STORRS, Conn. – UConn introduced Bob Diaco as the new football coach of the Huskies on Thursday and Diaco played the room with a question-and-answer exchange that was anything but ordinary.
Diaco invoked Pavlov’s dogs to describe his passion for football. Ring the bell. Salivate. Eat. It’s doubtful we will ever see Diaco foaming at the mouth. But you know the routine. And if you can’t slide in a good reference to Pavlov on a college campus, where else would it work?
“When I walk across the stripe and onto the field there is only one particular speed and energy,” Diaco said. “I bring the full scope of all my talents, energy and passion into that arena. I believe I was brought onto the earth to teach young men how to be men in football.”
Diaco went on to discuss his concept of “energy buckets” (you’re either filling them up or emptying them out) and “energy vampires” (who suck the enthusiasm out of life). He quoted Garth Brooks and St. Augustine in terms relatable to championship football. He even executed one of those quotes in Latin.
I’m not sure it’s possible to talk championship football through Garth Brooks’ lyrics spoken in Latin – so we did not experience that. But I’ve got to admit I was a little disappointed. Diaco is from Cedar Grove, N.J., not Nashville. Couldn’t he have given us a splash of Springsteen, maybe the chorus of The Promised Land? How about a quote from Gov. Chris Christie on rebuilding the boardwalk?
At the very least, Diaco could have borrowed from the book on bathroom graffiti and inspired us with something from the walls of the Vince Lombardi rest area on the Jersey Turnpike. I mean, that is championship football. Vince Lombardi. New Jersey. Crowded restrooms. Angry motorists.
Not St. Augustine.
“This is not a rebuilding job,” said Diaco, who inherits a program that has a 13-23 record over the past three seasons. “This is not a rebuilding job. The fact of the matter is that this school has great resources. From a facility standpoint and a resources standpoint, you’re not going to go anywhere in the country and find nicer.
“Maybe they’ll have a little bit of different this, a little bit of different that. But there’s a whole bunch of places that don’t quite have what we have. Those [resources] will continue and I will do everything that I can to help foster and grow that. That’s a piece of my job I’m looking forward to.”
This was not your weekly Paul “Work in Progress” Pasqualoni press conference. Bob seems to be the anti-Paul.
And, for the final time, let’s all agree that Jeff Hathaway’s hiring of Pasqualoni in Jan. 2011 was a big mistake. Pasqualoni is a quality man, a true gentleman, he has great football knowledge, and he worked very hard. He was respected in the Connecticut high school ranks. He was just the wrong person at the wrong time.
Diaco will be a better UConn coach even he misses a player from the Nutmeg State now and then – just as long as he attacks New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Florida and Texas and all the other fertile recruiting spots that are important to building a competitive, bowl-ready football program. That’s what UConn needs most right now.
As the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Diaco wasn’t confined by any recruiting boundaries. He will find it much tougher getting in the homes of many recruits – until the UConn football culture changes.
“It’ll be different,” Diaco said of recruiting at UConn. “I don’t think it’s fair to use the word challenge. The fact of the matter is there’s a whole bunch of teams fighting over each other for particular prospects in the ACC and Big Ten and we’re really just operating on our own. We’re working in our own world and collecting our own players to win the American Athletic Conference and that’s exciting.”
Diaco even gave Bradley International Airport a plug. At least, I assume he was talking about Bradley.
“You have this awesome airport here and a lot of direct flights to metropolitan areas,” he said. “There are some great areas where you find great players where the message resonates.”
(Uhm, Coach, not so sure about those direct flights. You might want to re-check your airline timetable.)
Given the way the coaching search played out, many will be left to wonder whether Diaco was UConn’s first choice. Athletic director Warde Manuel clearly stated he was “my top choice. This is the person that I chose.” And that should be good enough for UConn fans.
When Manuel began his research back in September, he looked at the winners and finalists for the Frank Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in the nation, for the past five years. UConn’s pool ended up with Diaco, the winner in 2012, and Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, the 2013 winner. Since Sunday, Manuel interviewed nine candidates, but the bottom line is that Diaco was the chosen one.
“Probably by his second year and definitely by the third year, [the media] is going to be saying did, ‘Did Warde hit it? Did I make the right choice or not?’ I think I did,” he said. “I was looking for the best coach. He brings the passion and energy you saw today. That was a plus. His success was a greater factor.”
Ultimately, it will be recruiting that determines Diaco’s success on the field. There’s no way around that.
“Every time I talked to somebody, especially on the coaching side, and threw out his name, they said great coach and great recruiter,” Manuel said. “I relied on coaches. When they tell me, ‘I always run into that guy on the road’ or ‘he’s hard to recruit against,’ those are the things I like to hear.”
Diaco promised the assembled crowd that, “We’re going to begin winning immediately.” That sounds good right now and no one can fault him for thinking that way. But the recruiting side of this hire is paramount. His words and passion are intoxicating but he will be judged on his ability to bring top players to Storrs.
Even with a practice facility that is NFL worthy and a stadium that is only 10 years old, UConn has not been able to recruit 4-star or 5-star players – the type of impact players who lead programs to a winning tradition and the highest level of college football.
Diaco was asked if he had any idea why that was.
“I’m just not so sure that he’s not here,” Diaco said. “You know what I mean? I have trouble answering that question because I don’t want to minimize the talent on the team right now. There’s talent on this team right now. Everybody on this team has got value. Everybody on the team is going to be successful at something. We’ve just got to find what it is.”
Once Diaco goes through that process, we think he will find there is an overwhelming need for better players. And Diaco has to find a way to put fans back in the seats. UConn wrapped up the 2013 season last Saturday with a 45-10 win over Memphis. The crowd of 17,086 was the smallest in the 10-year history of Rentschler Field. Another 3-9 or 5-7 season isn’t going to spark the fire again.
Winning is the best way to stir interest. But Diaco, with all his passion and fervor, must do more with his “energy buckets.”
“We’ve got to be other-centered in the community, we’ve got to get out there and we’ve got to be engaging [with the media],” he said. “We’ve got to be honest. We’ve got to engage the students and make sure there is great investment there. And it just builds this great energy. Who doesn’t want to be a part of that? If it’s not the best show in town, why would you expect them to come?”
Let the show begin. Manuel found his man. Now Diaco has to prove he was worth the $8 million investment over five years.
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