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Notre Dame Requirements For Next Defensive Coordinator

The hiring of Notre Dame’s next defensive coordinator has been on the back burner this month, but head coach Brian Kelly said on the eve of the Jan. 1 showdown with No. 1 Alabama in the College Football Playoff he’ll be moving on it in short order.

Terry Joseph has been Notre Dame's pass game coordinator on defense the past two years under Clark Lea.
Terry Joseph has been Notre Dame's pass game coordinator on defense the past two years under Clark Lea. (Matt Cashore/USA TODAY Sports)
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“There are other openings for coordinator positions, so we can't be sitting on our hands as we look around the country, or even internally,” Kelly said Thursday morning. “We have to be able to look at this from a perspective of there are candidates out there that are being looked at by other schools as well … we've got to be on top of it.”

Current Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Clark Lea was officially announced Dec. 20 as the new head coach at his alma mater, Vanderbilt, which also is located in his hometown, Nashville, Tenn. Lea arrived at Notre Dame in 2017 as linebackers coach and then served as the coordinator the past three years during a 33-4 run. He will remain with the Irish through the playoffs.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first stages of the process will be through Zoom and FaceTime before a candidate would arrive on campus for a more formal interview. Under Lea, Notre Dame had a 4-3 base with multiple looks off it, including a three-down lineman look in the nickel or dime packages. Lea and the staff have recruited to it the past four cycles, and Kelly does not want to disrupt that continuity.

“As long as the system can marry with our recruiting, that's the most important thing,” Kelly said. “I'm open to what the system looks like — it doesn't necessarily have to be always four down [linemen]. We can be in some three down and some four down.

“But it can't be — we're not going to a 3-4 defense. We will be a team that is continuously looking at our personnel that we've been recruiting to match the scheme.”

Because Notre Dame is returning to its independent status in 2021, provided the pandemic doesn’t continue to fester, Kelly emphasized flexibility is needed on defense because of the varied schedule the Irish have. One week it could face a triple-option attack such as Navy’s, another a spread attack, and still another a power style.

“That's why we'll match it with what we recruit and what our schedule looks like,” Kelly said.

With the success Notre Dame has achieved the past four years, Kelly might opt to promote within to sustain the flow and nomenclature. Associate head coach/defensive line coach Mike Elston has been on Kelly’s staff the past 17 years. If Elston desires the position, he likely would be a front-runner. So would third-year defensive backs coach Terry Joseph, who the past two years also held the title of pass game coordinator.

Per Football Scoop’s John Brice, Louisiana native Joseph is a candidate to join the LSU staff, which includes cousin Mickey Joseph. The site also indicated that candidates at Notre Dame include North Carolina’s Jay Bateman and Cincinnati’s Marcus Freeman, who had previously worked with current Irish cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens.

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