PANDFAN]

We have a salesman in Winston-Salem. He was keeping me updated on Elko. He told me Saturday the sports-talk radio stations were steadily stating why any coach would want to go to ND under the current coaching conditions. He also said that the stations were hoping Lea would move into Elko's position after he left.

think they just hired the arkansas coach

 

[Bogtrotter07]

***Notre Dame coaching staff

per wiltfong wake did everything to keep him there

Gun to his head? Barricade? Police standoff?

 

[PANDFAN]

Gun to his head? Barricade? Police standoff?

worse

 

[Bogtrotter07]

worse

Oh, my! Not?

 

[ab2cmiller]

worse

Contacted Louisville Assistant Coach to arrange for prostitutes to visit his house?

 

[BobbyMac]

worse

Established a shadow major better than UNC's so that Wake could sign 3 juco All American LB's every cycle?

 

[Blaise]

I know this guy is thought highly of, but how is he on the recruiting trail.. Hopefully he can help with Georgia.. We need guys willing to match Denson's work ethic