The Tar Heels are putting the final touches on their new staff and the team added an experienced coach to the defensive side of the football earlier this evening.
As first reported by John D. Brice of FootballScoops.com, the Tar Heels are expected to hire LSU defensive assistant Bob Diaco as a linebackers coach. Diaco has spent the last two seasons with the Tigers on Brian Kelly’s staff as a special teams and outside linebackers coach.
Prior to his time in Baton Rouge, Diaco spent two seasons as the defensive line coach for the New Jersey Generals in the USFL. This followed one year stints at Purdue and Louisiana Tech where he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. While his unit with the Boilermakers wasn’t great, he put together a very solid unit with the Bulldogs.
In 2018, Diaco was the outside linebackers coach for the Oklahoma Sooners following his one year stint as the defensive coordinator at Nebraska. His defense was the final nail in the coffin for Mike Reily, as they allowed 36.6 points per game, 438.1 total yards per game and 216.7 rushing yards per game.
That may not have been Diaco’s biggest failure, though. That title likely goes to his three stint as the head coach of the Connecticut Huskies. Following a 2-10 record in his first season, the team bounced back with a 6-7 season in Year 2 that had some wondering if he had turned things back in the right direction for a program that had experienced some nice success in the last decade. Unfortunately, the Huskies would go 3-9 in his third and final season, losing the last seven games of the season after a 3-2 start.
Now let's talk about Diaco’s biggest success, his time under Brian Kelly early in his coaching career. After stints at Iowa (graduate assistant), Eastern Michigan (running back, linebacker and special teams coach) and Virginia (linebackers and special teams), he found his way to Central Michigan where he was the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Kelly.
After going back to Virginia for three seasons as their linebackers and special teams coach, he would rejoin Kelly in Cincinnati as his defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. His defense allowed 23.1 points per game and 374.0 yards per game, but created 20 turnovers and had 37.0 sacks while helping the Bearcats go 12-0 and reach the Sugar Bowl.
That offseason, Kelly would take the head coaching job at Notre Dame and take Diaco with him where he would become one of the top assistant coaches in the country. While his first two seasons were very successful, the 2012 season was clearly his best as he pieced together one of the greatest defenses in Notre Dame history on his way to winning the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the country. His defense, which allowed 12.8 points per game, 305.5 yards of total offense per game, 199.8 passing yards per game and 105.7 rushing yards, ranked top ten in twelve different defensive categories and allowed just fifteen offensive touchdowns the entire season. The Irish held six opponents without an offensive touchdown and nine opponents to one or fewer offensive touchdowns. He was also credited with helping develop Manti Te’o, who was the Heisman runner up in that 2012 season.
This is a tremendous hire that gives Stephen Belichick a guy that he can rely on and learn from in certain circumstances. Considering how much he helped guys like Te’o and Kenneth Murray at Oklahoma, there is reason to believe that he will thrive in this role.
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