2-10 gets another year. Period

[J187Money]

Here is the thing though. If the goal is 6-6 and some meaningless bowl maybe he is the guy. If they go 3-1 over the final 4 it's possible and 3 of them are winnable I grant you. But I think most people have somewhat higher hopes than .500 and some bowl at 7am on Boxing Day. If you look at others who came into equally bad or worse situations though they all seem to be making progress or are on the hot seat and likely out. That the Bobster is getting similar scrutiny is hardly surprising with an 11-24 record.

Agreed - but for me, as long as we get to a bowl (and hopefully win it), I don't see much difference between 6/7/8 wins.

I will be really pissed off at 5 wins, because this is at LEAST a 6 win team. I would also get really excited if we got to 9 or 10 and got to play in the AAC Championship game. But as long as he gets to 6, I can live with it. Maybe I'm not as mad as some here, because I don't think we have a 10 win OL or a 10 win QB, and to get anywhere near that we would need to make 0 mistakes, which isn't reasonable.

So I think he is underperforming slightly this year with a chance to lay a huge egg if we don't get right over the rest of the season.

More concerning to me - is I feel with his in-game coaching / play-calling - is that he has a ceiling. If he doesn't get fundamentally better at the "in-game" part of his job we will never be a 10 win team, regardless of the talent. ADBD needs to figure this out next year and then make a call - does he have it or not? And if not, rip the bandaid off and move on.

 

[freescooter]

I can't say I disagree with much of that. Though I think if he doesn't right the ship over the next 4 it will be fought to make the case that he has much hope of doing anything. FWIW it isn't just in game coaching in my view. The slow starts to me are indicative of a team that isn't well prepared for what they'll be seeing from the opponent.

 

[UConnNick]

These posts just go on and on. Some therapeutic venting I guess...

I will say this. I did not understand the extension. It simply did not seem necessary. I assume there was a strategy behind it and with the hindsight of 3-5 it's easy to poke holes in that strategy. But from the moment it was announced I was scratching my head and it had nothing to do with my like or dislike of Diaco. I just didn't understand it from a business point of view.

I agree. Most 8-17 coaches don't get fat contract extensions. I'll say one thing for him...he must be quite the charmer with his superiors behind closed doors, plus beating Houston without their first string QB apparently made a major impression on the higher ups. It's not like his phone was ringing off the hook with better job offers after losing to Marshall in a nothing bowl game, ending the season with an overall losing record for the second year in a row.

 

[ZooCougar]

He got an extension because he is good off the field.

If the school were smart then they would handcuff him, force him to hire someone with some football sense to improve the gameday decision making in order to mitigate the inability to replace him immediately.

Then either we can him when it becomes economically feasible or he somehow figures out how to be a truly effective coach.

You would think Patterson would be there to keep Diaco in check, but the guy is a total journeyman and probably is just as incompetent.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Btw I feel dirty that I knew what Pal's intent was in making up another dumb nickname.

Its ok. I figured it out too, but just kept it to myself.

 

[Stainmaster]

You would think Patterson would be there to keep Diaco in check, but the guy is a total journeyman and probably is just as incompetent.

He also retired following the conclusion of last season.

 

[ZooCougar]

He also retired following the conclusion of last season.

Good point, maybe that explains Diaco's complete unmooring.

 

[RioDog]

That would certainly earn him much good will.

T'would ease the swallowing of the bitterest pill...

 

[Chin Diesel]

2-10 is Pal's cheeky nickname for Diaco based off the year 1 record. Like Hill--Liar, but worse.

Pal has groupies??

When you figured out 2-10 was Palspeak did you have a feeling of a loss if innocence like Ralphie with his Ovaltine decoder ring in Christmas Story?

 

[CTMike]

Pal has groupies??

When you figured out 2-10 was Palspeak did you have a feeling of a loss if innocence like Ralphie with his Ovaltine decoder ring in Christmas Story?

Bingo. Or, for a Trek analogy - like Picard figuring out Darmak and Jalad at Tanagra.

 

[BlueDogs]

That would certainly earn him much good will.

But the question will still linger is it enough for a stadium to fill.

 

[uconndogs]

I don't think this was the reason for the extension. If you recall, the extension was followed shortly by a $250,000 Diaco donation to the AD. He actually got $450,000 in extra money as a result of the extension (plus increases in his buyout), so even if you subtract the donation money he is still coming out ahead of the extension, provided he is not fired before the contract expires. But I think that in many ways this was all orchestrated by Herbst, the AD and Diaco so that Diaco's donation would inspire others to do the same while at the same time making the coach look even better to the fans. This might be a little cynical of an explanation, but I am confident there is a connection between the extension and the donation, which I have no problem with.

Probably some truth to that.

 

[4in16]

If this team doesn't finish with at least a 6-6 record and a bowl game, I can't imagine at least some staff changes being made. I agree it'll still be Diaco's team but something will have to change.