Its funny how quick people are able to criticize the hiring of Diaco and Ollie. Playing monday morning quaterback is easy. If I recall, at the time of both hires, most were excited. Only after the fact are people willing to criticize. I don't judge people on making mistakes, I judge them on how they act afterwards. In any case, my contention is Warde Manuel would not have been as proactive as AD DB was.
Warde Manuel is most responsible for the mess the past few years, and Herbst aided and abetted him.
He hired Diaco, a safe hire because he had been named D Coord. of the Year. He had never been a Head Coach, knew nothing about how to run a program, and Manuel should have sought advice on a rising young coach to hire. You know, like the guys who went to UCF, Memphis, Houston, Temple and others. Manuel had lots of time to get recommendations on a new hire and blew it. Plus, Diaco's "used car salesman" routine at his introductory press conference was all we needed to see something was not going to turn out well.
Then, to compound it, Manuel negotiated a contract with Ollie with an unheard of provision, a fully guaranteed five year contract, rather than the customary lesser amount or lesser number of years. Benedict foolishly signed it and thus also bears a great deal of responsibility for the current financial mess.
