WHAT I BELIEVE ABOUT BOB DIACO

[Confident Carl]

I just posted this in another thread but felt this was important to be on its own, so here goes. To start, I know Diaco has said a few questionable things about abilities and such. He is not perfect and it was a long season. So I cut him some slack. I believe he will become a tremendous head coach. Here goes:

UCONN football under Diaco:

1. 2014 was not a program renovation, it was a Total tear down-rebuild
2. Diaco is a perfectionist - He only knows 1 way to do things - the right way
3. Diaco and staff could have done things to achieve greater results in the W-L column but didn't want to take short cuts. They made a decision to build for the future as a #1 priority. In other words they sacrificed short term gains for long term sustained success.
4. People did not like the exhibition/preseason game analogy (paying customers didn't want to hear that) but that is exactly what Diaco was doing. That was very painful for everyone.
5. Diaco and staff were building a culture and system designed to last for years and built on:
a. Good Nutrition
b. Strength & Conditioning
c. Discipline, Academically, Socially, Mentally*,Physically, Spiritually, Family
6. Technique - Understanding timing and footwork, fundamentals
* Mentally is huge. He needed to wash out a Negative losing mentality that had
been at UCONN the last three years.
6. Recruiting - Diaco (for 2015)recruited Big, tall players, smart kids that bought into his philosophy.
7. Unfortunately, the fan base has been affected by all the change and Diaco has asked us to be patient and to trust him. He knows it isn't easy. I believe he understands.
8. The team suffered major loses by injury in particular two team captains in Casey Cochran and Byron Jones.
9. We had a very young and inexperience Offensive line that got a lot better in 2014
10. We had some young pup running backs that will be great in the next couple of years and the same goes for the receiving corps.
11. Diaco has promised us a conference championship
12. He is our best chance at moving up to a better conference.

In summation I will use a golf analogy. I am a 12 handicap golfer. I could take my swing and game and up my time at the range by 1,000 balls a week. I could buy state of the art equipment, play a couple more times a week, watch all kinds of videos, etc. No doubt I would get better. My ball striking would no doubt improve. Putting, Driving, everything. The problem is, that if I had inherent flaws in my swing, I would be building my game on a questionable foundation that would ultimately fail against stronger competition.

On the other hand if I paid David Leadbetter to train me the right way, he could possibly trash my golf swing and make drastic changes that would actually make me look worse and make me feel very uncomfortable for a while. I would probably start swearing at him and state that I never should have gone to him in the first place as I am now worse than before I hired him. He would tell me to be patient and that it will take time for the new techniques to become a habit and that for a while, I would be playing worse until I got comfortable but in the long run I was going to have a more sustainable consistent game. Down the road I could go up against single digit golfers in competition and beat them.

I hope this has helped some of you. Others may poke fun of my analogy and theory but that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For now, I choose to believe the Bob Diaco is the best thing to happen to UCONN football. And NO, I didn't get paid for writing this! College football is a very passionate sport. Most of us on the yard are passionate about UCONN football. No one more than Bob Diaco.

 

[Nostical]

Carl I couldn't agree more. Well said. Until Diaco proves otherwise, it's in all of our best interest to back him.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

#9 and #10 make me feel better. That's about it.

The golf analogy just doesn't work for me. Unless you can specifically pinpoint things he did this year that sacrificed wins for the long term benefit of the program.

 

[uconnric]

#9 and #10 make me feel better. That's about it.

The golf analogy just doesn't work for me. Unless you can specifically pinpoint things he did this year that sacrificed wins for the long term benefit of the program.

If you don't buy into it, that's your prerogative. He inherited a mess and it will take more than one year for his changes to take effect. I do expect improvement next year. I would've loved to see a few more wins but whether it was 2 or 4 or 5 wasn't going to make a difference anyway.

 

[Confident Carl]

#9 and #10 make me feel better. That's about it.

The golf analogy just doesn't work for me. Unless you can specifically pinpoint things he did this year that sacrificed wins for the long term benefit of the program.

I am curious, have you been to a Bob Diaco practice this year?
If so, did you compare it to one of Pasqualoni or even TJ's?
Diaco's practice sessions are like precision military exercises. Off the charts!

