I think it's an overreaction...

[whaler11]

I don't see calling for Diaco's head.

He coached them into a loss today. There really isn't anything to debate on that topic.

It's one game though - and to his credit when they looked dead and buried they put themselves in a position to win. A lot of teams quit down 21-0 on the road. They came up with a blocked FG and built from there.

They need to learn how to use timeouts and manage a clock. They need to understand they need to compete on punt returns.

His flaws can be corrected. Maybe most people weren't paying attention the last time UConn hired a first time head coach - it turned out ok... and 27 games into his tenure they were way further behind the curve than this.

Hell it took Edsall until 2010 and a 3-4 start before he finally started to make good decisions like he did against Pitt and WVU.

If you remember the era when Brian Sanchez was returning punts - this isn't our first brush with complete incompetence on punt returns.

I don't buy into the idea that the team is going to roll over after this. They are sitting on two winnable games against ACC teams at home.

Firing Diaco would be like cutting off your leg because you sprained your ankle. I'd say check back in two weeks. 3-1 will take a lot of the sting out of this one.

 

[Stainmaster]

I never thought I'd see a day when you were more supportive of the current regime than I. College football is a strange vixen.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Contrarian is being contrarian. Diaco's is in his third year, and the coaching has been a mess all along.

 

[Tenspro2002]

His flaws can be corrected.

Eh, to a degree, but not enough.

A coach can improve, with experience, managing game situations, though Diaco appears especially skittish and behind the curve. Even Andy Reid, a 20-year head coach, still struggles with it. That said, some improvement is possible, sure.

However, his coaching philosophy, a conservative 1960's mindset, a play-not-to-lose mentality, is not correctable. That's innate, that's who Diaco is as a person and as a coach. Unfortunately, it seems that for as long as he's here, we're going to have to live with it. It's completely at odds with college football in 2016, and it turns off the casual fans that we need to be bringing back into the fold.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Whaler being positive is taking some small sting off this loss for me. Maybe Diaco will see the light after this game. We will revisit this after week 4.

 

[ASweet3781]

How can his flaws be corrected when he TWICE turns to the OFFENSIVE LINE to win him the game. Can he not see they are soft? He turns to them twice to win it!

 

[whaler11]

Eh, to a degree, but not enough.

A coach can improve, with experience, managing game situations, though Diaco appears especially skittish and behind the curve. Even Andy Reid, a 20-year head coach, still struggles with it. That said, some improvement is possible, sure.

However, his coaching philosophy, a conservative 1960's mindset, a play-not-to-lose mentality, is not correctable. That's innate, that's who Diaco is as a person and as a coach. Unfortunately, it seems that for as long as he's here, we're going to have to live with it. It's completely at odds with college football in 2016, and it turns off the casual fans that we need to be bringing back into the fold.

But he's the same guy who fakes more field goals than anyone in the country.

He's stubborn as a mule - but so was Edsall and he got it over time.

Maybe he can't figure out the clock.... but it really doesn't take much to put someone in his ear and improve that.

 

[whaler11]

Hopefully some Navy fan somewhere is complaining that they didn't see the most obvious fake FG in the history of the game.

I seriously was laughing they didn't know the fake was coming or where the ball was going.

 

[noeynox]

Should he be fired? No. But this guy routinely makes the same end of clock blunders. How many years does,it take you to get plays,in on time so your not burning timeouts you could use at the end of the game/half?

This staff needs a more efficient way to get offensive plays in. Its a disgrace they struggle with this 3 years in. Every single game this is an issue and it really puts a ceiling on what the team could be.

How many years to get plays in???

 

[noeynox]

But he's the same guy who fakes more field goals than anyone in the country.

He's stubborn as a mule - but so was Edsall and he got it over time.

Maybe he can't figure out the clock.... but it really doesn't take much to put someone in his ear and improve that.

I said in another post. 90 percent conservative 5 percent riverboat gambler. I forgot to add 5 percent clueless in,given situations. He has no middle ground. Its 3 straight runs and punt or fake fgs.

 

[whaler11]

Contrarian is being contrarian. Diaco's is in his third year, and the coaching has been a mess all along.

Well I'm impressed you didn't predict they will lose out like you did in 2010.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Diaco coaches almost entirely on emotion. He gambles in strange places and with low probability of success. For example, the fake field goal attempt in the 4th worked, but it was a low probability play call. Rather than going for it, or kicking the fieldgoal, Diaco elected to go for it with the long snapper throwing his first college pass I believe. It didn't fool anyone, Navy simply blew the coverage.

