Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2018 81 nessed the change in the offense in 2017. The third hire, safeties coach Terry Joseph, came from the outside. Elko had instructed the safeties last season, in addition to his coordinator duties, leaving that position group vacant. ON THE RISE The 16th Notre Dame defensive coordinator in the last 34 years (and fifth under Kelly), Lea made an im- pactful 2017 first impression with his linebacker/rover crew that saw every- one improve, especially junior and top tackler Te'von Coney plus converted senior safety Drue Tranquill at rover, with the playmaking duo combining for 23.5 tackles for loss. His top quartet of Coney, Tranquill, Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini all recorded at least 75 tackles, a first in school history among linebackers. Lea had similar positive impacts at UCLA (2010-11), Bowling Green (2012) under Elko, Syracuse (2013-15), and Wake Forest (2016) with Elko again. The 2004 Vanderbilt graduate in po- litical science (where he also received his master's in 2007), Lea was a gradu- ate assistant at UCLA in 2006 and 2009, and in between served as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at South Dakota State (2007-08). Over his 12-year career, he has in- structed one All-American (Akeem Ayers, UCLA) and 10 all-conference selections and was one of five finalists for the FootballScoop.com Linebackers Coach of the Year award in 2012, when Bowling Green finished 10th nation- ally in scoring defense. Kelly refers to Lea as "a rising star" in the profession who motivates via a positive teaching environment. "Clark has an incredible football knowledge, a keen understanding of personnel and a fierce work ethic, which leaves no doubt in my mind that we'll maintain the defensive stan- dard necessary to win at the highest level," Kelly said in a press release. "I cannot express how grateful I am to Father Jenkins, Jack Swarbrick and Brian Kelly for their confidence in my ability to take on this new role," Lea said. "I am indebted to them, and to the student-athletes that I have been blessed to work with over the past year. "Notre Dame represents everything I want to be a part of in my career as an educator, and I am deeply humbled to be able to continue my work here." Lea began his college career at Bir- mingham-Southern College, where he was a member of the baseball team that captured the NAIA World Series title in 2001. He lettered in baseball at Belmont in 2002 before transferring to Vanderbilt, where he earned three monograms in football and was a two- time All-SEC Academic Team pick. THE 'NEW VETERAN' On paper, Quinn might be described as "new" among the assistants, but nobody in the college football industry has a longer affiliation with the current Irish head coach. Hired as an offensive analyst at Notre Dame in 2015 by Kelly, Quinn is expected to make a seamless transition into the operation, a la Lea. The coaching careers of Quinn — a 1984 Elmhurst (Ill.) College gradu- ate — and Kelly extend back to 1989 when Quinn coordinated the offense at Grand Valley State, in addition to coaching the line, and Kelly did the same with the defense and served as the recruiting coordinator. When Kelly was promoted to head coach at Grand Valley in 1991, Quinn became his right-hand man for the next 13 years there, highlighted by consecutive Division II national titles in 2002-03. He had the same role with Kelly at Central Michigan (2004-06) while lead- ing the 2006 Chippewas to their first Mid-American Conference title in 12 years, and then at Cincinnati (2007-09), where the Bearcats captured back-to- back Big East titles and went to BCS bowls in the pair's last two seasons at the school. During the 12-0 regular season in 2009 that landed Kelly the Notre Dame post, Quinn was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award as the nation's top as- sistant coach. While working together from 2001-09, the duo was 93-23 for a .802 winning percentage, capturing two Division II national titles, one MAC championship and two Big East titles. Branching off on his own after Kelly was hired by Notre Dame, Quinn in 2010 was hired as the head coach at the University of Buffalo, which had been to one bowl game since moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1999. Under Quinn, the Bulls gradu- ally improved from 2-10, 3-9 and 4-8 before an 8-4 regular season in 2013 that landed them a bid to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, where they lost to San Diego State. A 3-4 start in 2014 prompted the school to relieve Quinn from his post, and in 2015 he was reunited with Kelly as the offensive analyst at Notre Dame. "I'm thankful to Father Jenkins, Jack Swarbrick and Coach Kelly for this tre- mendous opportunity," Quinn said in a released statement from Notre Dame. "There's a tremendous legacy of coach- ing the offensive line at Notre Dame, from Brian Boulac to Merv Johnson to Joe Moore to Harry Hiestand. "As each of those men will tell you, the focus of this job has been and al- ways will be about the best interests of the players in the offensive line room, both on and off the field. I'm simply honored to now serve in this role." Kelly cited Quinn's 34 years in the business and a keen eye for identifying and developing talent as vital factors, although critics believe that leaning on former coaching compatriots will get him into the same mess he experienced with defensive coordinator Brian Van- Gorder from 2014-16 before his ouster four games into the 2016 season. "Jeff also understands the high stan- dard of offensive line play at Notre Dame, having been part of the offen- sive staff the last few years," Kelly said. "He will continue to develop the culture necessary to produce college football's top offensive line." Quinn served as head coach Brian Kelly's right- hand man from 1989-2009, with the last nine years producing a 93-23 record (.802 win per- centage), two Division II national titles, one MAC championship and two Big East titles. PHOTO BY ANDREW IVINS