Diaco on Face the State

[tduconn]

........with Dennis House as the commentator.

I probably missed advanced notice, so only caught tail end of "rerun" of presentation between 10:15-10:20 last night......by accident.

The three questions I heard from House, which for obvious reasons Diaco "avoided or glossed over" were similar to the following (not direct quotes of either House or Diaco):

H: Jim Calhoun has stated that it would be great if UConn ended up in the BIG if there's another conference realignment. Do you think that is a goal UConn is aiming for?

D: I'm not involved in anything like that and am happy in the AAC which can be a very exciting and competitive conference.

H: What can we expect of the team this year?

D: We have goals. Each day you wake up you're better than the day before you went to sleep. That applies to both coaches and players. I've seen it from each the last seven weeks.

H: Both men's and women's BB has energized the fan base such that there has been a couple 100 thousands fans in downtown Hartford after National championships. Can we expect the same from UConn FB under your leadership?

D: We have to engage the fans more than they have ever been from the tailgate to game experience. There hasn't been much of that yet at UConn. The team and fans feed off each other and we have to get the fans inside from the opening whistle.

The team also has to do its part. First we have to learn to win, then win consistently. We have to learn to win AAC championships. We have to learn to beat the better teams.

These were all pretty neutral statements and don't blame BD for not promising too much in either of the responses I briefly heard and tried to accurately represent herein.

What is he going to realistically answer? I may not be here long enough to see those developments? He's finding out on the recruiting trail that his past recruiting successes may not be replicated at UConn.

I'm firmly behind the new staff, and to borrow a phrase from Lew Perkins "am cautiously optomistic".

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

He's finding out on the recruiting trail that his past recruiting successes may not be replicated at UConn.

Besides the fact that it's likely, is there somewhere else where you have heard this ??? Or is it just your guess ?

 

[coachcap]

...with Dennis House as the commentator.

I probably missed advanced notice, so only caught tail end of "rerun" of presentation between 10:15-10:20 last night.by accident.

The three questions I heard from House, which for obvious reasons Diaco "avoided or glossed over" were similar to the following (not direct quotes of either House or Diaco):

H: Jim Calhoun has stated that it would be great if UConn ended up in the BIG if there's another conference realignment. Do you think that is a goal UConn is aiming for?

D: I'm not involved in anything like that and am happy in the AAC which can be a very exciting and competitive conference.

H: What can we expect of the team this year?

D: We have goals. Each day you wake up you're better than the day before you went to sleep. That applies to both coaches and players. I've seen it from each the last seven weeks.

H: Both men's and women's BB has energized the fan base such that there has been a couple 100 thousands fans in downtown Hartford after National championships. Can we expect the same from UConn FB under your leadership?

D: We have to engage the fans more than they have ever been from the tailgate to game experience. There hasn't been much of that yet at UConn. The team and fans feed off each other and we have to get the fans inside from the opening whistle.

The team also has to do its part. First we have to learn to win, then win consistently. We have to learn to win AAC championships. We have to learn to beat the better teams.

These were all pretty neutral statements and don't blame BD for not promising too much in either of the responses I briefly heard and tried to accurately represent herein.

What is he going to realistically answer? I may not be here long enough to see those developments? He's finding out on the recruiting trail that his past recruiting successes may not be replicated at UConn.

I'm firmly behind the new staff, and to borrow a phrase from Lew Perkins "am cautiously optomistic".

...with Dennis House as the commentator.

I probably missed advanced notice, so only caught tail end of "rerun" of presentation between 10:15-10:20 last night.by accident.

The three questions I heard from House, which for obvious reasons Diaco "avoided or glossed over" were similar to the following (not direct quotes of either House or Diaco):

H: Jim Calhoun has stated that it would be great if UConn ended up in the BIG if there's another conference realignment. Do you think that is a goal UConn is aiming for?

D: I'm not involved in anything like that and am happy in the AAC which can be a very exciting and competitive conference.

