WHAT I BELIEVE ABOUT BOB DIACO

[Confident Carl]

Confident Carl what makes you so confident, anyway?

The reason most of us love college football is that it mirrors life in many ways. All of us have certain God given talents but some of us have to work harder than others to achieve the same results. I think of Pete Rose. He was not the most talented player but someone who just outworked everyone else, Charlie Hustle!

UCONN's football program will never be able to out-recruit most of the P5 schools, particular those down south. Our academic standards further disqualify many players. That leaves UCONN seeking and building smart developmental projects, while occasionally picking up a 4 star player. Diaco believes he can take UCONN to the Championship level by building up the whole person/athlete.

Bob Diaco was attracted to UCONN because he saw potential . He saw the foundation and traditions formed by Calhoun, Gino and Randy. He saw the Burton family complex , the Mark Shenkman Training Center, Rentschler Field, a top 20 public institution and believed he could sell that to prospective student athletes and fans. He even convinced two P5 coaches Vincent Brown and Anthony Poindexter to leave Virginia and to join him at UCONN. They wouldn't have come if they didn't believe in Diaco's Vision and his ability to create a Championship football program. His entire coaching staff and players believe in him.

When you hear about Diaco speaking of Love, Family, Excellence in the classroom, Nutrition, Strength & Conditioning, etc., it may sound corny to some but he is preaching about developing the whole person for football and beyond. That registers with parents and coaches who want their boys playing for someone who cares about them beyond the football gridiron. His message is clear and believable. Encourage your kids to come to UCONN and we will develop them into fine citizens. If they are good enough, they will hone their skills to play at the next level. Diaco cares about his players and you can't fake that. Because of his skill, sincerity and conviction, he will elevate the UCONN football program far beyond anyone's expectations on the Boneyard.

 

[Confident Carl]

I have been to practices every year starting with FHCRE. These were not open practices, so they were not vanilla flavored. Yes HCBD's practices are like precision military exercises. However, so were the practices of FHCRE and FHCPP's. That's how it is at all major FBS football program's practices. The major difference I see is his passion towards having UConn football win championships. This and the fact that his staff and current players have bought into that passion 100%. I've talked to players after practice and at their training meals and they do not have any doubt that the future of UConn football under HCBD will be sucessful.

I have been to the other practices. None were as intense as Diaco's.

 

[BNich]

The reason most of us love college football is that it mirrors life in many ways. All of us have certain God given talents but some of us have to work harder than others to achieve the same results. I think of Pete Rose. He was not the most talented player but someone who just outworked everyone else, Charlie Hustle!

UCONN's football program will never be able to out-recruit most of the P5 schools, particular those down south. Our academic standards further disqualify many players. That leaves UCONN seeking and building smart developmental projects, while occasionally picking up a 4 star player. Diaco believes he can take UCONN to the Championship level by building up the whole person/athlete.

Bob Diaco was attracted to UCONN because he saw potential . He saw the foundation and traditions formed by Calhoun, Gino and Randy. He saw the Burton family complex , the Mark Shenkman Training Center, Rentschler Field, a top 20 public institution and believed he could sell that to prospective student athletes and fans. He even convinced two P5 coaches Vincent Brown and Anthony Poindexter to leave Virginia and to join him at UCONN. They wouldn't have come if they didn't believe in Diaco's Vision and his ability to create a Championship football program. His entire coaching staff and players believe in him.

When you hear about Diaco speaking of Love, Family, Excellence in the classroom, Nutrition, Strength & Conditioning, etc., it may sound corny to some but he is preaching about developing the whole person for football and beyond. That registers with parents and coaches who want their boys playing for someone who cares about them beyond the football gridiron. His message is clear and believable. Encourage your kids to come to UCONN and we will develop them into fine citizens. If they are good enough, they will hone their skills to play at the next level. Diaco cares about his players and you can't fake that. Because of his skill, sincerity and conviction, he will elevate the UCONN football program far beyond anyone's expectations on the Boneyard.

Very well said Carl. Very well said. This echoes how I feel exactly. One thing I feel many over look is the growth of each student athlete as a young man entering "the real world." We hopefully will never hear about Uconn in the news with the likes of U of Miami and their off the field issues. With Diaco heading the ship, we should expect for Uconn to produce not only strong and good football talent, but solid and upstanding young men in communities all over the country upon their graduation. This as, Carl said, really speaks to the parents of these prospective student athletes.

 

[Confident Carl]

Whether I buy into it or not is meaningless and won't affect the outcome. I don't deal with blind faith. One of the many reasons I'm not a religious guy.

The Boneyard,is not the only good reading, the Bible contains some good reading too. Below is a verse from Romans that relates to UCONN's 2014 football season:

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts"

That is what Christmas is all about "Hope" for a better tomorrow!