 

[06029]

I believe 20 something year old, good looking young girls would really dig fat, bald gray haired men if they only gave them a chance.

I believe that money can't buy happiness, but that it can make the sadness a whole lot easier to deal with.

I believe that there is intelligent life somewhere in the universe and they are watching us and laughing.

Belief and faith are good things to have when reality really sucks.

 

[amory]

I can say that after this campaign it is very difficult for me to believe in Bob Diaco. But we don't have any choice but to believe in him at this point, because if he's not who we thought he was we're forever. We'll be the new UMass and even the die-hards will have a hard time naming the teams in our conference.

So sure, I believe in Bob Diaco, what have we got to lose

 

[SubbaBub]

I just posted this in another thread but felt this was important to be on its own, so here goes. To start, I know Diaco has said a few questionable things about abilities and such. He is not perfect and it was a long season. So I cut him some slack. I believe he will become a tremendous head coach. Here goes:

UCONN football under Diaco:

1. 2014 was not a program renovation, it was a Total tear down-rebuild
2. Diaco is a perfectionist - He only knows 1 way to do things - the right way
3. Diaco and staff could have done things to achieve greater results in the W-L column but didn't want to take short cuts. They made a decision to build for the future as a #1 priority. In other words they sacrificed short term gains for long term sustained success.
4. People did not like the exhibition/preseason game analogy (paying customers didn't want to hear that) but that is exactly what Diaco was doing. That was very painful for everyone.
5. Diaco and staff were building a culture and system designed to last for years and built on:
a. Good Nutrition
b. Strength & Conditioning
c. Discipline, Academically, Socially, Mentally*,Physically, Spiritually, Family
6. Technique - Understanding timing and footwork, fundamentals
* Mentally is huge. He needed to wash out a Negative losing mentality that had
been at UCONN the last three years.
6. Recruiting - Diaco (for 2015)recruited Big, tall players, smart kids that bought into his philosophy.
7. Unfortunately, the fan base has been affected by all the change and Diaco has asked us to be patient and to trust him. He knows it isn't easy. I believe he understands.
8. The team suffered major loses by injury in particular two team captains in Casey Cochran and Byron Jones.
9. We had a very young and inexperience Offensive line that got a lot better in 2014
10. We had some young pup running backs that will be great in the next couple of years and the same goes for the receiving corps.
11. Diaco has promised us a conference championship
12. He is our best chance at moving up to a better conference.

In summation I will use a golf analogy. I am a 12 handicap golfer. I could take my swing and game and up my time at the range by 1,000 balls a week. I could buy state of the art equipment, play a couple more times a week, watch all kinds of videos, etc. No doubt I would get better. My ball striking would no doubt improve. Putting, Driving, everything. The problem is, that if I had inherent flaws in my swing, I would be building my game on a questionable foundation that would ultimately fail against stronger competition.

On the other hand if I paid David Leadbetter to train me the right way, he could possibly trash my golf swing and make drastic changes that would actually make me look worse and make me feel very uncomfortable for a while. I would probably start swearing at him and state that I never should have gone to him in the first place as I am now worse than before I hired him. He would tell me to be patient and that it will take time for the new techniques to become a habit and that for a while, I would be playing worse until I got comfortable but in the long run I was going to have a more sustainable consistent game. Down the road I could go up against single digit golfers in competition and beat them.

I hope this has helped some of you. Others may poke fun of my analogy and theory but that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For now, I choose to believe the Bob Diaco is the best thing to happen to UCONN football. And NO, I didn't get paid for writing this! College football is a very passionate sport. Most of us on the yard are passionate about UCONN football. No one more than Bob Diaco.

While I'd like to believe this, my current location in Show Me Land won't allow it.

