Nebraska football needed a new defensive coordinator and the smoke about Bob Diaco’s name billowed in the air. Twitter was ablaze with speculation about this young coach and what he could bring to the table. In the meantime, I was curious why he’d come to Lincoln.
That’s not to say Nebraska didn’t deserve a competent defensive coordinator at the helm of the Blackshirts, but keep in mind that Arkansas was also bidding for his services and SEC pockets run deep. I asked my Twitterati to humor me for a moment as they often do.
Why would Diaco not choose the Huskers considering Nebraska can quite easily rival the Hogs when it comes to coin and his future wouldn’t be tied to Bret Bielema’s on the S.S. Arkansas that’s going nowhere fast?
Enter Justin Nails, a colleague of mine. Nails is from SEC country and is just as much a defender of said conference as I am the Big Ten. We went back and forth for a bit and he ultimately countered my suggestion of Nebraska being a more prestigious gig by stating that working in the SEC itself carried more weight.
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I appreciate Mr. Nails and his Devil’s Advocatory, but it got me thinking once the announcement was made. “All things being equal, did Nebraska being a college football blueblood really lock Diaco down?”, the cynic in me wondered.
Listening to his first press conference, I don’t know that anyone couldn’t come away impressed with Diaco, but a few parts stuck out to me.
"“We’re developing young men and we’re developing young men for service. To serve in their lives and that has to be done properly for me and coach Riley, that vision is perfectly shared and I knew that before we met.”"
Interesting. When asked about the type of personality that the Nebraska defense might pick up from him as a coach, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
"“I’m a detail-oriented person. I love, love, love the players. Like, I can already say, ‘I love the Nebraska players’ because I inherently love my role and I understand my role because since they’re the young men we’ve been entrusted with, it’s already inherent in how I feel.So, I love what I do, I love football, I don’t need to read some kind of motivational quote to get out of bed every morning. I mean, I am on fire when my feet hit the floor.”"
After listening to the entire interview (and his chat with the media following it), I had to stop and analyze the information that I’d taken in. Clearly, Diaco is excited about his opportunity to coach at what he literally said was a “high level” which I think Nails and I agreed would be the case either way. However, from my perspective, something unique seemed to be in play here.
Diaco’s being compensated $1.7 million for two years of his time. That’s a pretty fair chunk of change that a number of Nebraska football fans didn’t think Shawn Eichorst would be willing to write a check for.
Reviewing his past, he was with Notre Dame for two seasons before picking up the title of Assistant Head Coach in addition to his defensive coordinator and linebacker duties.
Honestly, I have to ask myself if this isn’t going to happen again in Lincoln. At 43 years of age, Diaco obviously has plenty of time ahead of him to learn the culture of Nebraska and its football team.
If he’s successful as a defensive coordinator, no doubt the masses with embrace him as the second coming of Charlie McBride. Mike Riley is one of the most energetic 63-year-olds that I’ve ever met and it’s exciting to see a staff coming together that has an impressive understanding of business and fun.
Regardless of what the current staff accomplishes over the next several years, Diaco’s the kind of guy I can see taking over the helm for Riley. Yes, I understand that things didn’t go well at UCONN, but much like we have with Nebraska’s current head coach’s former place of employ, compare what is available for Diaco in Lincoln as opposed to Mansfield, Conn.
He already understands what he has when walking into North Stadium every morning.
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"“As a servant of this department, whether it be a coach or a student athlete, you couldn’t possibly want for anything else. For you to not be able to achieve the goals and objective that you have, that the organization has for you, that shouldn’t happen. It looks like, from what I see, more than enough resources for us to get our work done.”"
Obviously, this is putting the cart way before the horse, but Nebraska is already investing quite a bit in Diaco. Should he perform in a way that Eichorst, Riley and the fan base can rally around, the idea that he might be groomed to take over isn’t the wildest idea in the world.