Wake Forest Defensive Coordinator, Mike Elko, To Be Interviewed For Same Role At Notre Dame

There is finally some real news about Notre Dame and its search for a new defensive coordinator. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish fired Brian VanGorder back in September, just days after a loss to Duke in South Bend. Since then, Brian Kelly placed Greg Hudson in an interim role as defensive coordinator, but also tapped Mike Elston to help with a lot of those responsibilities as well.

Brian Kelly had stated only a short while ago that he would not just be looking to promote from within the program, but that he was looking around the country as well.

Enter Mike Elko.

Elko has been a coach that has slipped into the conversation about who will be Notre Dame’s next defensive coordinator last year, and now this year. Irish Illustrated’s Tim Prister has been a very vocal advocate for Elko. It forced me to take a closer look at the coach and what he may offer.

More than anything else, Mike Elko has been a coach that gets more out of his players than what we as Notre Dame fans have been accustomed to in the past. While he has used various schemes such as the 3-4 and the 4-2-5, his number one attribute might be placing his players in the best possible position.

The Wake Forest defenses have been very good under Elko. So good, in fact, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher said Wake Forest was the best defense they had faced during their playoff run of 2014.

We will probably here something sooner than later about any possible move, but many people believe that if offered, Elko would jump at the chance to coach at Notre Dame.