1. I agree if the goal is to dominate the AAC, compete with top 25 programs, and win BCS bowl games, and I like to think it is.
2. He certain wants it done his way, remains to be seen if it's the right way.
3. He could have won games without sacrificing longer term goals. Just not buying this one, I watched the games.
4. Yup, not a good idea. See #3.
5. Culture only lasts as long as the head coach. We should all realize that by now. So, if he's planning to stay a long time, this is an exercise that needs to get to the point.
6. So did PP and he didn't get to see most of them play. Not anointing anyone a good recruiter until it shows on the field. By my watch, Edsall was the greatest recruiter in UConn history and we all thought he sucked at it. Silly us.
7. I would freaking hope so. Going from 35,000 in game 1 to 700 in game 12 is a pretty loud message.
8. While among our better players, neither was so good that it should have made a difference.
9. "A lot" is stretching it too far. The went from non-existent to needs improvement.
10. I think they showed potential, but all involved need to get a lot better. Backs.need to average more than 3 yd/carry, pass protect and not fumble. Receivers need to get open and block.
11. I hope he does, but he's already broken a couple promises.
12. That's quite an assumption. He's our only chance to improve our FB team next season. Not sure one year of not horrible FB gets us into the B10.

Hopefully, everything we though would turn around this year, will turn around next year. But, I refuse to be duped two years in a row.

 

[KennyD]

I am curious, have you been to a Bob Diaco practice this year?
If so, did you compare it to one of Pasqualoni or even TJ's?
Diaco's practice sessions are like precision military exercises. Off the charts!

I have been to practices every year starting with FHCRE. These were not open practices, so they were not vanilla flavored. Yes HCBD's practices are like precision military exercises. However, so were the practices of FHCRE and FHCPP's. That's how it is at all major FBS football program's practices. The major difference I see is his passion towards having UConn football win championships. This and the fact that his staff and current players have bought into that passion 100%. I've talked to players after practice and at their training meals and they do not have any doubt that the future of UConn football under HCBD will be sucessful.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I have been to practices every year starting with FHCRE. These were not open practices, so they were not vanilla flavored. Yes HCBD's practices are like precision military exercises. However, so were the practices of FHCRE and FHCPP's. That's how it is at all major FBS football program's practices. The major difference I see is his passion towards having UConn football win championships. This and the fact that his staff and current players have bought into that passion 100%. I've talked to players after practice and at their training meals and they do not have any doubt that the future of UConn football under HCBD will be sucessful.

Can't wait until they start focusing on winning the next next game, not some distant point in the future.

 

[06029]

I am curious, have you been to a Bob Diaco practice this year?
If so, did you compare it to one of Pasqualoni or even TJ's?
Diaco's practice sessions are like precision military exercises. Off the charts!

How does the equate into sacrificing wins for future success? If you are a fan of perfect practice makes for better results, then I would label his practice regimen as fairly flawed.

This season was lost before the first game because Diaco deemed it a blow up the place and rebuild from Day 1 job. The game plan and actual result was meaningless for Diaco this year He said it pretty plainly and then when people got upset about it he covered by saying he wants to win every game. Followed by the inevitable weird parable/metaphor .People can disagree about his approach and whether the complete blow up and lack of concern about wins was appropriate. He had this year as a gimmee.

Diaco either succeeds or fails. It is a binary path. No different than anyone that gets promoted. The only difference, he can't hide and he is in a very public position. After this season, everything will be under a microscope going forward. Incremental improvement that would have been cheered this year as the building blocks for the future will not be appreciated next year. He set the course and has promised success. He said this year was necessary for growth and future success but game 12 was just as bad as game 1. So for a lot of the fan base, he needs to be successful in a big way very early next year.

So have belief and faith. There is not much else to hang on to.

 

[Confident Carl]

#9 and #10 make me feel better. That's about it.

The golf analogy just doesn't work for me. Unless you can specifically pinpoint things he did this year that sacrificed wins for the long term benefit of the program.

I understand your point, however that would be impossible for a casual fan to calculate. I can only tell you that I think it may have been more important to simplify things in order to be effective and to allow growth. Kind of a risk reward thing. He knew that UCONN couldn't put too many points on the board so rather than take a big risk that could have resulted in a big play, he took an easier much more conservative path that would help the individual player grow in the fundamentals. In using another golf analogy, I know if my wife hits a 3 wood from the fairway correctly she will hit it farther than her 5 iron yet she chooses to use the 5 iron because she has a greater chance of hitting a good shot. It builds her confidence rather than being dejected by a poorly hit 3 wood. It sets her up better for future shots where she may have developd the skill and confidence to hit the 3 wood.

