Callahan's POV on HCBD coaching vs. USF

[ktuck911]

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2014/9/...diaco-can-never-touch-the-uconn-offense-again

I respect what he wrote. Honest opinion. Coach's decisions can be deemed glass halh empty...

 

[huskyblooz]

Did Callahan apply for the job? Cause he sure has a bug up his towards Diaco since Day 1. He thinks we should be 4-0.

With that, he's a very good writer. But if I wanted to read so much negativity, I'll read the updates on ISIS.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Callahan should stick to breaking down what he sees on a film. Seriously. When you get to be able to see and understand what's happening faster than 3 days worth of time, then you can start writing about opinions. Bad article.

Here's why the passing game was shut down.
I shut down the passing," Diaco said. "Watch our first four passes. I was concerned the game would have been 35-0. I was more inclined to play pingpong and win games on special teams and defense. That is why the play pattern started to tilt. As abysmal as it was looking on offense, we still had a chance to win the game at the end of the game."

Diaco said "After 12 plays, we threw four passes — after 12 plays. So I've heard a lot of commentary about scuttling the passing game. Let me tell you something: In a monsoon after 12 plays we threw four passes, but here's what those four passes were: holding, strip sack, intentional grounding and a chop block. Obviously if we had any opportunity to win the game and take it at the end, we needed to totally change the way we were playing. So we need to significantly address that area."


Additionally, not all of those penalties were on the OL, so his pal that wrote the OL article on that website needs some more time looking at film too.

Huge Sack





The strip sack of Whitmer was huge on the Huskies' first possession and led to the Bulls getting on the board first. Whitmer said after the game that running back Ron Johnson needed to redirect and pick up that pressure, and Diaco confirmed it.

"It should have been blocked from tailback position," Diaco said. "He wasn't looking over there, and he didn't see it. He's an outstanding player and has growth to do. When you play freshmen and sophomores as much as we do, those are things we have to deal with. To do something different, play 11 players for four quarters, I am not going to do it. We are building a foundation of strength."...Diaco wasn't nearly as upset with the fourth-and-10 play that went for a touchdown in the first quarter as he was on a third-and-16 rush that netted Bulls running back Marlon Mack 17 in the fourth quarter and ultimately led to a Bulls field goal and 17-7 lead. "Game-changing play right there," Diaco said. "We are going to make that play, and it is a play that you let get away, turned out to be the difference in the game. To be a great defense, we have to make that play


You want to talk about the problems that Diaco is facing, start thinking about how he's building his foundation of fundamental football. He refuses to change is approach about rotating players and dividing reps towards a starting 11 vs. backups.

Not one single idiot reporter has asked about this yet.

 

[whaler11]

So his opinion isn't valid because he didn't review the video quickly enough. Makes sense.

 

[Srqhusky]

Agree with Carl. The team can pass when they show they know how to perform a pass play. The coaches are teaching all they Can and it must be hard for them to see their work out out like this. I DONT blame Diaco for doing what he did one bit. Andrew gives great analysis but his opinion is his opinion and he is entitled to give it and he does have some points but we all want to talk about what ifs.

 

[upstater]

Agree with Carl. The team can pass when they show they know how to perform a pass play. The coaches are teaching all they Can and it must be hard for them to see their work out out like this. I DONT blame Diaco for doing what he did one bit. Andrew gives great analysis but his opinion is his opinion and he is entitled to give it and he does have some points but we all want to talk about what ifs.

The coaches are not putting the players in position to complete passes. This is a coaching problem more than a player problem. Either that, or Whitmer isn't listening and he just insists on running 11 steps backward with his back to the play.

 

[Srqhusky]

The coaches are not putting the players in position to complete passes. This is a coaching problem more than a player problem. Either that, or Whitmer isn't listening and he just insists on running 11 steps backward with his back to the play.

He is running eleven steps because three steps he would be a pancake

 

[Skiblets]

Seemed reasonable to me. Fact-based on the turnover percentage - running versus passing....yards per play etc. The converse argument could also be made to Diaco - if the running game is horrid, start flinging it all over the yard. The runnning game has been horrid with a higher turnover percentage than the passing game. Seems like we should go all Mike Leach air raid on Temple's azzes

 

[upstater]

He is running eleven steps because three steps he would be a pancake

Nope, the pressure came at him from the edge. Player blew by the tackle. 3-step throw, a slant, fire. 1 second.

 

[Srqhusky]

Nope, the pressure came at him from the edge. Player blew by the tackle. 3-step throw, a slant, fire. 1 second.

Have you ever seen the middle collapse. The whole line can be Swiss cheese at times.
Diaco played at Iowa which has produced some of the finest offensive lines in football. They are tackle-u. He knows what a perfectly coached line should look like. Now these kids are not applying what they have learned. They are inexperienced. They will tell you that. That is why the coach made a good call. He had them in the game the whole time.

