Bob Diaco - New Defensive Coordinator

seaofred92 said:
NOTE: This isn't a rumor. Its a follow up on a report from a Nebraska reporter. Would appreciate this thread remaining on the main board.

Bob has emerged as a leading candidate for our DC job:



So here's the deal. I threw his name out yesterday as someone who would make sense but I REALLY hope this doesn't happen. I've mentioned it a few times on here but Im a UConn graduate and so I have watched every single one of these Diaco era football games at UConn. Among the reasons Diaco was fired at UConn was:

1. We didn't score a TD in over a month. Thats right. A month. From the second half of the game against UCF on October 19 until the second half of Tulane in the last game of the season we did. not. score. a. touchdown.

2. He runs the "bend don't break" defense. It used to drive UConn fans INSANE because we would line up 8-10 yards off the ball (sound familiar?) and very rarely pressed guys or brought pressure. This is not the formula I believe necessary to win.

3. Guy is a control FREAK. I know as a DC this is somewhat okay but he was the definition of a micro-manager. Way way way too involved in every aspect of everyone's coaching decisions.

4. The guy has zero ability to understand game situations. Clock management (end of Navy game this year), fake field goals at absurd times (4th and goal from the 18 down 7-0 to BC in the first quarter, second fake FG against Mizzou last year, etc), lack of ability to get plays and defensive calls into the huddle on time, lack of situational awareness on both sides of the ball in various situations (2 minute, 4 minute, etc)

5. At ND he was a really good coordinator. Won the Broyles award.

6. He is a big "culture" guy. It ultimately was part of the reason he lost his job at UConn

7. Absolutely batsh#t crazy. If you thought Mark Banker was a good quote just wait until Bob Diaco is interviewed by our media. You're going to absolutely lose your mind listening to some of his quotes. Search "Bob Diaco Fish Cake" to start yourselves off.

8. The guy does understand defense though as crazy as he is. He developed Obi Melifonwu and Jamar Summers into phenomenal players for us. The American has some really really high flying offenses and he did a fairly good job at keeping them in check.

9. Won't bring anything to the table as far as special teams go. His philosophy regarding punt returns was to "fair catch them as to not take any unnecessary risks in the return game". We didn't return a punt for something like the first 5 or 6 games of the season last year.

10. He's a decent recruiter and has great ties to New Jersey. Was an All-Big Ten Linebacker at Iowa in his day and is young, energetic, and personable.

11. He wore red pants almost our entire season so I would look forward to seeing if that trend continued at Nebraska.

Summary: I would be fairly disappointed if we hired him as our DC. Despite being a Broyles Award winner and experience at Notre Dame as a DC from what I saw from him at UConn I would be TERRIFIED giving him a large amount of responsibility and money at UConn. My opinion might be jaded from what he did to my Huskies but I believe we can and should do better than him if we want to get to the point of competing regularly for conference titles and NY6 bowls.
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Sorry for the repost, but we seem to have 3 different threads now all talking about the DC candidate. It would be great if we could merge them together.

I agree with you that he seems a bit crazy and too into himself. There is something about the way he speaks where he seems dishonest or not genuine, but that's just a first impression. But the bigger reality is that he has had one good year of coaching out of many years as a DC or head coach. One year...the year he one the Broyles award. That is it. He went 11-26 as a head coach, and outside of the year he won the Broyles award, his defenses averaged 56th in the nation in total defense. Out of 110 or 112 college football teams, that puts him right in the middle. In the past 2 years under Bank Nebraska average total defense ranking was 43. I am all for improving upon Banker and am glad he is gone, but I don't see how Diaco would be an improvement.

 
I appreciate your thoughts and sharing them. Most of those would be a concern if we hired him as the Head Coach, but his clock management/special teams/not scoring TD's doesnt concern me as our D-Coord. The other things also dont concern me if Riley can control him to a point and let him focus on Defense not on the game as a whole.

I want a guy who has a scheme that can work in the B1G and who can help grow our young guys... Recruiting is obviously important but actually being able to grow those 3-4-5 stars in to good players is far more important.

That being said, I dont fully know what i want.

 
So he got fired for developing a couple guys into phenomenal players, understanding defense, being a decent recruiter who is young energetic and personable and for wearing red pants? UCONN needs to lower their standards...

 
I'd hire him solely based on the fact he likes to wear red pants. He can raid Osborne's closet for some old game day gear.

 
seaofred92 said:
NOTE: This isn't a rumor. Its a follow up on a report from a Nebraska reporter. Would appreciate this thread remaining on the main board.

