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It’s now official: Nebraska has named Bob Diaco as the Huskers’ defensive coordinator.
Welcome to Nebraska Coach Diaco.
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFBNation) January 14, 2017
☠️ #BLACKSHIRTS ☠️ pic.twitter.com/MODuMsMXu6
Friday night, the Lincoln Journal-Star was first to report that the hire was coming:
Can confirm Bob Diaco expected to be named Husker DC, according to multiple sources. https://t.co/PRRuCVbe6x
— Brian Christopherson (@HuskerExtraBC) January 13, 2017
Diaco will be coming from Storrs, Connecticut, where he had just lost his job as Head Coach of UConn, coming off of an 11-26 run in 3 seasons where he led the Huskies to one bowl, a loss to Marshall in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl.
Diaco is more famous for his time at Notre Dame, where in three seasons as Defensive Coordinator to Brian Kelly for four seasons from 2010-’13. The Irish 2012 squad, which went to the BCS National Championship game where they lost to Alabama, was carried by Diaco’s defense. The Irish were 2nd in FBS in scoring D (12 ppg), 11th in rushing D (105 ypg), 25th in passing D (199 ypg) and 7th in total defense (305 ypg).
Before Notre Dame, Diaco was DC at Cincinnati for one season in 2009, which was preceded by three years in Virginia as LB/ST coach. Diaco started his career at Iowa, where he was a linebacker from 1992-1995, and a grad assistant in 1996-’97. His first jobs were at some directional Michigan schools, bouncing positions but keeping a Special Teams role in as well throughout.
Diaco will be the highest paid assistant coach ever in Nebraska football history, though he won’t be paid as much as some might have thought when Nebraska went looking for a new defensive coordinator:
Diaco will make $825,000 his first year, $875,000 the second year.
— Samuel McKewon (@swmckewonOWH) January 14, 2017
He's the highest-paid assistant in Nebraska history. #huskers
The biggest change that Nebraska will go through with the Diaco hiring is the switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense. That should help compliment both the number of linebackers that Nebraska has in the stable, as well as some of the depth issues that Nebraska has on the defensive line. Who would be a nose tackle in Diaco’s system would remain to be seen, but early guesses are DaiShon Neal and Mick Stoltenberg, simply on size.
Ryan will have a breakdown of what Diaco’s scheme is and how Nebraska can run with it. In the meantime, we would like to give you this from our SBNation site OneFootDown on Diaco’s system when it was at Notre Dame.