Nick Lezynski
Defensive Run Game Coordinator • Linebackers
Nick Lezynski, considered one of college football’s rising stars, joined the Vanderbilt staff in 2022 following four seasons at Notre Dame. Lezynski serves as Vanderbilt’s linebackers coach and 2023 will be his first season as defensive run game coordinator.
The 2023 campaign saw Lezynski coach two of Vanderbilt’s emerging stars in linebacker Langston Patterson and anchor CJ Taylor. Patterson led the team in tackles and tackles for loss as a sophomore. He made at least six tackles in each of the last five games of the season, highlighted by 12 against Auburn. Taylor was third on the team in tackles despite missing three games due to injury. He was one of 31 players in the SEC with multiple interceptions on the season and was second on the team with 7.5 tackles for loss
In his first season in Nashville, Lezynski helped linebacker Anfernee Orji complete his third consecutive season as the team’s leader in tackles and earn All-SEC honors from Phil Steele. Orji’s 108 stops made him the first Vanderbilt player since 2005 to lead the team in tackles for three straight years. With 8.93 tackles per contest, no one in the SEC had more than Orji.
Orji joined fellow linebacker Ethan Barr as a team captain in 2021. Barr was named an Academic All-District selection after making 42 tackles in 12 games, including at least one tackle in every game on the season.
Lezynski’s four seasons at Notre Dame began in 2018 as a defensive graduate assistant. He spent three seasons on the defensive staff coordinated by Clark Lea before being promoted to senior defensive analyst in 2021 under the defense of current Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman.
While in South Bend, Lezynski helped the Fighting Irish to a pair of College Football Playoff berths (2018 and 2020), a Fiesta Bowl bid (2021) and a Camping World Bowl victory (2019). Notre Dame posted a 44-7 record over those four seasons and finished among the nation’s top-15 scoring defenses each season.
Prior to Notre Dame, Lezynski made coaching stops at Holy Cross, Lafayette and Connecticut. At Lafayette, Lezynski coached Brandon Bryant to FCS All-America honors and Jerry Powe to all-conference accolades. The Leopards had the second-ranked scoring defense in the Patriot League in 2017, improving 22 points over the prior season.
The Newtown, Pennsylvania, was a walk-on quarterback and cornerback for the Irish from 2007-11. He graduated from Notre Dame in 2011 with a degree in marketing from the Mendoza College of Business and earned a master’s in educational psychology from UConn. Lezynski and his wife, Jessica, have three daughters – Sloane, Bryn and Tatum
The Lezynski File
Hometown: Newtown, Pa.
High School: Notre Dame (Lawrenceville, N.J.)
College: Notre Dame (marketing, 2011) & UConn (educational psychology, 2016)
Wife: Jessica
Children: Sloane, Bryn and Tatum
Coaching Career
2012 • Holy Cross (Mass.) • Defensive Backs
2013 • Holy Cross (Mass.) • Defensive Backs
2014 • UConn • Graduate Assistant
2015 • UConn • Graduate Assistant
2016 • UConn • Graduate Assistant
2017 • Lafayette • Linebackers
2018 • Notre Dame • Graduate Assistant
2019 • Notre Dame • Graduate Assistant
2020 • Notre Dame • Graduate Assistant
2021 • Notre Dame • Senior Defensive Analyst
2022 • Vanderbilt • Linebackers
2023 • Vanderbilt • Linebackers
Postseason Experience
2015 • UConn • St. Petersburg Bowl
2018 • Notre Dame • College Football Playoff (Cotton Bowl)
2019 • Notre Dame • Camping World Bowl
2020 • Notre Dame • College Football Playoff (Rose Bowl)
2021 • Notre Dame • Fiesta Bowl