It is hard to believe because we are looking at big strong kids but Diaco had a pretty bad D-1 football team when compared to the rest of the field. They needed a great deal of coaching up and confidence building. That's why Diaco kept saying believe me this team is much better, even when they were losing big time!

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

If you don't buy into it, that's your prerogative. He inherited a mess and it will take more than one year for his changes to take effect. I do expect improvement next year. I would've loved to see a few more wins but whether it was 2 or 4 or 5 wasn't going to make a difference anyway.

Whether I buy into it or not is meaningless and won't affect the outcome. I don't deal with blind faith. One of the many reasons I'm not a religious guy.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I understand your point, however that would be impossible for a casual fan to calculate. I can only tell you that I think it may have been more important to simplify things in order to be effective and to allow growth. Kind of a risk reward thing. He knew that UCONN couldn't put too many points on the board so rather than take a big risk that could have resulted in a big play, he took an easier much more conservative path that would help the individual player grow in the fundamentals. In using another golf analogy, I know if my wife hits a 3 wood from the fairway correctly she will hit it farther than her 5 iron yet she chooses to use the 5 iron because she has a greater chance of hitting a good shot. It builds her confidence rather than being dejected by a poorly hit 3 wood. It sets her up better for future shots where she may have developd the skill and confidence to hit the 3 wood.

It is hard to believe because we are looking at big strong kids but Diaco had a pretty bad D-1 football team when compared to the rest of the field. They needed a great deal of coaching up and confidence building. That's why Diaco kept saying believe me this team is much better, even when they were losing big time!

Carl part of my problem is that I don't know what the heck he means when he says they won't take short cuts to get an extra win here or there. All I know is what I saw. What Diaco did. How the players responded to him. None of it was good.

Despite my opinion, it's possible his methods could work. I don't see it happening, but I was wrong once before. Nothing would please me more than for you and the others to shove it in my face years from now.

 

[nycscooby]

Coach Diaco completely wasted Geremy Davis' talents this year (44 catches all season), he mostly wasted Deshon Foxx (with only 23 carries 11 of which were in the UCF game and 30 receptions the whole season) and our widely lauded (by HCBD) trio of TEs collectively had 21 receptions all season.

How the above fits into some master plan is really beyond me.

I guess being outscored 144-51 in four games (36-13 average) since the UCF plan must have served a purpose?

We have no choice but to support HCBD and the entire staff and of course we do but really it's just blind faith. I saw a lot of things in the last third of the season that really bothered me given how long these kids had been in the present system.

 

[rich1122]

Coach Diaco completely wasted Geremy Davis' talents this year (44 catches all season), he mostly wasted Deshon Foxx (with only 23 carries 11 of which were in the UCF game and 30 receptions the whole season) and our widely lauded (by HCBD) trio of TEs collectively had 21 receptions all season.

How the above fits into some master plan is really beyond me.

I guess being outscored 144-51 in four games (36-13 average) since the UCF plan must have served a purpose?

We have no choice but to support HCBD and the entire staff and of course we do but really it's just blind faith. I saw a lot of things in the last third of the season that really bothered me given how long these kids had been in the present system.

That's Carl's Number 3. He could have thrown more to Davis and played him a lot more. Instead of going for the wins he decided to work the younger guys. Davis not part of the future.

Here is another. I really think we could have gotten more out the Wildcat with Foxx. 3rd and 1 against SMU and we could get that. Instead go up the middle and have to punt. Why? no Foxx and no Wildcat next year. Why should they waste plays.

What intrigues me is that they almost NEVER threw to a TE. Bloom caught a TD otherwise zero. Claxx never materialized out of the backfield.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

That's Carl's Number 3. He could have thrown more to Davis and played him a lot more. Instead of going for the wins he decided to work the younger guys. Davis not part of the future.

Here is another. I really think we could have gotten more out the Wildcat with Foxx. 3rd and 1 against SMU and we could get that. Instead go up the middle and have to punt. Why? no Foxx and no Wildcat next year. Why should they waste plays.

So you're saying that because Foxx was a Senior they valued giving Johnson a run up the middle more than actually winning the game?

