JJ Husker
Assistant Coach
I am pretty harsh on guys but I feel this guy just landed here and I think he can coach a D. I know I know. But something here tells me to separate Diaco from the Riley discussion.
He says he can get it done, I see no reason not to see if he is right.
I'll go so far as to agree that Diaco and this defense is a separate issue from Riley and his 3 years (3 years here and 20+ elsewhere...) of struggling to field a coherent offensive attack. But I think I've seen enough this year to not afford Diaco any more opportunity. He knew what he was getting into and the urgency of improving, or at least not regressing, this defense. Any coach who cannot implement his system without some ridiculous multi year process while also being competitive with the likes of Arky State, NIU, a bad Oregon team, Purdue, Northwestern etc. isn't much of a coach. This isn't pro football or the way things used to be in cfb where you may have had 4 years to bring players in, have them learn for a year or two and then actually contribute for a couple years. And nowhere do you get to tell people that they can't expect to be competitive yet. Defense is a pretty simple concept (contrary to the way Diaco may make it sound) in the game of football. There are the fundamentals of tackling, hands, shedding blocks and covering receivers that really don't change with system. As far as system, they may be learning new responsibilities and a new philosophy but you still have to do what it takes to keep your team in a position to win. I still place more blame on Langs and our offense but the points we have given up to some of these piss poor teams is just plain not acceptable. I don't like the bend but don't break philosophy but could probably live with it if it wasn't really bent and broken.
It seems both Riley and Diaco need 4* and 5* talent to begin to make their systems work. Nebraska is never going to have Bama level talent. Never have and never will. Every team in this division is doing more with less talent. There is no debate, that is a coaching and development problem. Sorry Bobby but you don't get more time to suck. All he had to do this year was not be worse than Banker and he screwed the pooch. Welcome to the real world where cute little analogies to baking and cooking fish don't get you anywhere. That sh#t may fly at Oregon State or UConn but we ain't going to listen to it here.
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