Notre Dame Football
Report: Elko Expected To Be New ND DC
December 15, 2016
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In a week of departures from the Notre Dame football program, the Irish are finalizing to add a defensive coordinator, according to a new report from Sports Illustrated.
SI's Pete Thamel reports Mike Elko will be coming from Wake Forest to South Bend. Elko comes from the Dave Clawson tree and has been with Clawson over over 10 years.
“What I can you is he blitzes a lot,” a source close to the Wake Forest program stated. “He uses a lot of different looks to keep offenses confused. Notre Dame has landed a slam dunk.”
The Pennsylvania graduate played linebacker in college and helped win the Ivy League title in 1998.
Elko got his first coaching job as an assistant at Stony Book in 1999 and then moved back to his alma mater for a season before taking on an assistant role at US Merchant Marine Academy in 2001.
Fordham and Clawson landed Elko from 2002-03, then he went the two seasons at Richmond followed by a two-year stint at Hofstra, also with Clawson.
The duo then headed to Bowling Green for five season, where Elko’s defense led the MAC in scoring defense, total defense, rush defense and pass defense in each of his last two seasons. Also of note, Bowling Green forced 106 turnovers over his five seasons and held opponents to just 35.9 percent on third down conversions.
In 2014, Clawson and Elko made the move to Wake Forest and the Demon Deacon defense has thrived. In 2015, Wake Forest finished ranked 38th in the nation by allowing just 363.8 yards per game. Elko also led the Demon Deacs to their first shutout in nine seasons in 2015.
Rush Defense - (50th) – 4.05 ypc – 20 TDs – 155.9 ypg
Pass Efficiency – (41st) – 11 INTs – 122.79 defensive pass efficiency.
Scoring Defense – (20) – 21.8 ppg
Sacks – (12) – 37 sacks – 3.08 sacks per game
TFL – (30) – 81 TFL – 6.8 per game
3rd Down Conversion Percentage – (30) – 35.9%
Turnovers Gained – (10) – 14 fumble recoveries – 11 INTs – 25 total turnovers
SI's Pete Thamel reports Mike Elko will be coming from Wake Forest to South Bend. Elko comes from the Dave Clawson tree and has been with Clawson over over 10 years.
“What I can you is he blitzes a lot,” a source close to the Wake Forest program stated. “He uses a lot of different looks to keep offenses confused. Notre Dame has landed a slam dunk.”
The Pennsylvania graduate played linebacker in college and helped win the Ivy League title in 1998.
Elko got his first coaching job as an assistant at Stony Book in 1999 and then moved back to his alma mater for a season before taking on an assistant role at US Merchant Marine Academy in 2001.
Fordham and Clawson landed Elko from 2002-03, then he went the two seasons at Richmond followed by a two-year stint at Hofstra, also with Clawson.
The duo then headed to Bowling Green for five season, where Elko’s defense led the MAC in scoring defense, total defense, rush defense and pass defense in each of his last two seasons. Also of note, Bowling Green forced 106 turnovers over his five seasons and held opponents to just 35.9 percent on third down conversions.
In 2014, Clawson and Elko made the move to Wake Forest and the Demon Deacon defense has thrived. In 2015, Wake Forest finished ranked 38th in the nation by allowing just 363.8 yards per game. Elko also led the Demon Deacs to their first shutout in nine seasons in 2015.
Wake Forest 2016 Stats
(National Rankings)Rush Defense - (50th) – 4.05 ypc – 20 TDs – 155.9 ypg
Pass Efficiency – (41st) – 11 INTs – 122.79 defensive pass efficiency.
Scoring Defense – (20) – 21.8 ppg
Sacks – (12) – 37 sacks – 3.08 sacks per game
TFL – (30) – 81 TFL – 6.8 per game
3rd Down Conversion Percentage – (30) – 35.9%
Turnovers Gained – (10) – 14 fumble recoveries – 11 INTs – 25 total turnovers
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