 

[Husky92]

I just posted this in another thread but felt this was important to be on its own, so here goes. To start, I know Diaco has said a few questionable things about abilities and such. He is not perfect and it was a long season. So I cut him some slack. I believe he will become a tremendous head coach. Here goes:

UCONN football under Diaco:

1. 2014 was not a program renovation, it was a Total tear down-rebuild
2. Diaco is a perfectionist - He only knows 1 way to do things - the right way
3. Diaco and staff could have done things to achieve greater results in the W-L column but didn't want to take short cuts. They made a decision to build for the future as a #1 priority. In other words they sacrificed short term gains for long term sustained success.
4. People did not like the exhibition/preseason game analogy (paying customers didn't want to hear that) but that is exactly what Diaco was doing. That was very painful for everyone.
5. Diaco and staff were building a culture and system designed to last for years and built on:
a. Good Nutrition
b. Strength & Conditioning
c. Discipline, Academically, Socially, Mentally*,Physically, Spiritually, Family
6. Technique - Understanding timing and footwork, fundamentals
* Mentally is huge. He needed to wash out a Negative losing mentality that had
been at UCONN the last three years.
6. Recruiting - Diaco (for 2015)recruited Big, tall players, smart kids that bought into his philosophy.
7. Unfortunately, the fan base has been affected by all the change and Diaco has asked us to be patient and to trust him. He knows it isn't easy. I believe he understands.
8. The team suffered major loses by injury in particular two team captains in Casey Cochran and Byron Jones.
9. We had a very young and inexperience Offensive line that got a lot better in 2014
10. We had some young pup running backs that will be great in the next couple of years and the same goes for the receiving corps.
11. Diaco has promised us a conference championship
12. He is our best chance at moving up to a better conference.

In summation I will use a golf analogy. I am a 12 handicap golfer. I could take my swing and game and up my time at the range by 1,000 balls a week. I could buy state of the art equipment, play a couple more times a week, watch all kinds of videos, etc. No doubt I would get better. My ball striking would no doubt improve. Putting, Driving, everything. The problem is, that if I had inherent flaws in my swing, I would be building my game on a questionable foundation that would ultimately fail against stronger competition.

On the other hand if I paid David Leadbetter to train me the right way, he could possibly trash my golf swing and make drastic changes that would actually make me look worse and make me feel very uncomfortable for a while. I would probably start swearing at him and state that I never should have gone to him in the first place as I am now worse than before I hired him. He would tell me to be patient and that it will take time for the new techniques to become a habit and that for a while, I would be playing worse until I got comfortable but in the long run I was going to have a more sustainable consistent game. Down the road I could go up against single digit golfers in competition and beat them.

I hope this has helped some of you. Others may poke fun of my analogy and theory but that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For now, I choose to believe the Bob Diaco is the best thing to happen to UCONN football. And NO, I didn't get paid for writing this! College football is a very passionate sport. Most of us on the yard are passionate about UCONN football. No one more than Bob Diaco.

Confident Carl is my new BFF!
Keep giving me reasons to hope. They seem few and far between, but you'very been doing a pretty good job lately.

 

[rich1122]

So you're saying that because Foxx was a Senior they valued giving Johnson a run up the middle more than actually winning the game?

May be time to put away the BY for a while.

Absolutely. We gave up 3 wins I would say. This was on purpose. I don't really think he cared if we won or not.

 

[Husky92]

The Boneyard,is not the only good reading, the Bible contains some good reading too. Below is a verse from Romans that relates to UCONN's 2014 football season:

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts"

That is what Christmas is all about "Hope" for a better tomorrow!

Man, he's even quoting scripture now. Preach it, brother!

 

[Nostical]

This isn't about blind faith or religious faith or any type of faith. It 's all about pragmatism. It's about seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and trusting that the light isn't from an oncoming train.

 

[Confident Carl]

Confident Carl is my new BFF!
Keep giving me reasons to hope. They seem few and far between, but you'very been doing a pretty good job lately.

Thanks for the good word!

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I believe 20 something year old, good looking young girls would really dig fat, bald gray haired men if they only gave them a chance.

I believe that money can't buy happiness, but that it can make the sadness a whole lot easier to deal with.

I believe that there is intelligent life somewhere in the universe and they are watching us and laughing.

Belief and faith are good things to have when reality really sucks.

You just got my vote for President in 2016

 

[Confident Carl]

How does the equate into sacrificing wins for future success? If you are a fan of perfect practice makes for better results, then I would label his practice regimen as fairly flawed.

This season was lost before the first game because Diaco deemed it a blow up the place and rebuild from Day 1 job. The game plan and actual result was meaningless for Diaco this year He said it pretty plainly and then when people got upset about it he covered by saying he wants to win every game. Followed by the inevitable weird parable/metaphor .People can disagree about his approach and whether the complete blow up and lack of concern about wins was appropriate. He had this year as a gimmee.

