UConn athletic director David Benedict announced this morning that head coach Bob Diaco has been let go.
In the announcement, Benedict points out that the move will become official on January 2nd, a move that will significantly drop Diaco's buyout.
“I believe a new leader for our program and student-athletes is needed to build long-term success,” Benedict said via the school's release. “I am grateful to Coach Diaco and his staff for their hard work and the integrity with which they ran the program and certainly wish them future success.”
“I know this may come as a surprise to our fans and supporters given the timing of this decisio, however, it became apparent to me that a change in program direction is necessary at this time.”
Diaco, the 2012 winner of the Broyles Award and the winner of the FootballScoop Defensive Coordinator of the Year award that season as well, led the program for three seasons, going 2-10 in year one, 6-7 in year two and 3-9 this season. In three seasons the Huskies went a combined 11-26 under Diaco. In AAC conference play, Diaco was 6-18 overall, going 1-7, 4-4, and 1-7.
Prior to leading the Huskies, Diaco was a very successful defensive coordinator under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, and Cincinnati. He also has previous stops at Virginia, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Illinois, and got his coaching career started as a graduate assistant at Iowa.
With the recent success that former AAC coaches like Tom Herman, Matt Rhule, and Willie Taggart had that helped propel them to really good Power 5 jobs, combined with UConn's success in the not-too-distant past, expect there to be a lot of interest from quality coaches for this one.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest developments.