In 2012, Diaco was presented the Broyles Award as college football's top assistant coach after directing a
Notre Dame defense that ranked second nationally in points allowed per game (12.77).
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA
for several head coaching vacancies
last December, but he waited a season
before landing at UConn.
In the year Diaco stuck around, Kelly
opened up more opportunities for his
defensive coordinator to learn some
of the nuances of being a head coach
that he needed to fine tune. He took
on more administrative duties as the
associate head coach and held a great
deal of control over the defense.
"He worked to cultivate me for a few
years and allowed me to sit in on conversations about the organization that
