I think it's an overreaction...

[whaler11]

People shouldn't even try the "Diaco had nothing when he got here" argument. Diaco inherited a team on a 3 game winning streak.

LOL. That was coming off a losing streak 3 times as long.

The kid most responsible for those three wins retired one game later.

 

[Excalibur]

I'm frustrated by the loss, too. But an "overall failure to improve?" When he got here, we had nothing. This was a total rebuild job in a downgraded conference and he went to a bowl in Year 2 and is widely expected to get back to one this year. How does +4 wins from Year 1 to Year 2 constitute a failure to improve?

I'm not the biggest Diaco cheerleader. He's got plenty to work on. But let's try to be a little more objective here.

The level of play has regressed from last year to now, with better or more experienced players at all but one or two positions.

 

[Excalibur]

From the horse's mouth:

U Bob

 

[CJS87]

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

I have no other way to respond to your post: pure stupidity. Sure, Diaco's game management skills are questionable and yesterday showed that again. But, to call the Staff a mess is nothing short of stupid. Most reasonable observers of Diaco say he's got UConn headed in the right direction. You don't sound reasonable; idiot comes to mind.

 

[sportsart]

Shierffs fumbled and it was a TD. He had an awful under thrown ball that would have been a TD if he hit the receiver in stride which would have meant they only needed a FG to win since that drive resulted in a FG. 90% of his throws are dumps or screens, but so are Tom Brady's so no criticism there.

He's certainly better than guys like Whitner and Tyler Lorenzen.

The refs were late calling the play dead on the fumble and I do believe the floater was thrown into a wind strong enough that the kicker needed a holder when kicking off with the wind.

BS does not need to be in any conversations about yesterday's loss.

 

[DoctorWho85]

I've had some time to cool down and comprehend. The first half was awful (a trend so far) but the second half outside of the goal line the end of the game, was glorious. Heck, Sheriffs went 23 for 26 and I don't even remember the last time a qb at uconn was that efficient (Endres maybe?)

The offense was night and day and mayala is looking to be the number 2. Made 3 really nice catches. I was as frustrsr3d as the next Yarder, but Diaco definitely had the guys motivated the second half. I'd hold off the "fire diaco" until the end of the year. These two games could just be shaking off the rust and we totally kill it for the rest of the season. Not saying we will, but Diaco has at least earned a job til the end of the year.

 

[BlueDogs]

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.

I am inclined to sympathize with your view. My only hold back is this is year 3 and at some point this persistent garbage has to stop. Diaco's mismanagement clearly lost us a game yesterday. There have been others as well that he has argued outdo under. He is hired to get his players in a position to win, not to be the cause of their failure. This mismanagement is the tip of the iceberg. You have to remember a series of very bad decisions preceded the final gaff.
The problem is he is doing just enough good in other areas we tolerate it after the PP Debacle. Whatever the case, the expectation has to be much much better in a hurry.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The run at the end? Not what I would have done, but let's remember that Pete Carroll took huge criticism for doing the opposite. He threw in that situation.

Pete Carroll also had an extra timeout and more time on the clock. He didn't have to pass, like we should have on 2nd down.

 

[Tenspro2002]

How does +4 wins from Year 1 to Year 2 constitute a failure to improve

It's a little disingenuous, considering that the unacceptable 2-win year happened under Diaco's watch, and his approach to that season made it readily apparent he had no interest in winning (knowing that people like you would attribute the poor record to the former coach).

He doesn't get credit for +4 wins, when that team probably should have won 4 games instead of 2.

 

[ctchamps]

I apologize for my generalization. I was annoyed about the perspective from good posters I respect like superjohn and Stairmaster. Who are you? If you are a guy who posts on the hoops board and took offense to my post I am sorry.

It was a dumb generalization, but the apology is a great choice.

 

[NEforceUConn]

From the horse's mouth:

Thanks for including that. Between the video and reading the Courant article its sad that HCBD and staff were not prepared or quick enough on their feet to understand football.

It was a catch and spotted at the 1. Game clock is stopped at 17 secs. Play clock is running. Here is what is going through Bob's mind: was it a catch? Is is on the 1 or on the half yard line? What down is it?

Here are my questions:

Who is calling the plays?
If the OC calls plays does HCBD first have to approve the play and then have it communicated to the team?

If the OC called the pass to Hegey (?), he sees that its complete and marked on the 1. Call the next play.

 

[huskymedic]

Here are my questions:

Who is calling the plays?
If the OC calls plays does HCBD first have to approve the play and then have it communicated to the team?

If the OC called the pass to Hegey (?), he sees that its complete and marked on the 1. Call the next play.