H: What can we expect of the team this year?

D: We have goals. Each day you wake up you're better than the day before you went to sleep. That applies to both coaches and players. I've seen it from each the last seven weeks.

H: Both men's and women's BB has energized the fan base such that there has been a couple 100 thousands fans in downtown Hartford after National championships. Can we expect the same from UConn FB under your leadership?

D: We have to engage the fans more than they have ever been from the tailgate to game experience. There hasn't been much of that yet at UConn. The team and fans feed off each other and we have to get the fans inside from the opening whistle.

The team also has to do its part. First we have to learn to win, then win consistently. We have to learn to win AAC championships. We have to learn to beat the better teams.

These were all pretty neutral statements and don't blame BD for not promising too much in either of the responses I briefly heard and tried to accurately represent herein.

What is he going to realistically answer? I may not be here long enough to see those developments? He's finding out on the recruiting trail that his past recruiting successes may not be replicated at UConn.

I'm firmly behind the new staff, and to borrow a phrase from Lew Perkins "am cautiously optomistic".

Past recruiting successes may not be replicated? The man's only been on the job since mid-December. Let's give him a full recruiting cycle before we rush to such judgements.

 

[06029]

Besides the fact that it's likely, is there somewhere else where you have heard this ??? Or is it just your guess ?

I don't think there is any tangible proof. But, before Uconn he had to sell a recruit that his clear choice was to come to his school over USC, OSU, AL, etc. His former recruits were a bunch of highly rated and highly recruited studs. And if he missed on one, there were a bunch of just slightly lower rated kids ready to fill that spot. Even when ND sucked, they were able to have solid recruiting classes.

Uconn FB is not ND. It does not have the same story to sell. It may not be a story that BD has ever had to sell in his career. He may prove to be great at it. But that is something to be looking for this year. The business plan is pretty straight forward - Win your fair share of recruits with teams in the top 20 to 40 range and in the top half of your league. Fill out the class with high quality but lower rated guys. Coach them up and win games. Get big raise.

 

[CTMike]

I don't think there is any tangible proof. But, before Uconn he had to sell a recruit that his clear choice was to come to his school over USC, OSU, AL, etc. His former recruits were a bunch of highly rated and highly recruited studs. And if he missed on one, there were a bunch of just slightly lower rated kids ready to fill that spot. Even when ND sucked, they were able to have solid recruiting classes.

Uconn FB is not ND. It does not have the same story to sell. It may not be a story that BD has ever had to sell in his career. He may prove to be great at it. But that is something to be looking for this year. The business plan is pretty straight forward - Win your fair share of recruits with teams in the top 20 to 40 range and in the top half of your league. Fill out the class with high quality but lower rated guys. Coach them up and win games. Get big raise.

Diaco touched on this during his interview with Zone and DiMauro. It's not like he has always coached at ND - he had a number of stops before that where, yes, he had to recruit and recruit in difficult situations. Diaco said he believes there is more than enough talent in the NE and locations with easy flights in to get 20-25 solid guys a year. Also good to remember that the coaching staff is largely made up of recruiting coordinators.

In other words, don't panic.

 

[huskymedic]

Link to Face the State interviews here: http://the-boneyard.com/threads/for-those-of-you-with-a-diaco-man-crush.54307/#post-873385

 

[sdhusky]

Diaco touched on this during his interview with Zone and DiMauro. It's not like he has always coached at ND - he had a number of stops before that where, yes, he had to recruit and recruit in difficult situations. Diaco said he believes there is more than enough talent in the NE and locations with easy flights in to get 20-25 solid guys a year. Also good to remember that the coaching staff is largely made up of recruiting coordinators.

In other words, don't panic.

Exactly. I remember the ND guys complaining when Kelly and Diaco were hired that they didn't know how to recruit against the top programs.

Something along the lines of "Yes, they can beat Ball St or Indiana or Syracuse, but what happens when they go up against USC or Alabama or TX???"

full circle.