 

[J187Money]

Diaco is telling it straight. I'm on the bus. Throwing up in the back of the bus, but I'm on it.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

So now after a few years of heaping praise on Callahan people are gonna turn on him for getting this right?

If Dez, Silver, Fuller, and the rest of the horde weren't so worried about access they would've penned the same damn thing.

I've been spending all week hoping that Diaco actually did quit trying to win the game because he did one if the few things that would allow us to lose to that dreadful USF team.

 

[jbdphi]

I didn't read a single thing in his piece that I could disagree with. Running the ball hasn't proven to be any less dangerous in terms of turnovers or negative plays. I don't think anyone has done an analysis on negative plays but I suspect that our average gain per rush is still a lot lower than our average gain per pass attempt even when you move sacks over to pass attempts and we sure have had a lot of rushes tackled behind the line of scrimmage as well so not sure our negative play percentage would be that much better running over passing.

If I had to nitpick on one thing is that Callahan extrapolates the four bad passing plays and the fault involved to basically say that Diaco has caused his own problems by playing the freshmen RB's and Guards who caused the negative plays. I think that's a bit unfair as we have all seen experienced guys (or less experienced guys where we don't have a better option) missing assignments (i.e. Mateas on Arkeel's fumble) or just getting beat (i.e. Levy / Knappe on most passing plays it seems).

 

[noeynox]

Boneyard law: if posters like the head coach any criticism done of the head coach is done by idiots who think coaching is the same as playing madden on their game consoles-see the edsall years for a point of reference. If they don't like the coach all bets are off see P from the moment he was hired. Currently the board LOVES Diaco, so he can't be criticized.

 

[whaler11]

Boneyard law: if posters like the head coach any criticism done of the head coach is done by idiots who think coaching is the same as playing madden on their game consoles-see the edsall years for a point of reference. If they don't like the coach all bets are off see P from the moment he was hired. Currently the board LOVES Diaco, so he can't be criticized.

I am a bit confused by your Edsall reference. Was it the idiots defending him or the idiots criticizing him?

 

[Srqhusky]

Boneyard law: if posters like the head coach any criticism done of the head coach is done by idiots who think coaching is the same as playing madden on their game consoles-see the edsall years for a point of reference. If they don't like the coach all bets are off see P from the moment he was hired. Currently the board LOVES Diaco, so he can't be criticized.

Coaching is an art not a science so it all depends on your point of view. Until results come he is going to look foolish to the critics. He has a much different m.o than any coach out there. How many quote Shakespeare or Dante in their hiring press conference. We are an impatient bunch. We aren't going anywhere in conference realignment anytime soo. We have time. I give any coach three years to show improvement

 

[whaler11]

Coaching is an art not a science so it all depends on your point of view. Until results come he is going to look foolish to the critics. He has a much different m.o than any coach out there. How many quote Shakespeare or Dante in their hiring press conference. We are an impatient bunch. We aren't going anywhere in conference realignment anytime soo. We have time. I give any coach three years to show improvement

If only Pasqualoni had those last 8 games. He was so close to turning the corner.

 

[noeynox]

I am a bit confused by your Edsall reference. Was it the idiots defending him or the idiots criticizing him?

Edsall could leave a flaming bag of sheet, on some posters door and ring the doorbell and he would get the benefit of the doubt. Its not about him though. This board has a strange way of supporting coaches at all costs.....if they like him. Diaco is in the honeymoon stage on this board. Wait till he makes a bowl game at 6-6, cause of P he will be granted sainthood.

 

[whaler11]

Edsall could leave a flaming bag of sheet, on some posters door and ring the doorbell and he would get the benefit of the doubt. Its not about him though. This board has a strange way of supporting coaches at all costs.....if they like him. Diaco is in the honeymoon stage on this board. Wait till he makes a bowl game at 6-6, cause of P he will be granted sainthood.

Well I have been accused of being
the head Edsall apologista (he was accused of hating the concept of offense- but his 2014 team has 150 pts in 4 weeks) - I think the guy did a hell of a job. And I think Diaco has an even tougher job because he can't sell an auto BCS bid - so if he wins 32+ games in 4 years I'll donate to his statue.

If he wins 6 games this year... then he is a mad scientist.

I think you are wrong about a honeymoon stage. Even the rational posters are scratching their heads and reacting more to what they see as an overreaction from the emotional amongst us.

 

[noeynox]

I never thought Edsall was a bad coach. He had a penchant for saying really stupid things such as "UConn fans should have no expectations, there is no history, tradition, or recruiting base" That is probably not an exact quote but it was on an interview he gave on ESPN. That really soured me on him, it was the perfect opportunity to say something like "expectations are great, it means people here care", a chance to sell HIS program. There were countless other times like the time he ran Jordan Todman three straight times against RU clinging to a four point lead after the first two runs netted one yard. After the game he defiantly called it a "trick play" because the defense is expecting you to pass there. Talk about hubris. I never felt he believed in UConn and was always looking for a way out as far back as 2007, when he interviewed for the GTech job following the thumping at WVU.