I want the same questions definitively answered as well... Buck stops w/ HCBD but I'd love clarity on the staff's process. Is the process the same for the DC?

 

[jayfromfla]

Gotta say. I disappointed with the result but given where we have come from I see a bright future. Beat 2 P5's and then Houston.

 

[NEforceUConn]

I want the same questions definitively answered as well... Buck stops w/ HCBD but I'd love clarity on the staff's process. Is the process the same for the DC?

Yes you would hope that with the various BYers someone would know the play calling process.

Obviously Saban lets Kiffin call the plays (with after the fact feedback haha). UConn has always taken so long over the past few years to get the play relayed in and snapped I wonder if its a direct process or if too many people get involved.

 

[J187Money]

The situation dictates that we can't afford to wait like we did for Edsall. And it's not just the clock management. Diaco made at least four decisions that. Absent those decisions, we likely win. Combine that with an overall failure to improve, and I've seen enough.

You can't just take away the decisions you don't like. He made all of the decisions to put us at the 1 yard line in position to win the game. Unfortunately he booted it. Although in the RE days we score on that sort of a running play. Our OL isn't yet up to snuff.

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm not calling for his head either, even though he found a very creative way to ruin my undefeated prediction. And I know that some of my "uber-angst" after the loss is related to all this conference realignment crap.

But I will say this; would it kill the guy to own at least 1 mistake in his lifetime?? It has been one of my biggest criticisms of him throughout his tenure here. If he owned the damned blunder like he should, I'm confident that most on the board would have already forgiven him...

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I've read and seen enough to know that the moment was clearly too big for him.

I'm not on the fire him bandwagon, but this is his third year as a head coach. This can't happen. If he's incapable of managing the game, he needs to either find someone on the staff who can handle that or hire someone that can.

He didn't even know what down it was.

 

[jbdphi]

I've read and seen enough to know that the moment was clearly too big for him.

I'm not on the fire him bandwagon, but this is his third year as a head coach. This can't happen. If he's incapable of managing the game, he needs to either find someone on the staff who can handle that or hire someone that can.

He didn't even know what down it was.

I think he gets too excited and it eliminates his ability to be clinical and "petri dish" as he described it in the press conference. A significant percentage of the times we end up burning time outs is after we've had a big gainer play and everybody is celebrating (including Diaco) - nobody is thinking about what needs to happen next and as a result, we don't get a play in and burn a time out.

He needs to separate himself from his emotions and I'm not sure he can do that in a timely fashion - he certainly hasn't yet. I don't think that means the "moment" itself was too big for him though (maybe a minor distinction) but if he can't learn to control his emotions, he may never get there.

You could tell from the interview he did how emotional he was and he struggled to contain those emotions and had to stop and collect himself on one occasion. There is no doubt in my mind that he knows he screwed up and he was feeling it there.

 

[ZooCougar]

Bob should own this. No other response is acceptable. He's responsible for every success and failure of this team.

 

[SonsOfNutmeg]

A coworker of mine put it best this morning... When you look at the top HC's in CFB (Saban, Miles, Meyer, etc.) one thing you notice is they're in control like a general would be- Diaco on the other hand gives the impression that he can't deligate responsibilities to his staff and that he has to have a hand in everything which pulls his attention from the overall game strategy portion of coaching at this level.

I have no real evidence that this is the case (just a feeling based on a few in-practice videos I've seen, and things hes siad) but it would make sense to why he's run into this issue managing the game.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

A lot of you above have summarized my feeling about HCBD.

He acts like he is overwhelmed in critical moments.

He made 3 critical mistakes at money time.

A lot had to go wrong for us to lose. And it did.

Needs to correct this now. These kids deserved that win with their effort in the 2nd half. Losing the game on proper play calling is one thing but to lose it on stupidity is another. That is the problem.

Too critical of a time for the university and the team for the HC and staff to not run basic football play calling or not know number of time outs in crunch time.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I have no other way to respond to your post: pure stupidity. Sure, Diaco's game management skills are questionable and yesterday showed that again. But, to call the Staff a mess is nothing short of stupid. Most reasonable observers of Diaco say he's got UConn headed in the right direction. You don't sound reasonable; idiot comes to mind.

How did Maine do Saturday?

 

[Huskygamble19]

I see his explanation and am not sold. why is there so much confusion? game awareness is important for a head coach to know and he is always messing up with clock mismanagement and he is going into his 3rd year!!! First year forgiveable..2nd year..work out the kinks of the 1st year mess ups...3rd year should be down pat or close to it. That performance Saturday is was straight out of 1st 3 games of coaching.