Clark Lea comments on his first-year staff hires
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2023 8:22 am
Of the ten assistant coaches that Clark Lea hired two years ago for his initial staff, only four are still in place (OC Lynch, OL Blazek, ST Lustig, DL Haye). Of the six departures, five left for other jobs, while original OC David Raih "parted ways" with Vandy after being demoted in the 2021 fall camp (and to my knowledge has not gotten another coaching job).
I missed it when it came out, but the following quote appeared last May in a (premium) article in The Athletic by Pete Sampson. (Sampson, you may recall, covers Notre Dame for The Athletic but wrote a lengthy, brilliant, insightful inside piece about Clark Lea and Vandy during Lea's rookie year as head coach.) Sampson talked to Coach Lea about the challenges Marcus Freeman faces in hiring staff. Here's the quote:
“Once you elevate into the top seat, you’re totally dependent on the people you hire to be the echo chamber of your message,” Lea said. “You realize quickly that the ability of the staff to do that either dilutes the culture or strengthens the culture. And it’s every day, it’s a steady drip.
“Initially, I felt if you found qualified people, you could kind of plug them in and things run the way that you intend for them to run. What I learned was way more effort has to be put in to the chemistry around what you’re trying to get done. The chemistry on the staff bleeds into the chemistry on the team.”
Lea seems to be acknowledging that he made some hiring mistakes his first time around... he hired some guys with great reputations whom he hadn't worked with before. Guys like Inoke Breckterfield, Jesse Minter, and John Egorugwu had sterling resumes, but after a year, they were gone. Lea had worked with Raih before and had a hunch about him, but his hunch turned out to be bad. His second year, he filled out his staff with guys like Larry Black and Nick Lesynski, whom he'd worked with before; and the staff seems more coherent now. For Lea, culture and chemistry trump everything else. So far this off-season there's only been one departure: RBs coach Norval McKenzie.
But some would make a counter-argument that you really need experienced, expert tacticians, especially with your coordinator positions, even if they are a little hard to work with, and you pay them whatever it takes. (Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman were heavily criticized this week for being "unwilling" to spend the big bucks to buy out Utah OC Andy Ludwig, instead choosing to promote a guy from within.)
I don't know which approach is right... I just hope Lea ultimately succeeds... and if he does, I think it will be one of the most interesting stories in college football.
What do you guys and girls think?
I missed it when it came out, but the following quote appeared last May in a (premium) article in The Athletic by Pete Sampson. (Sampson, you may recall, covers Notre Dame for The Athletic but wrote a lengthy, brilliant, insightful inside piece about Clark Lea and Vandy during Lea's rookie year as head coach.) Sampson talked to Coach Lea about the challenges Marcus Freeman faces in hiring staff. Here's the quote:
“Once you elevate into the top seat, you’re totally dependent on the people you hire to be the echo chamber of your message,” Lea said. “You realize quickly that the ability of the staff to do that either dilutes the culture or strengthens the culture. And it’s every day, it’s a steady drip.
“Initially, I felt if you found qualified people, you could kind of plug them in and things run the way that you intend for them to run. What I learned was way more effort has to be put in to the chemistry around what you’re trying to get done. The chemistry on the staff bleeds into the chemistry on the team.”
Lea seems to be acknowledging that he made some hiring mistakes his first time around... he hired some guys with great reputations whom he hadn't worked with before. Guys like Inoke Breckterfield, Jesse Minter, and John Egorugwu had sterling resumes, but after a year, they were gone. Lea had worked with Raih before and had a hunch about him, but his hunch turned out to be bad. His second year, he filled out his staff with guys like Larry Black and Nick Lesynski, whom he'd worked with before; and the staff seems more coherent now. For Lea, culture and chemistry trump everything else. So far this off-season there's only been one departure: RBs coach Norval McKenzie.
But some would make a counter-argument that you really need experienced, expert tacticians, especially with your coordinator positions, even if they are a little hard to work with, and you pay them whatever it takes. (Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman were heavily criticized this week for being "unwilling" to spend the big bucks to buy out Utah OC Andy Ludwig, instead choosing to promote a guy from within.)
I don't know which approach is right... I just hope Lea ultimately succeeds... and if he does, I think it will be one of the most interesting stories in college football.
What do you guys and girls think?