On the other hand, in the first quarter, Diaco punted twice on 4th and medium while on the opponents side of the field. The chance of getting first down if you go for it on 4th and less than 6 is around 42-45% depending on the source. I can't find stats on the potential for a touchback by a college punter kicking from the opponents 41, but I suspect it is very high. Probability says go for it on 4th and 5 from the opponents 41.

That is just the play calling. There are execution problems all over the field. A lot of the power runs were good calls, but Johnson and Newsome still dance too much behind the line. When it is a sweep or counter, I get potentially hesitating, but the straight ahead runs are only designed to get 4-5 yards, so dancing behind the line won't accomplish anything beyond giving the defense time to close the hole.

Safeties have to be brought up against an option. Football 101.

 

[whaler11]

I said in another post. 90 percent conservative 5 percent riverboat gambler. I forgot to add 5 percent clueless in,given situations. He has no middle ground. Its 3 straight runs and punt or fake fgs.

Quite simply he doesn't know how to coach with a lead. He's much better when trailing - with a lead he seems to not understand how clocks work.

 

[Walker11]

I don't see calling for Diaco's head.

He coached them into a loss today. There really isn't anything to debate on that topic.

It's one game though - and to his credit when they looked dead and buried they put themselves in a position to win. A lot of teams quit down 21-0 on the road. They came up with a blocked FG and built from there.

They need to learn how to use timeouts and manage a clock. They need to understand they need to compete on punt returns.

His flaws can be corrected. Maybe most people weren't paying attention the last time UConn hired a first time head coach - it turned out ok... and 27 games into his tenure they were way further behind the curve than this.

Hell it took Edsall until 2010 and a 3-4 start before he finally started to make good decisions like he did against Pitt and WVU.

If you remember the era when Brian Sanchez was returning punts - this isn't our first brush with complete incompetence on punt returns.

I don't buy into the idea that the team is going to roll over after this. They are sitting on two winnable games against ACC teams at home.

Firing Diaco would be like cutting off your leg because you sprained your ankle. I'd say check back in two weeks. 3-1 will take a lot of the sting out of this one.

This is the best post game post I have seen today. The entitlement on these threads today has been sickening. Granted, many basketball fans have been over involved but many regulars are even worse. We have to give Bob this season, at least. Changing the culture and the temperament is a huge accomplishment, even though he may not be a Mensa candidate, he has positives. He needs to learn to delegate

 

[whaler11]

I never thought I'd see a day when you were more supportive of the current regime than I. College football is a strange vixen.

I called for P's head after his fourth game if I remember correctly.

Ignoring the obvious fact that UConn can't afford to fire Diaco - I hold off on calling for a coach's head until it's obvious.

Can you even imagine going back into the coaching market again? You can get away with firing one coach who deserved it. You fire Diaco at this point and almost no one worth a damn will even take a call.

 

[timdawg]

Nelson, I guess it takes a bad loss for us to get on the same page. But for the first time ever I agree with you 100%

 

[whaler11]

Nelson, I guess it takes a bad loss for us to get on the same page. But for the first time ever I agree with you 100%

You agree the long snapper threw the pass on the fake FG?

 

[Walker11]

I called for P's head after his fourth game if I remember correctly.

Ignoring the obvious fact that UConn can't afford to fire Diaco - I hold off on calling for a coach's head until it's obvious.

Can you even imagine going back into the coaching market again? You can get away with firing one coach who deserved it. You fire Diaco at this point and almost no one worth a damn will even take a call.

The fact that so many intelligent posters are calling for Bob's head is mind blowing. It just lacks perspective in a huge way.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Yes, there is a lot of obvious over-reaction in the immediate aftermath of losing a winnable game. To my eyes, when Diaco gambles it's out f desperation. I guess that's an emotion but the point is, he tends to go to the wacky fake when he has no confidence in anything else. Doesn't matter to me that todays fourth qtr fake didn't fool anybody they made a play -- Davis showed some poise and put a catchable ball out in front of Bloom. If we get that toss in a similar circumstance last year, we beat Missouri. I also think, he'll get better at clock management. Post game comments not withstanding, you know he's embarrassed by what happened today and you can be sure he'll address it somehow. The biggest issue, to me, is the one Tenspro is talking about and that is his overarching conservatism. You can't waste a quarter feeling out Navy when you know you're going to get limited possessions. You can't be happy flipping the field when you know they can drive it 95 yards. You have to play every possession to score if you're going to compete. There is a way to coach teams by shortening the game, limiting big plays and hoping you have a chance at the end. The better your team gets, the more that philosophy works against you. I think the inability to transition from coaching a bad team to coaching a good team was a big part of the "edsall ceiling (along with recruiting)" we used to talk about. I really hope HBCD can get this figured out because he's done some really impressive program building things but, at the end of the day, it's still about playing the games.