May be time to put away the BY for a while.

 

[Palatine]

 

[amory]

Confident Carl what makes you so confident, anyway?

 

[uconnbill]

#9 and #10 make me feel better. That's about it.

The golf analogy just doesn't work for me. Unless you can specifically pinpoint things he did this year that sacrificed wins for the long term benefit of the program.

The NFL combine showed me how far the program had fallen, from the Randy Edsall days. The lineman would always lift well and preform well and last year the lineman were weaker than tight ends and linebackers. That should never have happened and in the future I don't expect it to happen again with this coach and strength coach whose lineman at Miss St were always the strongest in the NFL combine.

 

[BNich]

I just posted this in another thread but felt this was important to be on its own, so here goes. To start, I know Diaco has said a few questionable things about abilities and such. He is not perfect and it was a long season. So I cut him some slack. I believe he will become a tremendous head coach. Here goes:

UCONN football under Diaco:

1. 2014 was not a program renovation, it was a Total tear down-rebuild
2. Diaco is a perfectionist - He only knows 1 way to do things - the right way
3. Diaco and staff could have done things to achieve greater results in the W-L column but didn't want to take short cuts. They made a decision to build for the future as a #1 priority. In other words they sacrificed short term gains for long term sustained success.
4. People did not like the exhibition/preseason game analogy (paying customers didn't want to hear that) but that is exactly what Diaco was doing. That was very painful for everyone.
5. Diaco and staff were building a culture and system designed to last for years and built on:
a. Good Nutrition
b. Strength & Conditioning
c. Discipline, Academically, Socially, Mentally*,Physically, Spiritually, Family
6. Technique - Understanding timing and footwork, fundamentals
* Mentally is huge. He needed to wash out a Negative losing mentality that had
been at UCONN the last three years.
6. Recruiting - Diaco (for 2015)recruited Big, tall players, smart kids that bought into his philosophy.
7. Unfortunately, the fan base has been affected by all the change and Diaco has asked us to be patient and to trust him. He knows it isn't easy. I believe he understands.
8. The team suffered major loses by injury in particular two team captains in Casey Cochran and Byron Jones.
9. We had a very young and inexperience Offensive line that got a lot better in 2014
10. We had some young pup running backs that will be great in the next couple of years and the same goes for the receiving corps.
11. Diaco has promised us a conference championship
12. He is our best chance at moving up to a better conference.

In summation I will use a golf analogy. I am a 12 handicap golfer. I could take my swing and game and up my time at the range by 1,000 balls a week. I could buy state of the art equipment, play a couple more times a week, watch all kinds of videos, etc. No doubt I would get better. My ball striking would no doubt improve. Putting, Driving, everything. The problem is, that if I had inherent flaws in my swing, I would be building my game on a questionable foundation that would ultimately fail against stronger competition.

On the other hand if I paid David Leadbetter to train me the right way, he could possibly trash my golf swing and make drastic changes that would actually make me look worse and make me feel very uncomfortable for a while. I would probably start swearing at him and state that I never should have gone to him in the first place as I am now worse than before I hired him. He would tell me to be patient and that it will take time for the new techniques to become a habit and that for a while, I would be playing worse until I got comfortable but in the long run I was going to have a more sustainable consistent game. Down the road I could go up against single digit golfers in competition and beat them.

I hope this has helped some of you. Others may poke fun of my analogy and theory but that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For now, I choose to believe the Bob Diaco is the best thing to happen to UCONN football. And NO, I didn't get paid for writing this! College football is a very passionate sport. Most of us on the yard are passionate about UCONN football. No one more than Bob Diaco.

As a golf pro, I understand and appreciate your analogy. Don't take a lesson wanting to improve only to disregard practice and the necessary repetitions to make the change stick. Change is never easy. No one likes it, but certain changes are necessary. It will take a year or two of recruits to come into the new family, new lifestyle, new everything before this program is stronger than ever. The team easily could have looked at it as 65 against 1 or the whole staff for that matter. I made mention of this in another thread and people disagreed, but just look at the quotes from some players. They're using Diaco's verbiage, they're using some of phrases and words that he speaks. Even the oldest on the team. Those kids didn't need to buy in, but they have and to me that is encouraging. What would an outgoing senior, outside of playing time, have to gain by buying in to the new coaches standards who he will only be with for one year? The new recruits and young guys I think are in even better shape. I too carry a confident and upbeat mindset about the future of Uconn Football.

