Today's Press Conference

[ZooCougar]

Interesting analysis. So your point is the world should give up on wanting to eat sausage because you don't like the process that has to be used?

I liked his post because I thought he framed the problem pretty well. I just think that like many of us here, we recognize that there are growing pains.

However at the same time we also recognize that we don't have to stick a metal fork into an electrical socket to learn that it's a terrible idea. Some of these challenges just seem totally unnecessary.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I had a feeling I was getting parked with a sausage when a couple years ago against BYU, it was decided that a field goal would be attempted for practice from the hash.

 

[UConnNick]

What I get from it is the players will be allowed to decide by committee what the call will be on offense at the most crucial juncture of every game. If that's the case, then what the heck do we need an OC or coaching staff for? Let the players run the plays they want to run and live with the consequences.

Even if it's true that the players believed in that particular play call under the circumstances, somebody on the staff should have pointed out the risk that was being undertaken if it didn't work. It's not a democracy, it's a dictatorship. I guess Bobby has watched the ending of the movie "Hoosiers" one too many times, where the players change the coach's idea of what the final play call should be, and it works. The problem is that's a movie, and we're attempting to deal with reality here.

I also love the convenience of indicating the players wanted that play, but I'm fully responsible for what happened. No you're not, Bobby, if you're claiming they asked for it and got it. That's your way of deflecting some of the blame onto them for what went wrong. They're not the ones who called the timeout, and they're not the ones who got sent back out on the field with an ill advised play call you should have talked them out of!

 

[Chin Diesel]

I'll take his explanation at face value; caveat is I'm back to neutral/negative on his coaching until he shows he has learned from it.

He explained that moving the ball from the 2 yard line to the 1/2 yard line caused them to re-think the play. That is reasonable.

He admitted he jumped the gun on calling the TO and that Shirreffs would have gotten the snap off.

He admitted had he called pass they would have gotten more chances than by calling run.

What I really want to see is that the staff has a better plan in place for end of half and end of game clock management.

Mistakes suck. Every organization makes them- great ones, good ones, average ones and crappy one. Not admitting, analyzing and correcting them, is what separates them.

 

[freescooter]

Maybe Bob want to go back to th days when quarter a me actually called the plays. Serious old school.

 

[JMick]

I still hate the call, and the burnt timeout, but at the same time I'm a little disappointed we couldn't get the half yard to win the game. If it didn't take half a year to hand the ball off, maybe it would be a better call. I can't stand our run and playaction philosophy of dragging everything out when we don't have the line to hold the blocks.

 

[RSTuthill]

I understand the desire not to pass at the end, but once they screwed up and had to burn a time out they almost HAD to pass it. That was, in fact, Diaco's first instinct. But they didn't do it. If the launch pad was not the OL + RJ, then shame on the coaches. The OL didn't key the comeback, the short passes did. They should have known the OL wasn't going to be able to punch it up the gut (even though they almost did exactly that).

Incidentally, they had Teddy Allmendinger line up as a FB in the backfield didn't they? But he didn't block for RJ. What was that about? He coulda hit the goal line with some momentum that might have created an actual hole.

 

[huskymedic]

Incidentally, they had Teddy Allmendinger line up as a FB in the backfield didn't they? But he didn't block for RJ. What was that about? He coulda hit the goal line with some momentum that might have created an actual hole.

He was blocking same as he did on the Johnson TD earlier but on the other side - the problem was that this time Johnson cut to the right when the play was designed to go left. (Disclaimer - not saying it was the right play call for time/down)

The View From Section 241 -- Navy

 

[JMick]

Gotta be honest here, the fact that Allmendinger is playing so much as a true freshman concerns me greatly. He was very good in high school but I didn't think he'd be playing FBS football.

 

[sportsart]

Is it Saturday yet?

 

[huskymedic]

Gotta be honest here, the fact that Allmendinger is playing so much as a true freshman concerns me greatly. He was very good in high school but I didn't think he'd be playing FBS football.

From the press conference (ignore time stamp):

ThisIsUConnCountry@MattSchonvisky 1 min ago
On FB Teddy Allmendinger: "been a real pleasant surprise, very smart & very mature. Did a fine job - one on TD & one on 3rd down"

Ian Bethune@Ian_Bethune 2 mins ago
Diaco - Teddy Allmendinger has a special skill set that no has on the team

Diaco said the only others w/ the skill set he was looking for were the LBs (assuming he meant Walsh and ?). I think he's longer for a banger.

 

[JMick]

Diaco said the only others w/ the skill set he was looking for were the LBs (assuming he meant Walsh and ?). I think he's longer for a banger.

That's the part that concerns me. We're trying to be a power run team and we have one true freshman fullback on the whole team.

 

[huskymedic]

That's the part that concerns me. We're trying to be a power run team and we have one true freshman fullback on the whole team.

Yup... I think they envisioned /H back more than the traditional FB and ended up w/ less depth w/ Walsh moving over and Claxx graduating (didn't he have another year?)

 

[huskymedic]

... and the Jeff Jacobs view on the debacle closes things out today: Diaco Takes Blame For Navy Debacle, But Some Things Still Don't Add Up

Not sure why he didn't pursue the "who calls the play angle" as he said he would on Joe D and Gresh (maybe a story for another day - can't use all the material on one day?)

 

[Jimdish255]

I was at my daughter's XC meet so I'll try to answer your previous question directly.

