Clark Lea best DC since...

[IrishFforida]

Clark Lea is a flat out outstanding football coach, not only does he prepare a defense well, not only does he make great in game adjustments. How about the job he did coaching Asmir Bilal and Drew White. After the first couple of series against Louisville, EVERYBODY was ready to dump Bilal over the side!

Going back to the Era of Ara, these are the names I came up with...

Barry Alvarez (Holtz)
Joe Yonto (Ara & Devine)
John Ray (Ara)

 

[Kelso86]

Clark Lea is a flat out outstanding football coach, not only does he prepare a defense well, not only does he make great in game adjustments. How about the job he did coaching Asmir Bilal and Drew White. After the first couple of series against Louisville, EVERYBODY was ready to dump Bilal over the side!

Going back to the Era of Ara, these are the names I came up with...

Barry Alvarez (Holtz)
Joe Yonto (Ara & Devine)
John Ray (Ara)

Outside of the Michigan game (all aspects of this team were out of the window in this game) -- this defense played pretty well in spite of the losses (and injuries) and where those losses/injuries were.

 

[deadprez3]

I've only been following ND since around the beginning of the Holtz era so can't speak on those assistants.

I would go as far as to say that Lea is the second best coach to be at ND in any capacity since the beginning of the Holtz era ranking only behind Holtz himself.

And I don't think its really that close or even up for debate. The only weakness I see that causes me some concern is recruiting has dropped off a bit under him and right now its not matching the offensive side of the ball. But if we are strictly talking player development and scheme/strategy, he far exceeds any other coaches during that time.

As I finish typing this I remember that I forgot about Urban Meyer. So he would probably have to rank very closely. He squeezed a lot of production out of his WR corps and one can only wonder what might have been had he been promoted to OC instead of Rodgers. I can still remember that drive he coordinated against Stanford in 2000. It was a thing of beauty and just stood out so much from the usual offense. One can only wonder why he didn't get more opportunities to do that during the rest of the season. Its very strange that he didn't. Probably likely because he was showing up both of his bosses in the process. Say what you will about Meyer, but that guy can just flat out coach.

A lot of coaches are kind of glorified gym teachers/meatheads so when you see genuinely intelligent individuals in the coaching ranks you have a pretty good idea that they will be successful at a very high level. There is no doubt Lea is very intelligent in watching him speak and his general demeanor.

I probably would not have much hesitation having him take over for Kelly assuming he continues on his current trajectory and was bolstered by a strong offensive coordinator.

I really think the previous experience narrative gets blown out of proportion. As long as a coach has some type of exposure on a staff at a big time college football program they have likely gotten enough work experience to see what is required of the position. After that, it comes down to intangibles and some guys either have "it" or they don't.

 

[88ND]

What are you guys talking about?

Seriously...

Comparing a coach with such little experience and track record to some great coaches is insanely immature.

The good...
The Irish on defense are much more exciting to watch than the zombified offense.
They make plays (minus the corners) and seem hungry to make the next play.

The bad.
Some poor tackling habits started plaguing the defense mid season. Luckily that's gotten cleaned up again. The corner play isn't good. Funny...it seems every week some receiver has some amazingly spectacular TD catch against us. The funny part (sarcastic) is that it seems we give every team some highlight reel TD catch against us.

The reality...
We are playing good defense. Great? Can't say. Lea has only been the coordinator for 25 games and this has to be one of the easiest 25 game stretches since the Ara regime which had some ridiculously easy schedules.

In the last 25 games Clemson was very good offensively which we didn't do so good. Georgia is a solid offense but their style of play isn't going to score a lot of points quickly. We did OK against them but again they don't set the world afire on the scoreboard normally. USC is still USC even if in disarray. 24 easy second half points we gave up didn't look so good.
Michigan has some decent material and we all know how that bloodbath went.

The rest of the schedule has been extremely fortunate in 18&19. We haven't been challenged by a really good dual threat QB that we held in check. The one outstanding throwing QB we faced was Lawrence and he shredded us.

We are dominating the teams we should dominate and that's a good sign.

The schedule in 2020 on paper will be tougher but you never know until you get there. It certainly has the makings of being a much tougher schedule.
Clemson in all probability will be an elite Clemson team. USC is in So. Cal. Wisconsin plays tough football and will be in their backyard.

Lea has been decent for the most part but definitely needs challenged more before I'd even consider putting him in a convo with other great assistants here.

 

[Golson5]

What are you guys talking about?

Seriously...

Comparing a coach with such little experience and track record to some great coaches is insanely immature.

The good...
The Irish on defense are much more exciting to watch than the zombified offense.
They make plays (minus the corners) and seem hungry to make the next play.

The bad.
Some poor tackling habits started plaguing the defense mid season. Luckily that's gotten cleaned up again. The corner play isn't good. Funny...it seems every week some receiver has some amazingly spectacular TD catch against us. The funny part (sarcastic) is that it seems we give every team some highlight reel TD catch against us.

The reality...
We are playing good defense. Great? Can't say. Lea has only been the coordinator for 25 games and this has to be one of the easiest 25 game stretches since the Ara regime which had some ridiculously easy schedules.

