Notre Dame football: 3 candidates to replace Clark Lea

The Notre Dame football program appears to be losing defensive coordinator Clark Lea, who is the top candidate to be Vanderbilt’s head coach.

Following the disastrous 2016 season, Brian Kelly had to look in the mirror and make adjustments to his coaching staff. This included both coordinators, as Chip Long and Mike Elko came in, and both helped the Irish rebound and go 10-3 in 2017. Elko only lasted the year, before jetting off to Texas A&M, but he was quickly replaced and improved upon by Clark Lea.

Lea, now in his third season as the Notre Dame defensive coordinator, has made the Irish one of college football’s most feared defenses. On the back of those defenses, Notre Dame has posted two unbeaten regular seasons, one, presumably two, College Football Playoff appearances, an ACC Championship Game, and a 33-3 overall record.

Now, Clark Lea is off to his alma mater, Vanderbilt, to become their next head coach. It’s a great hire for the Commodores. As a Nashville native, Lea knows the area well, he also knows the game strategically as well as anyone, and perhaps more importantly, he’s been recruiting high-level talent to an academically minded school since 2017.

This won’t be a process of trying to figure out how to succeed.

Of course, this means that Lea needs to be replaced. Assistant coaches are becoming more and more respected for their contributions to different programs, and it’s no wonder why when you look at the success of Clemson and their consistency at defensive coordinator in Brent Venables, or the Joe Brady and LSU explosion in 2019.

Clearly, the defensive coordinator matters, and with defense being the calling card at Notre Dame throughout the Brian Kelly era, it’s deeply important to their identity that the Irish get this hire right. Hire Brian VanGorder and you reset all of the good Lea did in South Bend. So, who could be the next Notre Dame defensive coordinator?