"We should have won this game. It was my responsibility to get the correct call in on time and to know what down it was and that didn't happen. To the extent this has been a problem myself and the staff are committed to resolving it and to living up to the expectations regarding preparation and attention to detail we place on all of our players. We'll be looking closely at the process and the roles each of us have in terms of eliminating these types of mistakes and getting plays called more efficiently. If you want to know specifically what happened I can tell you, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm the head coach and it's my responsibility to get this right moving forward."

That took me 2 minutes to write as opposed to the 48 hours our coach had to prepare to make everyone in that room pull their hair out. I still have no idea what he took responsibility for that he interpreted as a mistake. I still haven't had time to re-watch because of the meet but really if he didn't make it clear he understood the play called and the process were both mistakes it was a huge missed opportunity. His answers sounded like a guy running out the clock with fairy dust and over-contextualized word salad and acronyms. Did the questioners sound stunned to you like they couldn't speak or were hearing a different language? They did to me. Sorry I'm done with this as well but this sealed my expectations for this coach until evidence presents itself on the field. I hope I'm wrong and I'll be there for most of the games from here on but that was a crusher.

 

[businesslawyer]

I was at my daughter's XC meet so I'll try to answer your previous question directly.

"We should have won this game. It was my responsibility to get the correct call in on time and to know what down it was and that didn't happen. To the extent this has been a problem myself and the staff are committed to resolving it and to living up to the expectations regarding preparation and attention to detail we place on all of our players. We'll be looking closely at the process and the roles each of us have in terms of eliminating these types of mistakes and getting plays called more efficiently. If you want to know specifically what happened I can tell you, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm the head coach and it's my responsibility to get this right moving forward."

That took me 2 minutes to write as opposed to the 48 hours our coach had to prepare to make everyone in that room pull their hair out. I still have no idea what he took responsibility for that he interpreted as a mistake. I still haven't had time to re-watch because of the meet but really if he didn't make it clear he understood the play called and the process were both mistakes it was a huge missed opportunity. His answers sounded like a guy running out the clock with fairy dust and over-contextualized word salad and acronyms. Did the questioners sound stunned to you like they couldn't speak or were hearing a different language? They did to me. Sorry I'm done with this as well but this sealed my expectations for this coach until evidence presents itself on the field. I hope I'm wrong and I'll be there for most of the games from here on but that was a crusher.

I agree with this. 72 hours later I would have liked not just responsibility (who else could have been responsible?) but understanding. "I don't know what happened, but I lost track somehow of the last sequence. I feel badly that I let my team down and reduced their chances of winning a game in which they played their hearts out coming from 21 down." I don't think he gets any more than what they did didn't work.

He's our coach and I'm behind him, but the press conference has increased, rather than decreased, my fear that he is not close to getting this fixed. Because no problem can be fixed unless you really accept it is broken.

 

[Excalibur]

U Bob

 

[RSTuthill]

... my fear that he is not close to getting this fixed. Because no problem can be fixed unless you really accept it is broken.

The basic premise of root cause identification and corrective action.

 

[Nostical]

There are no excuses. He should have simply said he blew the game. To say he had called a pass play but it was the "players" who lobbied for the run simply defies belief. His job is to make the best call, not acquiesce to the whim of the players. There is no logic that made running the ball with no timeouts the correct decision.

 

[Confident Carl]

So many insightful, relevant comments from truly concerned and passionate fans. I even get the U's. To sum it up, most frustrating loss to date. Confusing explanations at press conference. For now, we all should put it behind us, focus on Virginia and get behind our team. I will end this post with a quote from the great Vince Lombardi on mistakes.

“Errors, mistakes are the necessary steps in the learning process; once they have served their purpose, they should be forgotten. If we consistently dwell upon the errors, then the error or failure becomes the goal.”

― Vince Lombardi Jr., The Essential Vince Lombardi

Diaco took full responsibility, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
I hope the HUGE blunders have served their purpose.
Let's hope that Coach Diaco and staff have truly learned something here.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

It seemed to me he took the blame and people just want him to apparently flay himself live on television as retribution. To me, at least, it's indicative of our continued move towards a blame-first society. We don't want to accept complexity or flawed human nature or difficult times.

We just want to blame someone.

 

[Samoo]

Can't get it to run. Keep getting the dockers commercial and then "content unavailable"...

Better than "it downloads 99% and then time runs out"

 

[CTMike]

I don't think he's being honest about the kids calling that play.... just my opinion. I think the call came from him and the kids supported it, because they are good soldiers. But enough beating this dead horse I suppose.

 

[Palatine]

Let's be clear. Diaco panicked.

The kids didn't panic. They were a little deliberate but they were where they were suppose to be and ready to go.

I said it before and I will say it again. If he demands that the kids play at a 300 or 400 level. Then he needs to coach at a 300 or 400 level. And he's not even close.

 

[BNich]

Now: University of Connecticut powered by College Sports Live

Says the "Launch Pad" wanted to muscle it in so he obliged.

He thought and thinks they were both good plays.

The answers get worse upon further explanation. I don't know what to feel except sad.

Everyone on this board needs to watch this entire presser before posting anything HCBD related. Make up your own minds about expectations of change moving forward.

Explain all he wants it still will not and cannot change the end result. They lost. One of the more frustrating loses in recent memory. Literally depressing.