Lea is gone.
He's taking over Vanderbilt.
Kind of reminds me of when Rocket Ismail played for Notre Dame
Invincibility with no vulnerability
Invincibility with no vulnerability
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Full conversation · 39 posts
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Level 1
He will be tough to replace.
Great in game adjustment.
Kelly needs to nail this hire if he wants to go out on top. Let’s hope money is not an issue.
Congrats to Lea. He served us well.
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Level 2
This is an excellent point
Although another coach currently on staff might know the defensive schemes and see Lea's brilliant in-game adjustments, can he do it himself? Does he have the insight?
Lea is not irreplaceable, but he might be the best defensive coordinator in the country. And by definition, anyone else would be a step down. Let's hope it's only a little one.
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Level 1
Lea did a great job for ND and Kelly deserves a lot of credit for...
promoting him when Elko left. Having said that, losing Lea is a big blow, but I don’t see it as a negative. Kelly has always sold recruits on the value of an ND degree and he reinforces that recruits should not commit to ND because of a coach.
I don’t see much fallout from this, but we shall see:
We're all born bald baby! -
Level 1
I've got to believe ND's recruits were reaffirmed and Lea committed to coaching thru NC before this
announcement. Coach is too straight of an arrow to do otherwise. And with signing day so near Vandy can wait on Lea to start working there.
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Level 1
Lea being a head coach somewhere was inevitable. I hope we don't lose any commits.
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Level 2
I like that it doesn't appear anyone tried to hide it until after signing day.
Be straight with recruits. Don't play mind games.
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Level 1
Bummer that they don't play Texas A&M next year.
The interaction between the coaches in the pre-game warmups would have been interesting to watch.
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Level 1
In light of National Signing Day just 2 days away,
does this impact recruiting? Hoping not. And also hoping this is not a big distraction the week before a big game.
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Level 1
That is one tough, tough job to take on as your first head coaching gig. I'm not saying he can't
succeed there, but it's going to be rough sledding for at least 3-4 years. You're in the toughest conference in the country and will be playing the likes of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Missouri nearly every year. Being .500 in that conference at Vandy would be a very good achievement.
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Level 1
Is he coaching this week?
If not, reminds me of 1991 when DC Gary Darnell signed on with Texas before Sugar Bowl. Holtz said "only ND coaches will coach ND players" and proceeded to take over as DC in leading us to bowl win against Gators. Now we know why line jumped to -10 this a.m. Bettors always learn first.
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Level 2
Yes he is coaching this week
He is expected to coach through the FBS playoffs if ND makes it that far but no doubt he will be distracted trying to put together a staff.
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Level 3
Probably a smart move for him
Yes, he loses a little time to put together a staff and the recruiting, but the recruiting season is mostly over anyway. But being on TV this week and, hopefully, through the national championship game puts his name in front of kids he'll be recruiting next year. And having a ring to show recruits speaks volumes. Doesn't hurt in hiring assistants or getting support from you administration either. Also, shots at a national title aren't easy to come by, you take them when you get the chance.
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Level 2
Would Holtz have done that with Barry Alvarez, or was it a convenient motivational ploy ...
respecting a coach he wanted to get rid of anyway?
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Level 3
What was timeline between 1989 (1/1/90) Orange Bowl and Alvarez's Wisconsin announcement?...
BTW no one should read any parallels between Holtz's comments re: Darnell leaving and the current situation. I'm sure both Kelly and Lea had an immediate consensus on Lea's commitment to this team, given that both are driven to win NC and love ND.
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Level 2
Darnell was going to get fired anyways
Gary Darnell knew he was getting fired, especially after that mess of a defensive situation that cost us the Tennessee game, and probably the Michigan game as well, and nearly cost us the Hawaii game.
To be fair, the defensive disaster that happened in 1991 wasn't entirely his fault. The injury / DQ situation to our front seven wasn't too far away from what we saw in 2014.
At the start of the year, our best player, DT George "Boo" Williams, was kicked off the team for marijuana infractions. He was going to be a 1st rounder, and many folks believed that he was actually better as a DT than Chris Zorich was.
Then you had Air Force, chop blocking that killed off Eric Jones' career (he was our best pass rusher), as well as crippling Bryant Young for several games. He wasn't anywhere nearly healthy for that Tennessee game.
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Level 3
That defense really didn't do much well at all.
They gave up nearly 400 yards per game. 200 on the ground at 4.5 per carry, and allowed 61% of completions (high in 1991 - that was Detmer's rate that same year).
It was the worst Notre Dame defense I saw until 2009 and then 2014.
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Level 3
You are totally right. But Holtz told team only ND coaches coach ND players...
Darnell wanted to stay for bowl. But he was a trainwreck for reasons you mention and Lou gamed it perfectly.
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Level 2
That was much different. My guess, if ND is in playoffs he's here. Any other game, he's gone early
Holtz let Darnell walk because he wasn't getting the job done at ND. If the truth were told, Holtz likely told him in private to look for other opportunities.
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Level 2
If he can do anything at Vandy, he'll be in the mix to replace Kelly.
(no message)Kind of reminds me of when Rocket Ismail played for Notre Dame
Invincibility with no vulnerability
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Level 1
Unfortunate...but didn't see him not leaving this year for Vandy or elsewhere.
TakethetrainKnute 35782 posts(no message) -
Level 1
Time to throw 1.6 million at Marcus Freeman. No Joseph or Elston.
(no message)"Union Aerospace Corporation-Making safer worlds for everyone."-
Level 2
I'm good with Elston. What ND has going right now is great, and continuity is positive.
If BK thinks Elston has DC qualities, I'm completely on board. I fear someone coming from the outside and changing everything to "his way." Very sad to lose Lea. Hoped ND would keep him for another year, but always said he'd take the Vandy job if offered. It made sense.
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Level 2
Coach Kelly has been nailing all his recent hires. I trust his judgement
Tommy Rees was not a popular choice on this board. Neither was Jeff Quinn. Both have worked out. If Elston wants the job and Kelly wants him to do it, then he's probably the right guy.
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Level 3
Rees was not a "popular choice on this board?" Ahem (self pat on back)
"If Kelly hires him, I am very optimistic the offense could do great things next year. In fact, I'd be surprised if it didn't." - December 29, 2019.
"So my speculation is that Rees and Lance Taylor, as tky21 said, will put their heads together and come up with some great stuff for 2020. What I'd like to see more of is, like everyone else, a solid running game. It's possible that Chip Long's running schemes sucked, not to mention head-scratching playcalling like insisting on running numerous sweeps with Tony Jones vs. Michigan. It's possible that Jeff Quinn really isn't that good, but again, maybe he was hamstrung by Long's offense somehow. I don't know. While I will stop short of calling this a home run hire, I'd like to think it's a double with the runner rounding second." - January 15, 2020.
'I'm very optimistic Rees pleasantly surprises everyone." - January 17, 2020.
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End of conversation