Instant Reaction: Elko Leaving for A&M

When Dave Aranda turned down Texas A&M to stay for big money at LSU, the worst case scenario would have been for Jimbo Fisher to turn back to Mike Elko and make him a ridiculous offer to be his defensive coordinator in College Station. It appears that the worst case scenario has just played out and Elko is gone after only one season rebuilding Notre Dame’s defense.

There is no way to sugarcoat it. This is a crushing blow when Brian Kelly was assuring people that Elko wasn’t going anywhere. He was a homerun hire that Kelly needed. Now he has to go up to the plate and swing for the fences again.

Before I throw out some potential candidates Kelly may look at, let’s get into what this means for the current roster. It will be the fourth defensive coordinator in three years counting the the interim tandem of Greg Hudson and Mike Elston as one when Brian VanGorder was let go. So another year potentially learning a new defense.

That might not be that bad if they hire the right guy. It wasn’t an issue with Elko. It’s just something to consider. Also something to consider is that a couple of players who played in this defense are looking at the NFL. They still might come back regardless of Elko leaving, but Jerry Tillery and Te’Von Coney both had great years in Elko’s defense. The new hire could help influence their decision either way and if it’s not known before the deadline to declare (January 15th), it might push them to go the other direction.

Then there is recruiting. Elko took an active involvement in recruiting unlike previous defensive coordinators. It’s not going to help with undecided prospects like Julius Irvin or Noah Boykin, that’s for sure. It may be too soon to cross them off, but whoever the new DC is will be playing catch-up. That’s not a great spot to be with only a few weeks left before the February signing day.

Kelly can’t waste any time being upset about it. He needs to find the next DC and fast. In the process he may have to shake up the rest of the defensive staff again. That’s not comforting, but one of the reasons Elko was successful at Notre Dame was the fact that he got to bring Clark Lea with him. The next guy is going to want to have a say with this as well.

I’ll spend more time looking at a longer list later, but here’s some potential targets that Kelly may want to talk to:

Mike Elston - Notre Dame Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line

Elston is the safe choice given that he was a candidate the last time around and he obviously has familiarity with the players and the program. But his only experience calling the defense is the last part of the season in 2016. It wouldn’t be considered a homerun to promote him given his lack of track record running a defense.

Clark Lea - Notre Dame Linebackers coach

Lea doesn’t have the experience either, but he knows the current scheme better than anyone else. He was a candidate to be Wake Forest’s DC when Elko left and was the one guy Elko chose to bring with him. He is very likely going to be a DC in college football at some point. He is a bright guy and did a great job with the linebackers this season. If he doesn’t go with Elko to A&M, then he is someone who should be interviewed.

Alex Grinch - Washington State Defensive Coordinator/Secondary

He is on his way to Ohio State already as a Co-DC, but it would be worth reaching out to him to see his interest. It’s unclear if he would call the defense there with Greg Schiano on the staff. At Notre Dame, he would obviously run the defense. He took over a putrid Wazzu defense that was 97th in total defense before he got there. They rose all the way up to 16th in the nation this season, his third in Pullman. They didn’t exactly have the best talent on the roster that enabled him to do that. They were 29th in S&P+ and 24th in Havoc Rate.

Jimmy Lake - Washington Co-defensive Coordinator/Secondary

Lake is one of the best defensive back coaches in the nation and has done an awesome job developing players during his time at Washington. He doesn’t run the defense, though, and this would be an opportunity to do so. Washington has finished in the top-8 in S&P+ defensive rating the last three seasons.

Bob Diaco - Former Nebraska Defensive Coordinator

I doubt Kelly would go back to Diaco, but you never know. He is still close with him. Since he left Notre Dame, Diaco’s defense’s haven’t been nearly as successful as they were when he worked for Kelly.

Scottie Hazelton - Wyoming Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers

I’m sure everyone is reading this and thinking, “Who?” Hazelton was with Craig Bohl at North Dakota State as their DC for two years. They won the FCS national championship in his final season there. His defense led the nation in scoring defense.

Hazelton was also Brian Polian’s first DC at Nevada before taking a job coaching linebackers with the Jacksonville Jaguars for three seasons. He came back to the college game for this season with Wyoming to work with Bohl again. They were 96th in S&P+ the year before he got there. This season they jumped all the way up to 7th!

This is just an early list and I’ll dive back into it in the next few days with more information on potential candidates. It’s certainly a disappointing day for Notre Dame fans and I can’t imagine the players are too happy either. It is part of the business, though, and now Kelly can’t waste any time making his next move.