Diaco either succeeds or fails. It is a binary path. No different than anyone that gets promoted. The only difference, he can't hide and he is in a very public position. After this season, everything will be under a microscope going forward. Incremental improvement that would have been cheered this year as the building blocks for the future will not be appreciated next year. He set the course and has promised success. He said this year was necessary for growth and future success but game 12 was just as bad as game 1. So for a lot of the fan base, he needs to be successful in a big way very early next year.

So have belief and faith. There is not much else to hang on to.

It's like picking up any motor skill. If you diligently practice playing a musical instrument in the early stages it will be very mechanical. As time goes on, it becomes second nature. I really don't get why you don't understand that effective practice
equates to success.

In Martial arts everyone that practices hard and effectively doesn't become a Black belt after year one. Diaco's team
went from white belt to yellow belt last year! Black belt is a lot of intense practices and a couple of years down the road!

Merry Christmas

 

[Confident Carl]

That's Carl's Number 3. He could have thrown more to Davis and played him a lot more. Instead of going for the wins he decided to work the younger guys. Davis not part of the future.

Here is another. I really think we could have gotten more out the Wildcat with Foxx. 3rd and 1 against SMU and we could get that. Instead go up the middle and have to punt. Why? no Foxx and no Wildcat next year. Why should they waste plays.

What intrigues me is that they almost NEVER threw to a TE. Bloom caught a TD otherwise zero. Claxx never materialized out of the backfield.

I too am curious about the Bloom? He caught the one TD and then we never heard from him. That is a question someone should ask Diaco.

 

[Confident Carl]

Carl part of my problem is that I don't know what the heck he means when he says they won't take short cuts to get an extra win here or there. All I know is what I saw. What Diaco did. How the players responded to him. None of it was good.

Despite my opinion, it's possible his methods could work. I don't see it happening, but I was wrong once before. Nothing would please me more than for you and the others to shove it in my face years from now.

I might take some satisfaction in that but truth is it's not about being right all the time. It's about all of this crap coming together for a good outcome. I'd be lying if I said I agreed with everything Diaco has done. He has said some bone head things and more times than not I was left shaking my head after a game. I watched the USF monsoon game, I was in New Orleans at the Tulane game and sat in utter disbelief at the Army game. Having said that I still believe in the big picture. If I am right that doesn't make me any better than you. I just want to see winning football again at UCONN!

 

[Yonick]

Next year it HAS to be about results. Nothing else.....

 

[Chief00]

Well said or not, I don't believe much of it. I have seen a team have bad W/L results but seen progress or at least an attitude - quite frankly I saw no positives here. This play scripting for an entire game is beyond crazy - leaving no Intra game room for adjustments. I don't understand that - case in point Whitmer replacing Casey in the red zone after he drove the team down the field (BYU) or Davis being out 3 key 3rd down plays. There is a method and it is madness.

 

[BNich]

It's like picking up any motor skill. If you diligently practice playing a musical instrument in the early stages it will be very mechanical. As time goes on, it becomes second nature. I really don't get why you don't understand that effective practice
equates to success.

In Martial arts everyone that practices hard and effectively doesn't become a Black belt after year one. Diaco's team
went from white belt to yellow belt last year! Black belt is a lot of intense practices and a couple of years down the road!

Merry Christmas

Again another analogy I can personally relate to. Well said.!

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Not buying the golf analogy. Even with the proper coaching and rebuilt fundamentally sound swing makeover, you will still be a single digit handicap golfer (I myself would be delighted for that prospect). However, all that training and more, will not make you PGA worthy. Sometimes you're just born with a gift.

The point for UConn football is that P5 conferences are recruiting the football eqivalent of PGA players while HCBD (staying with your analogy) is busy breaking down "double digit handicap" football players so that eventually the program will attract "single digit handicap" players.

What HCBD needs to do is sell a vision. He also needs to sell opportunity - a shortcut for talented kids - to get on the field sooner and get noticed by scouts earlier rather than wait your turn (which might never materialize) at more established programs. Come to UConn and play right away (if you are as good as advertised) rather than going to a P5 school and waiting.

 

[gars44]

I can say that after this campaign it is very difficult for me to believe in Bob Diaco. But we don't have any choice but to believe in him at this point, because if he's not who we thought he was we're forever. We'll be the new UMass and even the die-hards will have a hard time naming the teams in our conference.

So sure, I believe in Bob Diaco, what have we got to lose

That's the spirit!!!

 

[TouchdownHusky]

I am less desirous of programs built the "right way" than I am of a good program that produces results on their schedule that say that UConn belongs at the P5 level. I want my state university to be every bit as good as Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, etc.