That said he did a very good overall job. Never developed a passing game here post Orlovsky but he won in the 7-5, 8-4 range which I'm sure is where UMD will probably end up. He has a dynamic WR in Diggs who was a 5 star talent whose mother was not going to let him leave the state of MD to go play anywhere. I wish we had some CT parents who were as adamant about their 4&5 star kids playing for state U. With Diggs and Long at WR and Mike Locksley as OC they're running go routes all day it seems. I watched parts of their game against Cuse, those WRs are something else and he is using them.

One similarity between Edsall and Diaco, the teams are physically strong looking. We lost that during P years. I'm all in with Diaco. Think he will eventually succeed, but when I say he is in the honeymoon stage, I'm referring to the fact posters take umbrage with the fact that what he pulled against USF totally abandoning the passing game was bizzare and some of us expressed it. It's like "we only lost by 3, so he had it right". Anyways enough about that other guy. Callahan isn't wrong in calling out Diaco. Sorry people can't see that.

 

[noeynox]

And i never saw you as an apoligista in the sense that Edsall couldn't be second guessed.

 

[whaler11]

I never thought Edsall was a bad coach. He had a penchant for saying really stupid things such as "UConn fans should have no expectations, there is no history, tradition, or recruiting base" That is probably not an exact quote but it was on an interview he gave on ESPN. That really soured me on him, it was the perfect opportunity to say something like "expectations are great, it means people here care", a chance to sell HIS program. There were countless other times like the time he ran Jordan Todman three straight times against RU clinging to a four point lead after the first two runs netted one yard. After the game he defiantly called it a "trick play" because the defense is expecting you to pass there. Talk about hubris. I never felt he believed in UConn and was always looking for a way out as far back as 2007, when he interviewed for the GTech job following the thumping at WVU.

That said he did a very good overall job. Never developed a passing game here post Orlovsky but he won in the 7-5, 8-4 range which I'm sure is where UMD will probably end up. He has a dynamic WR in Diggs who was a 5 star talent whose mother was not going to let him leave the state of MD to go play anywhere. I wish we had some CT parents who were as adamant about their 4&5 star kids playing for state U. With Diggs and Long at WR and Mike Locksley as OC they're running go routes all day it seems. I watched parts of their game against Cuse, those WRs are something else and he is using them.

One similarity between Edsall and Diaco, the teams are physically strong looking. We lost that during P years. I'm all in with Diaco. Think he will eventually succeed, but when I say he is in the honeymoon stage, I'm referring to the fact posters take umbrage with the fact that what he pulled against USF totally abandoning the passing game was bizzare and some of us expressed it. It's like "we only lost by 3, so he had it right". Anyways enough about that other guy. Callahan isn't wrong in calling out Diaco. Sorry people can't see that.

I guess I can see why that quote would bother you but it's 100% true.

Diggs is an amazing talent - but that just gets at the first point. The biggest reason why UConn is a hard job is because there aren't enough local players.

This is where Upstater will list NFL players from Connecticut who get plucked away by other schools which gets back to the lack of tradition.

If you are an elite football prospect from Connecticut why in hell would you stay here? If you can go play in the SEC or the Big Ten or even the ACC... why would you not take bigger crowds, more attention and prettier co-eds?

 

[Fishy]

I've been to Army games where you knew they were only going to throw it a handful of times by design, but never, ever have I seen someone willingly gut their offense before the defense had the chance.

I don't care that we only lost by three - we scored one offensive touchdown and that was against a prevent defense. With our improvised offensive plan, the game was over at 14-0. Whatever Diaco was hoping to gain by forcing the running game, it didn't work at all. South Florida's defensive coordinator couldn't have devised a better way to stop our offense than Diaco did - he really deserves a game check from USF.

I'm just pretending it never happened.

 

[whaler11]

And i never saw you as an apoligista in the sense that Edsall couldn't be second guessed.

Others would disagree.

My biggest complaint about him was that he didn't go for the throat. He was too happy to sit back on a 7-0 or 10-0 lead. It was like he was uncomfortable coaching ahead.

 

[Fishy]

Others would disagree.

My biggest complaint about him was that he didn't go for the throat. He was too happy to sit back on a 7-0 or 10-0 lead. It was like he was uncomfortable coaching ahead.

My biggest gripes about Edsall was that he'd coach tighter than tight in games where he felt he was the underdog (second BC game seemed to be the start of it), the inability to consistently field a team capable of the forward pass and the five or six year span of grotesque special teams errors that never seemed to get fixed.

In his favor, we were never awful with him and, for all his faults, he never did anything as insane as we've seen on a game to game basis over the past four years.

I was happy when he left. I now miss him terribly.