Notre Dame Football vs Alabama Crimson Tide: 3 Things We Learned

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: Ian Book #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish waits for the snap against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

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Clark Lea is going to be tough to replace. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /

Filling the defensive coordinator vacancy this offseason will be Brian Kelly’s most important hire during his tenure.

Every Irish fan was saddened to learn of the news that Clark Lea was going to leave Notre Dame to become the next head coach at Vanderbilt. That sadness may have been followed by some happiness to see someone like Lea earn an opportunity to become a head coach, but it was mainly sadness.

After being promoted to defensive coordinator, Lea’s defenses finished ranked in the top-15 nationally in yards per play allowed during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Notre Dame’s defense in 2020 was on pace to finish in the top-20 in that category before the ACC Championship and Rose Bowl games.

We already knew that replacing Clark Lea was going to be a difficult task. Now, the importance of the upcoming hire has become more clear.

Kelly has alluded to wanting to retire when his current contract expires, and if he wants to lead his team back to the College Football Playoff before then, he needs to hire a defensive coordinator that can at the very least maintain the standard that was set by Lea.

This could very well be the last defensive coordinator that Kelly hires at Notre Dame, so he cannot afford to miss.

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