In the last 25 games Clemson was very good offensively which we didn't do so good. Georgia is a solid offense but their style of play isn't going to score a lot of points quickly. We did OK against them but again they don't set the world afire on the scoreboard normally. USC is still USC even if in disarray. 24 easy second half points we gave up didn't look so good.
Michigan has some decent material and we all know how that bloodbath went.

The rest of the schedule has been extremely fortunate in 18&19. We haven't been challenged by a really good dual threat QB that we held in check. The one outstanding throwing QB we faced was Lawrence and he shredded us.

We are dominating the teams we should dominate and that's a good sign.

The schedule in 2020 on paper will be tougher but you never know until you get there. It certainly has the makings of being a much tougher schedule.
Clemson in all probability will be an elite Clemson team. USC is in So. Cal. Wisconsin plays tough football and will be in their backyard.

Lea has been decent for the most part but definitely needs challenged more before I'd even consider putting him in a convo with other great assistants here.

Another yawn

 

[BodiTheGreat]

Clark Lea is a flat out outstanding football coach, not only does he prepare a defense well, not only does he make great in game adjustments. How about the job he did coaching Asmir Bilal and Drew White. After the first couple of series against Louisville, EVERYBODY was ready to dump Bilal over the side!

Going back to the Era of Ara, these are the names I came up with...

Barry Alvarez (Holtz)
Joe Yonto (Ara & Devine)
John Ray (Ara)

Most underthedomers are MonkeyBrained and I'm not talking about the great apes like the Chimps or the gorrillas but I am talking about dumb monkeys like Spider monkeys and lemurs.
You need to keep these lower primates in line. Don't spare the whip and don't worry about the animal rights groups--I got your back and keep up the good work.

 

[BodiTheGreat]

What are you guys talking about?

Seriously...

Comparing a coach with such little experience and track record to some great coaches is insanely immature.

The good...
The Irish on defense are much more exciting to watch than the zombified offense.
They make plays (minus the corners) and seem hungry to make the next play.

The bad.
Some poor tackling habits started plaguing the defense mid season. Luckily that's gotten cleaned up again. The corner play isn't good. Funny...it seems every week some receiver has some amazingly spectacular TD catch against us. The funny part (sarcastic) is that it seems we give every team some highlight reel TD catch against us.

The reality...
We are playing good defense. Great? Can't say. Lea has only been the coordinator for 25 games and this has to be one of the easiest 25 game stretches since the Ara regime which had some ridiculously easy schedules.

In the last 25 games Clemson was very good offensively which we didn't do so good. Georgia is a solid offense but their style of play isn't going to score a lot of points quickly. We did OK against them but again they don't set the world afire on the scoreboard normally. USC is still USC even if in disarray. 24 easy second half points we gave up didn't look so good.
Michigan has some decent material and we all know how that bloodbath went.

The rest of the schedule has been extremely fortunate in 18&19. We haven't been challenged by a really good dual threat QB that we held in check. The one outstanding throwing QB we faced was Lawrence and he shredded us.

We are dominating the teams we should dominate and that's a good sign.

The schedule in 2020 on paper will be tougher but you never know until you get there. It certainly has the makings of being a much tougher schedule.
Clemson in all probability will be an elite Clemson team. USC is in So. Cal. Wisconsin plays tough football and will be in their backyard.

Lea has been decent for the most part but definitely needs challenged more before I'd even consider putting him in a convo with other great assistants here.

Monkey want a banana. Here monkey here a banana.Just get in this cage.. Be a good spider monkey.

 

[88ND]

Another yawn

Getting up from quiet time at the day care?

Ready? Our schedule over the last years has been very....fortunate. Some might say weak. I'll just say fortunate. That's not something to debate. It's just not that strong.

Were you even alive when the other D coordinators brought up by the OP were coaching?
I highly doubt you were. You have to just trust people....
Notre Dame did play football in the old millennium.

 

[Golson5]

Getting up from quiet time at the day care?

Ready? Our schedule over the last years has been very....fortunate. Some might say weak. I'll just say fortunate. That's not something to debate. It's just not that strong.

Were you even alive when the other D coordinators brought up by the OP were coaching?
I highly doubt you were. You have to just trust people....
Notre Dame did play football in the old millennium.

Yawn....

After you got taken to the woodshed yesterday I thought you'd hide for a little while. After getting proved a liar and making stuff up clearly in 2 different threads, but nope. You need the attention

 

[jcswoopnh]

Clark Lea is a flat out outstanding football coach, not only does he prepare a defense well, not only does he make great in game adjustments. How about the job he did coaching Asmir Bilal and Drew White. After the first couple of series against Louisville, EVERYBODY was ready to dump Bilal over the side!

Going back to the Era of Ara, these are the names I came up with...

Barry Alvarez (Holtz)
Joe Yonto (Ara & Devine)
John Ray (Ara)

Thoughts on naming

Clark Lea is a flat out outstanding football coach, not only does he prepare a defense well, not only does he make great in game adjustments. How about the job he did coaching Asmir Bilal and Drew White. After the first couple of series against Louisville, EVERYBODY was ready to dump Bilal over the side!

