Diaco seeks to turn around a Notre Dame defense that has struggled in recent years

Diaco seeks to turn around Notre Dame’s defense

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Bob Diaco wants to give Notre Dame’s defense a new look, and it goes much deeper than switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme.

The new Notre Dame defensive coordinator doesn’t like that when he looks at the Fighting Irish linemen it’s not easy to discern the tackles from the ends.

“There’s kind of a mix in each position of different size players, which you typically wouldn’t want,” he said. “You’d like as the positions walk out on the field, you’d like those positions to be a particular size, for those players to look representative of the jobs they’re asked to do.”

It’s been awhile since the Notre Dame defense has done the job it’s been asked to do. The Irish haven’t finished better than 33rd in the nation in total defense since 2002, when they finished 13th in Tyrone Willingham’s first year as coach.

Last season the defense gave up 398 yards a game, the most ever by the Irish. They were ranked 86th in the nation in total defense. The only time Notre Dame ranked lower was in 1956, when the Irish went 2-8 and finished with the 103rd rated defense.

Diaco, 36, is Notre Dame’s fifth defensive coordinator since 2004. He was co-defensive coordinator under new Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly at Central Michigan in 2005 before serving three seasons as linebackers coach at Virginia and then taking over as coordinator at Cincinnati last season.

Diaco appears to be a stark contrast to his predecessor, veteran coach Jon Tenuta. During his introduction to the media on Jan. 15, Diaco sat comfortably and gave in-depth answers to whatever questions reporters asked. Tenuta usually was terse and combative with the media, saying simply “next question” when asked something he didn’t want to answer.

Diaco even quoted first-century Christian theologian and philosopher St. Augustine when asked about what the first step in building a strong defense, saying: “With love and diligence, anything’s possible.”

“That’s present in the coaching and teaching every single day,” he said.

Diaco’s defense at Cincinnati last season wasn’t dramatically better statistically than the Irish defense. But Notre Dame went 6-6, while Cincinnati finished the season 12-1, its lone loss to Florida in the Sugar Bowl. The Bearcats gave up 374 yards a game, finishing the season ranked 67th in total defense, the lowest ranking for any of the 10 teams that earned Bowl Championship Series berths.

The Bearcats defense, however, was much more disruptive than Notre Dame, though. Cincinnati ranked third in the nation in tackles for loss at 8.5 per game and 10th in sacks at 2.9 a game.

Kelly, who brought Diaco with him from Cincinnati, said the Bearcats’ results weren’t bad considering they were replacing 10 starters from the season before and switching from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4.

“I think we all know how important playing good defense is to winning football games,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t be more excited, more confident in our ability to play championship defense here at Notre Dame.”

In five seasons under coach Charlie Weis, who was fired in December, Notre Dame was 2-20 when its defense gave up 31 points or more and 33-7 when its defense gave up 29 or less.

Diaco said the first job for the players is to work hard under Paul Longo, Notre Dame’s director of football strength and conditioning, while the coaches wrap up recruiting. Then he will turn to teaching his style of defense.

“There are some core principles to playing great defense: effort and hustle, tackling and then maintaining the top of the defense,” he said. “The bulk of the work and the preparation are built in that.”

Diaco said Irish fans can expect to see a defense that plays sound fundamental football and plays with great effort.

“You’re going to see passion. You’re going to see energy. You’re going to see hustle,” he said. “You’re going to see players who understand where they fit in relation to each other.”

Fans hope to see all that as well as a defense that gives the Irish a chance to win much more often.