Bob has emerged as a leading candidate for our DC job:



So here's the deal. I threw his name out yesterday as someone who would make sense but I REALLY hope this doesn't happen. I've mentioned it a few times on here but Im a UConn graduate and so I have watched every single one of these Diaco era football games at UConn. Among the reasons Diaco was fired at UConn was:

1. We didn't score a TD in over a month. Thats right. A month. From the second half of the game against UCF on October 19 until the second half of Tulane in the last game of the season we did. not. score. a. touchdown.

2. He runs the "bend don't break" defense. It used to drive UConn fans INSANE because we would line up 8-10 yards off the ball (sound familiar?) and very rarely pressed guys or brought pressure. This is not the formula I believe necessary to win.

3. Guy is a control FREAK. I know as a DC this is somewhat okay but he was the definition of a micro-manager. Way way way too involved in every aspect of everyone's coaching decisions.

4. The guy has zero ability to understand game situations. Clock management (end of Navy game this year), fake field goals at absurd times (4th and goal from the 18 down 7-0 to BC in the first quarter, second fake FG against Mizzou last year, etc), lack of ability to get plays and defensive calls into the huddle on time, lack of situational awareness on both sides of the ball in various situations (2 minute, 4 minute, etc)

5. At ND he was a really good coordinator. Won the Broyles award.

6. He is a big "culture" guy. It ultimately was part of the reason he lost his job at UConn

7. Absolutely batsh#t crazy. If you thought Mark Banker was a good quote just wait until Bob Diaco is interviewed by our media. You're going to absolutely lose your mind listening to some of his quotes. Search "Bob Diaco Fish Cake" to start yourselves off.

8. The guy does understand defense though as crazy as he is. He developed Obi Melifonwu and Jamar Summers into phenomenal players for us. The American has some really really high flying offenses and he did a fairly good job at keeping them in check.

9. Won't bring anything to the table as far as special teams go. His philosophy regarding punt returns was to "fair catch them as to not take any unnecessary risks in the return game". We didn't return a punt for something like the first 5 or 6 games of the season last year.

10. He's a decent recruiter and has great ties to New Jersey. Was an All-Big Ten Linebacker at Iowa in his day and is young, energetic, and personable.

11. He wore red pants almost our entire season so I would look forward to seeing if that trend continued at Nebraska.

Summary: I would be fairly disappointed if we hired him as our DC. Despite being a Broyles Award winner and experience at Notre Dame as a DC from what I saw from him at UConn I would be TERRIFIED giving him a large amount of responsibility and money at UConn. My opinion might be jaded from what he did to my Huskies but I believe we can and should do better than him if we want to get to the point of competing regularly for conference titles and NY6 bowls.
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Absolutely believe 100% this topic, along with many other, deserves it's own thread. Very refreshing versus nothing but mega threads that I'll never weed through to find good info like this.

 
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Hammerhead said:
Apparently Diaco is a leading candidate for the Arkansas DC job as well.
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Saw that too. The article I read said their DB coach Paul Rhodes is expected to be at least co-DC in 2017 so I wonder if that might deter Diaco? It would seem to me a former HC and "proven" (for lack of a better word) coordinator wouldn't want to work side by side with somebody else who was just promoted from within the program, but I have no idea -- maybe that would be a plus in some ways.

Honest question, though: Regardless of whether a guy was successful or unsuccessful as a HC, does that experience normally help and pay dividends if he becomes a coordinator? I'm sure it varies but a lot of people on this board know way more than I do. Does it matter, is it good, can it create problems, or does it generally just depend on who and what the situation is?

 
Read up on the fishcakes article on barstool sports. This guy is more bats*** crazy than mark banker and would not be enthusiastic if he gets the nod. There has to be someone in the NFL with husker ties because the John Parellas find ways to make the most out of UNL.

 
Read up on the fishcakes article on barstool sports. This guy is more bats*** crazy than mark banker. There has to be someone in the NFL with husker ties because the John Parellas find ways to make the most out of UNL.

 
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husker_fan_from_sweden said:
Read up on the fishcakes article on barstool sports. This guy is more bats*** crazy than mark banker and would not be enthusiastic if he gets the nod. There has to be someone in the NFL with husker ties because the John Parellas find ways to make the most out of UNL.
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and the fish cake stuff is some of the more mild mannered stuff he spewed when he was at UConn. The guy was praising our defense for making major improvements after we got blown out at ECU this year by 35 points. The guy is a certified looney toon
 
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