 

[BNich]

The NFL combine showed me how far the program had fallen, from the Randy Edsall days. The lineman would always lift well and preform well and last year the lineman were weaker than tight ends and linebackers. That should never have happened and in the future I don't expect it to happen again with this coach and strength coach whose lineman at Miss St were always the strongest in the NFL combine.

I never thought of this until right now, but this could potentially explain, partially anyway, why the line looked bad last year as well.

 

[BNich]

Confident Carl what makes you so confident, anyway?

It is an inherent quality not enough posters possess around here. It isn't learned. Some are just born with it.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

#9 and #10 make me feel better. That's about it.

The golf analogy just doesn't work for me. Unless you can specifically pinpoint things he did this year that sacrificed wins for the long term benefit of the program.

Started by moving the #5 career yd rb, a qb(possibly his most athletic) , his upperclass db depth. Still don't get the Ty-meer Brown thing. I wondered if maybe they had issues. Allowed for the development of Knappe. Began transitioning the offense mid season though the qbs are not well suited for the type he intends running. Played his younger receivers more than upperclass talent should have allowed.

 

[BNich]

While I'd like to believe this, my current location in Show Me Land won't allow it.

1. I agree if the goal is to dominate the AAC, compete with top 25 programs, and win BCS bowl games, and I like to think it is.
2. He certain wants it done his way, remains to be seen if it's the right way.
3. He could have won games without sacrificing longer term goals. Just not buying this one, I watched the games.
4. Yup, not a good idea. See #3.
5. Culture only lasts as long as the head coach. We should all realize that by now. So, if he's planning to stay a long time, this is an exercise that needs to get to the point.
6. So did PP and he didn't get to see most of them play. Not anointing anyone a good recruiter until it shows on the field. By my watch, Edsall was the greatest recruiter in UConn history and we all thought he sucked at it. Silly us.
7. I would freaking hope so. Going from 35,000 in game 1 to 700 in game 12 is a pretty loud message.
8. While among our better players, neither was so good that it should have made a difference.
9. "A lot" is stretching it too far. The went from non-existent to needs improvement.
10. I think they showed potential, but all involved need to get a lot better. Backs.need to average more than 3 yd/carry, pass protect and not fumble. Receivers need to get open and block.
11. I hope he does, but he's already broken a couple promises.
12. That's quite an assumption. He's our only chance to improve our FB team next season. Not sure one year of not horrible FB gets us into the B10.

.

Your points which I bolded.

1. He has basically said this already to the media. Should be every coaches goal, dominate their conference, own the top 25 and win BCS bowl games.
2. Again, this is every coaches mentality IMO. It's my way or the highway. Look at what Charlie Strong has done so far at Texas.
5. Rome wasn't built overnight. Look at the roster. From 85-65 in one offseason. It's hard to truly be competitive in a time of change with a roster number like that. Lots of young players. Relax. They are now one year older, one year more developed physically, mentally and in the new Uconn football lifestyle.
6. I disagree. The linemen he brought in, well under weight. Look at the WR's brought in compared to the current class. Same with the corner backs, Safeties and some linebackers. Taller and bigger in most cases. Overall as a class, we have not seen as many big bodied kids as the 2015 class current possesses. On top of that there was no one to develop these kids physically. Diaco's comments were beat to death about not being able to tell the difference between true FR and a SR. IMO, the combine/Pro Day results speak to this claim. I think you are off base here.
10. Transitioning to college, coming from HS teams where they probably didn't need to pass protect too much to where they were relied on from play to play is a change. Speed of game among other things is a huge change. Johnson didn't turn the ball over. BIG and explosive IMO. Down the stretch Max showed he can make plays. Turnover issues are certainly warranted with Newsome. I am not happy about that either despite his obvious ability. They improved throughout the season. I really like Johnson, was expecting more from Marriner, Max is max, and Newsome can do a bit of everything in the open field but his propensity for turnovers is killer.