ND New DC is....

[purguy12]

ND will promote LB coach Clark Lea to be DC.

Not a fan of this but atleast he knows the players. Keep the same scheme. This is not a Big Splash.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

You don't always need a "big splash". This guy is young, he knows the players, he knows the scheme and he's aggressive in recruiting.

 

[jjc2009]

Is this interim or an actual promotion?

Look, if Lea can coach the same scheme and is a hustler on the recruiting trail then that’s all we need. I’m sick and tired of the smartest guy in the room “I love my scheme designed for full time professionals that already possess the fundamentals and no practice limitations”

Coaches ala Van Gorder and Weis.

 

[ND_loyal son]

Obviously you'd love to land a guy who's considered a Top 5 DC, but that's not going to happen. Since that wasn't going to happen, I think I like this move. It seems to:

A) keep current players in the same scheme, and apparently Lea knows the in's and out's second only to Elko himself. If we changed schemes it would be the third in 3 years. It's hard for guys to improve with that much change.

B) potentially helps us keep Coney and Tillery as they have a known quantity taking over rather than someone that they don't know of/trust/have a relationship with.

C) keeps our most recent recruiting class (which seems to potentially be one of our better defensive classes in a while) in the scheme that they were recruited for. For example, I've heard Shayne Simon is the ideal Rover for the 4-2-5 and that Allen is the ideal Safety in the 4-2-5.

D) Promote a guy who seems to be able to coach players to improvement. Look at the progress by two of his LB's (Tranquill and Coney) this season.

It may not be the big splash that we all hope for, but it could be a blessing in disguise. I remember a broadcaster a few years ago comment on why Daniel Snyder's teams (aka the Redskins) never made a BIG SPLASH in January and February. He said it was because Snyder was too worried about making a BIG SPLASH in the offseason with signing overpriced free agents (Albert Haynesworth) and picking up flashy guys with no substance in the draft (RGIII).

Obviously we won't know if this is the right decision for sure for some time, but I like our odds. Plus if he proves to be good, we'll probably have him running things for a while going forward.

GO IRISH!

 

[poewelch84]

I'm happier with Lea than I would have been with Elston. Also the scheme stays the same hopefully he can get as much or more out of the guys than Elko did.

 

[CreepCreep2014]

I like it. AS many have said he knows the system, he came over with Trader Elko and is a beast in recruiting. Most important thing, the players are loving the move and some recruits are not shocked and happy he has taken the job. If he runs the same system with a few of his own wrinkles, then we should be fine.

 

[bbirish73]

Also, Lea will probably be the defensive coordinator for a while since it is his first job with that title. I don't know of any defensive coordinators that took a job somewhere after their first or even second years. So, He should be around for a while as long as the defense produces