The Truth about Diaco

[huskynation]

Diaco is a good coach, far from a great coach. He has done many good things, and he has done some bad things, but boy, one thing that I have realized is that he is extremely stubborn. And that prevents learning, so its questionable whether he will ever become a great or excellent coach... what's frustrating is making the same mistakes over and over again with no apparent realization that a change of approach might be best.

His tactical thinking seems to be lacking and game planning and in game strategy is lacking, he has a philosophy and he will stick to it no matter what, despite what the other team is doing, and I still feel that the team does not play to its strengths. In terms of the mental combat with other coaching staffs Diaco is playing tic tac toe, and checkers where as excellent coaches are playing chess. And if he is playing chess he can't see more that 1 or 2 moves ahead, he either does not care for in half, play by play or series adjustments or does not understand how to do them. Its hard to tell what it is but I don't think that he is open to changes. Changes take a bye week or a few losses before something registers in his mind.

When I read a post from Jimmy S saying that the team has not gotten better, I kind of agree with him. Its crazy because its clear that the players have improved physically and in terms of skill set ( this is excluding the OL who looks bigger but are still soft. They block a little better but not much better) but the overall team performance has not improved.

And that's on the coach and his approach and his unwillingness to improve his coaching staff and change his approach. So as we watch these games, we can clearly see that our team is not physically out matched in terms of speed or strength and can stand toe to toe with the other team, buts its torture to see us continue to try things that we are not successful at.

Here is how I see his report card so far (after 28 games).

Recruiting Players: B
Developing Players: B
Motivating Player: B
Coaching to Players Strength: C-
Game Planning: D
In Game Adjustments: D-
Creativity: F
Willingness to learn new things as a coach: F

 

[Jimdish255]

Man you nailed it. And other coaches are well aware of this and I'd say 75% have the ability to take advantage of it. Really believe with some semblance of an offense we could be contenders for the AAC title. Yet our HC has been a terrible strategist (which carries over into choices made during practice weeks), a poor game manager and has seemingly closed the book on things that may have been successful 10-20 years ago in dramatically different situations. He has great qualities but this lack of flexibility can be a fatal flaw in a dynamic environment where coaches are coaching against tendencies and you've essentially boxed yourself in.

Worst part might be he never questions himself, so he can't give up control which is exactly what he needs to do now with the offense and certain aspects of game management.

 

[Excalibur]

Diaco is a good coach, far from a great coach. He has done many good things, and he has done some bad things, but boy, one thing that I have realized is that he is extremely stubborn. And that prevents learning, so its questionable whether he will ever become a great or excellent coach... what's frustrating is making the same mistakes over and over again with no apparent realization that a change of approach might be best.

His tactical thinking seems to be lacking and game planning and in game strategy is lacking, he has a philosophy and he will stick to it no matter what, despite what the other team is doing, and I still feel that the team does not play to its strengths. In terms of the mental combat with other coaching staffs Diaco is playing tic tac toe, and checkers where as excellent coaches are playing chess. And if he is playing chess he can't see more that 1 or 2 moves ahead, he either does not care for in half, play by play or series adjustments or does not understand how to do them. Its hard to tell what it is but I don't think that he is open to changes. Changes take a bye week or a few losses before something registers in his mind.

When I read a post from Jimmy S saying that the team has not gotten better, I kind of agree with him. Its crazy because its clear that the players have improved physically and in terms of skill set ( this is excluding the OL who looks bigger but are still soft. They block a little better but not much better) but the overall team performance has not improved.

And that's on the coach and his approach and his unwillingness to improve his coaching staff and change his approach. So as we watch these games, we can clearly see that our team is not physically out matched in terms of speed or strength and can stand toe to toe with the other team, buts its torture to see us continue to try things that we are not successful at.

Here is how I see his report card so far (after 28 games).

Recruiting Players: B
Developing Players: B
Motivating Player: B
Coaching to Players Strength: C-
Game Planning: D
In Game Adjustments: D-
Creativity: F
Willingness to learn new things as a coach: F

Recruiting: Incomplete. We have no clue at this point, particularly if you divide recruiting into the ability to identify talent and then the ability to attract that talent. Disco's first full class is just starting to see the field now. On paper, the 2016 class looked pretty good. The current class is not shaping up to be in the same neighborhood as last year's class. But you don't know until they play, and very few have thus far.

Developing players: A- on the strength/conditioning part of it, C+ on skill/technique. O-linemen are not getting physically beat, but are still missing assignments on just about every play. Safeties are still not an asset and have mis-played a ton of balls.

Motivating: B+ -- players still look to like him a lot. We will see if that continues if he costs them more games.

Game Planning -- D+. Every game plan consists of sell out to establish the run and rush 3 on defense in front of a soft zone. I will give a bit of credit for looking to attack the perimeter more in the run game in the effort to move/tire out the opposing D. I think coaching to players' strengths is part of this, and he gets an F on that.

In Game Adjustments: C- He did change things vs. Navy and a little bit vs. UVA. This has not been a strong suit over his first 28 games.

Game Management: F. Zero. No Credit. It is impossible to imagine someone worse.

 

[rich1122]

It just seems that the fist 20 plays or so are so scripted that it doesn't matter what the defense does. Halfway through Q2 we had about 50 yards.

What I like is that we have won the second half of each game.

 

[CL82]

Diaco is a good coach, far from a great coach. He has done many good things, and he has done some bad things, but boy, one thing that I have realized is that he is extremely stubborn. And that prevents learning, so its questionable whether he will ever become a great or excellent coach... what's frustrating is making the same mistakes over and over again with no apparent realization that a change of approach might be best.

His tactical thinking seems to be lacking and game planning and in game strategy is lacking, he has a philosophy and he will stick to it no matter what, despite what the other team is doing, and I still feel that the team does not play to its strengths. In terms of the mental combat with other coaching staffs Diaco is playing tic tac toe, and checkers where as excellent coaches are playing chess. And if he is playing chess he can't see more that 1 or 2 moves ahead, he either does not care for in half, play by play or series adjustments or does not understand how to do them. Its hard to tell what it is but I don't think that he is open to changes. Changes take a bye week or a few losses before something registers in his mind.

When I read a post from Jimmy S saying that the team has not gotten better, I kind of agree with him. Its crazy because its clear that the players have improved physically and in terms of skill set ( this is excluding the OL who looks bigger but are still soft. They block a little better but not much better) but the overall team performance has not improved.

And that's on the coach and his approach and his unwillingness to improve his coaching staff and change his approach. So as we watch these games, we can clearly see that our team is not physically out matched in terms of speed or strength and can stand toe to toe with the other team, buts its torture to see us continue to try things that we are not successful at.

Here is how I see his report card so far (after 28 games).

Recruiting Players: B
Developing Players: B
Motivating Player: B
Coaching to Players Strength: C-
Game Planning: D
In Game Adjustments: D-
Creativity: F
Willingness to learn new things as a coach: F

Our second half bursts seems to suggest that we're capable of making in game adjustments and I did see our guys actually fielding kicks yesterday so I guess HCBD can change, but yeah, I think that was a fair (if a little depressing) assessment.