Has anyone noticed any improvement?

[freescooter]

I agree on Diggs who looks to me like one of the few really good recruits he has brought in. But as far as improvement I'd say yes the Oline while not good is better than bit has been but that is offset by a secondary that has regressed badly. The dline is what it has been since he arrived. Mostly big guys who are first and foremost run stoppers. Other guys l think have improved are Newsome and Thomas. But Johnson hasn't nor have the tight ends. They don't block well nor do they run good patterns. And as a team while we are better than 2014 I think we have regressed since last year. But the 2014 season was effectively thrown away intentionally so that isn't much of a comparison

 

[Waquoit]

You never answered the throw to TE question

The answer is: It doesn't matter. The ball is probably going to be thrown to the wrong side whoever's the target.

 

[Palatine]

I think Diaco had his first epiphany this weekend when he said he is not an idiot and he realizes the won loss record is not good. Throwing the offense and coaches under the bus was a good next step. Now that Diaco has admitted he has a problem, let's see what changes occur. Something tells me he is smart enough to save his own skin.

If that's true, and I hope its true, it would be nice. But he shouldn't throw anyone under the bus. He needs to accept responsibility and fix himself.

But what does it say about the guy that it took 2.5 years to figure out that winning should be his priority? That's the problem with hiring assistants that have never led a program. Sometimes what they miss is the most important of all.

 

[freescooter]

The earth trembles but pal is right. When you hire an assistant sometimes it works but sometimes they are over their heads. To date Diaco looks to fall into the latter group

 

[Milo65]

Positives: Although he has fixed a lot of things. Climate, work ethic, improved strength training

Negatives: He hasn't fixed the following: Recruiting, Play calling, clock management, offensive/defensive schemes, increased attendance/fan base

The Negatives outweigh the positives, Diaco has done a lot, unfortunately it's not translating into wins


Next year is year 4 of this experiment, he needs to show something with all of his own recruits.

 

[CTMike]

The earth trembles but pal is right. When you hire an assistant sometimes it works but sometimes they are over their heads. To date Diaco looks to fall into the latter group

I understand your point and in hindsight there is some truth... except there are plenty of assistants that can and do step up and learn the HC role more quickly than Bob. Hiring an assistant isn't inherently bad and it's the most common stepping stone to HC.

All that's to say that, at the time, I don't think Bob was a bad hire at all - it just sucks that he hasn't adapted as quickly as needed.

 

[SubbaBub]

Next year his recruits should be starting and succeeding or one of two things will be true. Either he isn't as good a recruiter as we hoped or there was talent on the roster he inherited.

Either case would not be good.

 

[politics]

The answer is: It doesn't matter. The ball is probably going to be thrown to the wrong side whoever's the target.

Fair point. But bigger targets give him a better shot, no?

 

[freescooter]

Mike

No question that the current trend is coordinator to head coach. But if you look at the guys in our league alone I think you'd be hard pressed to make the case that Diaco was a guy who was ready to making the step.

 

[Pudge]

"It's not indicative or an appropriate representation of the improvement made by the players and the work that they've done and persevered through given the circumstances, so the whole organization is disappointed."

This may be denial. This may be true. However, it's quite possible that Mr. 2-10 may be unable to turn the improvement in the players into results until he improves himself.

Good question.

There's undoubtedly improvement. HOWEVER ... we are absolutely in a tough neighborhood. UCF, Tulsa, Houston, SMU, Memphis, Temple, USF etc ... are not major FB name programs; yet, they all pass proficiently - probably better than some p5 conferences - and Diaco (to my way of thinking) has not shown he can play and win in this style.

But ... I would argue many many student-athletes are improving markedly.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think Diaco had his first epiphany this weekend when he said he is not an idiot and he realizes the won loss record is not good. Throwing the offense and coaches under the bus was a good next step. Now that Diaco has admitted he has a problem, let's see what changes occur. Something tells me he is smart enough to save his own skin.

Going in to UCF, they had already played the toughest games on the schedule. I think Diaco was optimistic, based on the close losses to a good team like Navy and P5 Syracuse, that we could win against UCF, ride that momentum to beat ECU, BC and Tulane and maybe Temple. That's 7-8 wins. I think he believed it. Hell, I believed it. It sure looked that way, even at halftime.

Now? Now he's got a team that might have a shot at ECU, will have a tough time @ BC, and a very tough time with Temple. He needs to perhaps take a few chances here. Change the QB. Switch up the defense. Tweak the offense. Then again, this is a guy who punted several times from roughly the opponent's 40 in a game he was losing by two touchdowns or more.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

I just don't know what people want Diaco to say.

"We suck, it's my fault, I suck, sorry you hired me, but you're stuck with me, tough luck on the buyout, huh? I'll try to get better, but luckily for me, UConn can't afford anybody better, so I guess we'll just see how it goes, huh?"

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The main, possibly only, improvement from Pasqualoni is that Diaco actually cares what happens on the field, and Pasqualoni was mailing it in. I think the assistants are competent enough to have it look like a real football team out there, which it didn't in 2014. But is Diaco good enough to consistently beat anyone decent? Not even close. He is badly outmatched on the sideline almost every single game, and it is hard to make that up with effort and execution.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I just don't know what people want Diaco to say.

"We suck, it's my fault, I suck, sorry you hired me, but you're stuck with me, tough luck on the buyout, huh? I'll try to get better, but luckily for me, UConn can't afford anybody better, so I guess we'll just see how it goes, huh?"

Of course not. Here is the problem as I see it. He takes a very long term view of building a program. He starts from the ground up, and restructures everything. It leads to a 2-11 season, because he threw it away. The next year he takes the same approach, demphasizing W-L and the team surprises a bit and gets to a bowl. We think...aha...he's ready to win now! He's not. He takes the same approach, still worrying more about 2 years from now rather than now, and the team takes a step back from a W-L perspective, even though they are a better team than last year.

We. Don't. Have. The. Time. Winning every game left on this schedule trumps everything. Trumps any redshirt value, trumps long term approaches he wants to follow, personalities on the team, whatever else you can think of. The rebuilding has to be over. He's worrying about the cholesterol problem his program has while it is suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

So what I want to hear is that he understands that. That he knows that the program is bleeding and that winning is the only band aid that can save it.

 

[uconndogs]

There has been improvement. The OL has progressed over the last three seasons and the offense in general is better. Granted, it's coming from a point of being totally , but I clearly see improvement. We are still without playmakers absent Thomas. Arkeel is a nice back, but he's not explosive - he's not running over anyone and he's not outrunning anyone. He's a shifty back with good vision.

The defense is not what it was last season. No reason to expect it would be losing an NFL safety and two backers who were OK that nobody could overtake last season. We have no speed at DE or at LB with the exception of maybe Diggs who shows some ability to get sideline to sideline.

One of my biggest concerns around Diaco is what appears to be an absence of having brought in speed on either side of the ball. I hope that is in fact not the case and he's got some younger guys building up to play at this level. We'll see.