Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

For discussion regarding the Vanderbilt Commodores' football program.

Moderators: kerrigjl, BrentVU, jfgogold, NateSY, KarenYates, Vandyman74, roanoke, VandyWhit

commadore
Admiral
Posts: 9918
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:29 pm
Has thanked: 88 times
Been thanked: 124 times

Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by commadore »

It is being reported by the sec network and espn that Notre Dame is elevating their current DC who has been there ONE year, after Lea left that position to come to VU.


User avatar
DivergentDore
Commander
Posts: 468
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:00 pm
Location: Texas
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 9 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by DivergentDore »

I personally don't think he has regrets over it as ND is a lose lose situation for comparable compensation. Even if the next coach up there holds status quo and competes for a chance at appearing in the playoff, he will be looked at as underachieving for not taking the Irish to the next level. If the next coach drops to consistent 9-3 years he'll be run out of town within 5 years and frankly their facilities do little to help them in recruiting. Kelly probably does more with less than any coach in the country. People forget that he took Cincy to two New Years Day bowls before taking the ND job, and that was before Cincy decided to up it's game with facility enhancements.
bornadore57
Lieutenant
Posts: 189
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2021 11:48 am
Location: Kingsport, Tennessee
Has thanked: 145 times
Been thanked: 16 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by bornadore57 »

I think Clark Lea wants to do something special at a place he loves. Wishing him every success.
User avatar
BrentVU
Site Admin
Posts: 17708
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2016 1:25 pm
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 180 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by BrentVU »

This is one of those wonderful yet utterly meaningless alternate-universe things for people to speculate about on message boards. But in the real world where we all live, no one will ever know if Clark Lea would have been offered the job, and even Clark Lea will never know whether he might have been offered that job. My guess is that he might have said, "Huh!" and thought about it for ten seconds at most, before getting back to the task at hand.
MrMemorial
Rear Admiral
Posts: 2016
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2021 10:37 pm
Has thanked: 26 times
Been thanked: 37 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by MrMemorial »

bornadore57 wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:56 pm I think Clark Lea wants to do something special at a place he loves. Wishing him every success.
Kelly went to 3 straight D-2 championship games and won the last two. 263 wins as a head coach.

I saw his rah-rah schtick at halftime of LSU's basketball game last night. I'm not sure I bought it. He did mention that there are some "really good" other teams in the SEC before pretty much promising a natty at LSU. So, he hedged on the natty promise... sort of... but LSU fans will only remember the part about delivering the natty. He might wish at some point he didn't say it. He didn't win one at ND...

LSU's basketball team is 8-0 now. They are oozing with talent. Good thing their coach blows or they might be the ones challenging for the natty. However... they haven't played a ranked team yet and don't play one until the SEC schedule starts and then they have SEVEN ranked teams in a row and FOUR of them on the road.
vandy05
Vice Admiral
Posts: 3675
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 9:23 pm
Has thanked: 85 times
Been thanked: 23 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by vandy05 »

MrMemorial wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:25 pm
bornadore57 wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 2:56 pm I think Clark Lea wants to do something special at a place he loves. Wishing him every success.
Kelly went to 3 straight D-2 championship games and won the last two. 263 wins as a head coach.

I saw his rah-rah schtick at halftime of LSU's basketball game last night. I'm not sure I bought it. He did mention that there are some "really good" other teams in the SEC before pretty much promising a natty at LSU. So, he hedged on the natty promise... sort of... but LSU fans will only remember the part about delivering the natty. He might wish at some point he didn't say it. He didn't win one at ND...

LSU's basketball team is 8-0 now. They are oozing with talent. Good thing their coach blows or they might be the ones challenging for the natty. However... they haven't played a ranked team yet and don't play one until the SEC schedule starts and then they have SEVEN ranked teams in a row and FOUR of them on the road.
To your point about winning a title there, the last three coaches at LSU have won national titles (and I believe Miles played for two). Some folks seem to think that Miles and Orgeron got those titles in spite of themselves. That means the talent there is deep and accessible for that program. I think any reasonable observer would think that Kelly is a better coach than Miles and Orgeron and he can get better mileage out of the available talent. No one except Kelly has played for a national title in South Bend since Lou Holtz. A national title is pretty reasonable and I think should be expected from Kelly before he leaves there.
vandy05
Vice Admiral
Posts: 3675
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 9:23 pm
Has thanked: 85 times
Been thanked: 23 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by vandy05 »

And I don't think CCL has any regrets. He either wanted to be the head coach at Vandy or he didn't. Kelly is 60. If CCL really wanted to be the head guy at ND, he could've hung on there instead of leaving for Vandy. But he wanted to coach at his alma mater in his hometown.
VU1970
Admiral
Posts: 6171
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 10:45 am
Has thanked: 30 times
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Anyone think Clark Lea has regrets?

Post by VU1970 »

BrentVU wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 3:19 pm This is one of those wonderful yet utterly meaningless alternate-universe things for people to speculate about on message boards. But in the real world where we all live, no one will ever know if Clark Lea would have been offered the job, and even Clark Lea will never know whether he might have been offered that job. My guess is that he might have said, "Huh!" and thought about it for ten seconds at most, before getting back to the task at hand.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, some of us go on about nothing because it's the only thing we know anything about.
Locked Previous topicNext topic