When UConn beat South Carolina a few years ago, the only thing that mattered was the scoreboard. I wasn't comparing transcripts, making character/background checks, investigating each school to see who was closer to this concept of a program built the "right way". Just get players and win. Save the Eagle scout crap for some other endeavor.

 

[Confident Carl]

I am less desirous of programs built the "right way" than I am of a good program that produces results on their schedule that say that UConn belongs at the P5 level. I want my state university to be every bit as good as Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, etc.

When UConn beat South Carolina a few years ago, the only thing that mattered was the scoreboard. I wasn't comparing transcripts, making character/background checks, investigating each school to see who was closer to this concept of a program built the "right way". Just get players and win. Save the Eagle scout crap for some other endeavor.

Then you would do better off being a North Carolina fan. I don't think they care about real college courses or transcripts and those types of thing as well. Did you like it when UCONN men's Bball was suspended from post season play two years ago because of poor test scores? Also if you have any desire for UCONN to go to the B1G you had better care about transcripts/character/background checks. UCONN is close to becoming an AAU university and trust me, transcripts matter!

 

[Confident Carl]

Not buying the golf analogy. Even with the proper coaching and rebuilt fundamentally sound swing makeover, you will still be a single digit handicap golfer (I myself would be delighted for that prospect). However, all that training and more, will not make you PGA worthy. Sometimes you're just born with a gift.

The point for UConn football is that P5 conferences are recruiting the football eqivalent of PGA players while HCBD (staying with your analogy) is busy breaking down "double digit handicap" football players so that eventually the program will attract "single digit handicap" players.

What HCBD needs to do is sell a vision. He also needs to sell opportunity - a shortcut for talented kids - to get on the field sooner and get noticed by scouts earlier rather than wait your turn (which might never materialize) at more established programs. Come to UConn and play right away (if you are as good as advertised) rather than going to a P5 school and waiting.

And you don't think Bob Diaco and staff shared a vision to his 20 recruits? You have to be kidding me!

 

[d1reality]

I just posted this in another thread but felt this was important to be on its own, so here goes. To start, I know Diaco has said a few questionable things about abilities and such. He is not perfect and it was a long season. So I cut him some slack. I believe he will become a tremendous head coach. Here goes:

UCONN football under Diaco:

6. Recruiting - Diaco (for 2015)recruited Big, tall players, smart kids that bought into his philosophy.

11. Diaco has promised us a conference championship


.

Recruiting class 2015 rankings.... #76 Rivals #83 247Sports #100 Scout ... well at least they are big and tall

As long as he promised a conference championship, I say we keep him

 

[Jimdish255]

Since he's basically claimed he wasn't 100% focused on winning each game, I'll hold off on my judgement of whether he can put together a winning gameplan until he goes all in. Question is when will we know he's done that.

I have major doubts about our OC given the lack of progress throughout the season in terms of production, playcalling and use of personnel. If that can change and HCBD can mold this talent to his systems on offense and defense (neither of which seem like thrilling schemes) we can see strides being made. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on o-line improvement, QB improvement and strength and conditioning. With the young talent at RB DL and I think DB and improved TE play I see no reason for us not to get to four wins by accident. We'll need to get more than that to get me to believe the coaches have really started to turn things around and are done making excuses. If we see another QB carousel all bets are off.

 

[nycscooby]

Then you would do better off being a North Carolina fan. I don't think they care about real college courses or transcripts and those types of thing as well. Did you like it when UCONN men's Bball was suspended from post season play two years ago because of poor test scores? Also if you have any desire for UCONN to go to the B1G you had better care about transcripts/character/background checks. UCONN is close to becoming an AAU university and trust me, transcripts matter!

Carl, don't buy into that BS, AAU status and transcripts do not matter...it's big time college athletics. On field performance, fan support/TV ratings, merch dollars that's what matters.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I understand and appreciate everything Carl is saying. I even agree with most of it. However, there is an elephant in the room called Conference Realignment, which means that UConn may not have (or have had) the luxury to use Diaco's approach. Maybe the quick fix would have been more valuable, to show our ability to compete in football again, immediately. I am inclined to believe that those in the know at other schools and conferences can perhaps look past last season, but I don't think they can look past another. 6-7 wins next year is critical. I don't care if it sets back some key developmental process Diaco has, he has to win 6-7 games next year. More would be better. We are out of time in our rebuilding process.

No other school in the country faces the urgent need to win right now that exists at UConn. That's what upset me and I think many others. Had we been safely in the ACC in place of Louisville, I would have had no problem with his approach. We weren't. UConn football is hanging by a thread. Wins and attendance are everything, because nothing HCBD can do in building the program can possibly be as important to our future as getting into a P5 conference.