Going back to the Era of Ara, these are the names I came up with...

Barry Alvarez (Holtz)
Joe Yonto (Ara & Devine)
John Ray (Ara)

Any thoughts on making Lea HC in waiting? It would be a huge jump and ND probably would want someone with prior HC experience. I'm sure there are school's out there that recognize his achievements

 

[IrishFforida]

If you cannot tell a coordinator is a big time coach after 2 full seasons. Then I'm sorry my friend you know nothing about football. ND is not Alabama, Ohio State or Clemson and rolls out stud after stud on defense.\

Clark Lea has coached his ass off on defense. And has coached his ass off with the LB's. If anyone said ND would roll into Stanford missing Okwara, Hayes & Tagovailoa-Amosa et. al. As bad as Stanford sucks you would still be thinking it had the potential for a long day.

It does not take more than 2 years to figure out that the guy Coordinating the ND defense is a smart, big time coach. Watch ND handle things like Jet Sweeps, Wheel Routes out of the back field. Counters, Reverses.Triple Option etc. Look at ND's run fits & pursuit angles.This is a seriously, buttoned up and well run defensive unit. As far as Clark Lea goes. PAY THE MAN!

 

[lyonhawk]

The good...
The Irish on defense are much more exciting to watch than the zombified offense.
They make plays (minus the corners) and seem hungry to make the next play.

The bad.
Some poor tackling habits started plaguing the defense mid season. Luckily that's gotten cleaned up again. The corner play isn't good. Funny...it seems every week some receiver has some amazingly spectacular TD catch against us. The funny part (sarcastic) is that it seems we give every team some highlight reel TD catch.

The rest of the schedule has been extremely fortunate in 18&19. We haven't been challenged by a really good dual threat QB that we held in check. The one outstanding throwing QB we faced was Lawrence and he shredded is.

Funny that you highlight the passing game as a weakness. You understand sometimes people just make good plays right? Maybe the reason it seems like teams are always making great catches against us is that is the only thing they are doing. We rank 3rd in passing yds allowed per game and 7th in defensive pass efficiency.
We’re also 7th in overall defensive efficiency so yes great applies.

 

[Tru2Irish]

Implying Lea is to fault for recruiting fall off is dumb. The fault lies with Todd Lyght not doing his job of convincing cbs to ND. This is the main area of weakness. LB will get great ones as well as Elston reeling in very good d-linemen. Joseph is improving being that this is only 2nd season recruiting for ND. A few elite LB and DE's and ND is in the hunt.

 

[88ND]

Funny that you highlight the passing game as a weakness. You understand sometimes people just make good plays right? Maybe the reason it seems like teams are always making great catches against us is that is the only thing they are doing. We rank 3rd in passing yds allowed per game and 7th in defensive pass efficiency.
We’re also 7th in overall defensive efficiency so yes great applies.

There's nothing funny about the corner play.

Moreover if you don't recognize that we've had a stretch of fortunate scheduling as of late..again I'm not sure what else to tell you.
The scheduling isn't completely our fault. USC and Stanford are usually much stronger teams. Florida State hasn't been this bad in a long, long time.

Who was the last true dual threat QB that was very good we've faced? I can't tell you the last one as it's been a very long time.

The defense is playing well. Certainly light years better than when Brian Van Gorder was here.
The OP was putting Lea in the same class as some legendary coaches to which I say...not just yet. Our toughest games since Lea has taken over have all been losses. Clemson...who could have wrote their own score, Georgia, Michigan. USC almost caught us with 24 second half points.

The tackling during that mid season stretch which included USC went to shit. It got cleaned up again somewhat but had a better team faced us during our hitting only with no wrap up stretch we lose some more games.
I say again the defense is fun to watch. They create some havoc and somebody always wants to be the next one making the next big play.

 

[ndhogan]

Clark Lea has done a great job as our DC the past two seasons. The dude is definitely a wanted man. Hopefully, ND can retain him from the poachers.

 

[SIhoosier26]

The only knock I have on Clark Lea is his recruiting, it needs to get better. Outside of that he’s been very good outside of the Michigan debacle, although Notre Dame’s offense was so putrid in that game maybe the defense just phoned it in.

It’s funny, Chip Long is a poor play caller and good recruiter, Clark Lea is a good (defensive) play caller and poor recruiter. Would be nice to get both at the same time.

 

[Golson5]

The only knock I have on Clark Lea is his recruiting, it needs to get better. Outside of that he’s been very good outside of the Michigan debacle, although Notre Dame’s offense was so putrid in that game maybe the defense just phoned it in.

It’s funny, Chip Long is a poor play caller and good recruiter, Clark Lea is a good (defensive) play caller and poor recruiter. Would be nice to get both at the same time.

Neither are "poor" at either. They can improve but not poor

 

[tbonesays]

FYI Colley rates our strength of schedule at #15. That higher than mot of the top 15 which is often below 50. The exceptions are the BUG10 and Auburn.

 

[chitown sot]

Clark Lea best DC since.................BVG. He was something special, this from the board nitwit pendick44