 

[RedStickHusky]

The fact that so many intelligent posters are calling for Bob's head is mind blowing. It just lacks perspective in a huge way.

it's the mind-numbing effect of conference realignment.

 

[RedStickHusky]

You agree the long snapper threw the pass on the fake FG?

Actually, THAT might've fooled somebody...

 

[superjohn]

I don't see calling for Diaco's head.

He coached them into a loss today. There really isn't anything to debate on that topic.

It's one game though - and to his credit when they looked dead and buried they put themselves in a position to win. A lot of teams quit down 21-0 on the road. They came up with a blocked FG and built from there.

They need to learn how to use timeouts and manage a clock. They need to understand they need to compete on punt returns.

His flaws can be corrected. Maybe most people weren't paying attention the last time UConn hired a first time head coach - it turned out ok... and 27 games into his tenure they were way further behind the curve than this.

Hell it took Edsall until 2010 and a 3-4 start before he finally started to make good decisions like he did against Pitt and WVU.

If you remember the era when Brian Sanchez was returning punts - this isn't our first brush with complete incompetence on punt returns.

I don't buy into the idea that the team is going to roll over after this. They are sitting on two winnable games against ACC teams at home.

Firing Diaco would be like cutting off your leg because you sprained your ankle. I'd say check back in two weeks. 3-1 will take a lot of the sting out of this one.

This is nonsense, it's been three years of game mismanagement and overly conservative football, he has proven incapable of change. It took a blowout for him to allow Shirreffs to throw the ball and as soon as we were in position to win he went back to being Bob Diaco. Only way to fix problems is to admit to problems and from his postgame comments this idiot doesn't even know what went wrong or how it could have been prevented.

 

[Walker11]

Yes, there is a lot of obvious over-reaction in the immediate aftermath of losing a winnable game. To my eyes, when Diaco gambles it's out f desperation. I guess that's an emotion but the point is, he tends to go to the wacky fake when he has no confidence in anything else. Doesn't matter to me that todays fourth qtr fake didn't fool anybody they made a play -- Davis showed some poise and put a catchable ball out in front of Bloom. If we get that toss in a similar circumstance last year, we beat Missouri. I also think, he'll get better at clock management. Post game comments not withstanding, you know he's embarrassed by what happened today and you can be sure he'll address it somehow. The biggest issue, to me, is the one Tenspro is talking about and that is his overarching conservatism. You can't waste a quarter feeling out Navy when you know you're going to get limited possessions. You can't be happy flipping the field when you know they can drive it 95 yards. You have to play every possession to score if you're going to compete. There is a way to coach teams by shortening the game, limiting big plays and hoping you have a chance at the end. The better your team gets, the more that philosophy works against you. I think the inability to transition from coaching a bad team to coaching a good team was a big part of the "edsall ceiling (along with recruiting)" we used to talk about. I really hope HBCD can get this figured out because he's done some really impressive program building things but, at the end of the day, it's still about playing the games.

This could be the best post over but I can't read that brick wall.

 

[Walker11]

This is nonsense, it's been three years of game mismanagement and overly conservative football, he has proven incapable of change. It took a blowout for him to allow Shirreffs to throw the ball and as soon as we were in position to win he went back to being Bob Diaco. Only way to fix problems is to admit to problems and from his postgame comments this idiot doesn't even know what went wrong or how it could have been prevented.

You are the embodiment of the stereotypical reactionary basketball poster I mentioned above. And you are one of the best and most informed posters on our board. You aren't the only one calling for his head by any means but it lacks perspective.

 

[Rocktheworld]

This is the best post game post I have seen today. The entitlement on these threads today has been sickening. Granted, many basketball fans have been over involved but many regulars are even worse. We have to give Bob this season, at least. Changing the culture and the temperament is a huge accomplishment, even though he may not be a Mensa candidate, he has positives. He needs to learn to delegate