Nick Lezynski, an American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35 pick in 2024, joined the Vanderbilt staff in 2022 following four seasons at Notre Dame. Lezynski serves as Vanderbilt’s linebackers coach and 2023 was his first season as defensive run game coordinator.
Lezynski’s linebackers paced the Vanderbilt defense in 2024 as sophomore Bryan Longwell (89 tackles) and junior Langston Patterson (78) led the team in total tackles. Longwell added 7.5 for loss and an interception while Patterson recovered a fumble. Another linebacker, Nick Rinaldi, was fifth on the team with 52 tackles while adding six sacks and two fumble recoveries. Rinaldi earned a spot on the Associated Press All-Bowl team after notching 10 tackles and two sacks in the Birmingham Bowl win over Georgia Tech, Vandy’s first postseason win in over a decade.
Patterson was a team captain and Academic All-District pick while Longwell earned Lott Impact Trophy Player of the Week for his performance in the win over No. 1 Alabama. Longwell had a team-high eight tackles in the win over the Crimson Tide, the school’s first-ever victory over the nation’s top-ranked team.
The rushing defense took a giant step forward in 2024, improving from 104th nationally to 52nd. Vandy held consecutive opponents to under 100 rushing yards for the first time since 2017 during the season’s first two weeks against Virginia Tech and Alcorn State. Overall, the scoring defense improved from 126th nationally in 2023 to 50th in 2024. This helped the Dores produce their best scoring margin since 2013 and just their fifth positive scoring margin since 1975.
The 2023 campaign saw Lezynski coach two of Vanderbilt’s emerging stars in 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.
Orji became one of Lezynski’s first Vanderbilt protegees to reach the NFL in 2024. After spending 2023 on the practice squad for the New Orleans Saints, Orji played in 16 games during his debut season in ’24, making 30 tackles.
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, and two sons – Asher and Coleson
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, Tatum, Asher and Coleson
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 • Defensive Run Game Coordinator/Linebackers
2023 • Vanderbilt • Defensive Run Game Coordinator/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
2024 • Vanderbilt • Birmingham Bowl Champions