Former UConn head football coach Bob Diaco is expected to join Bill Belichick’s staff as linebackers coach at North Carolina, according to multiple reports.
Diaco, who Huskies fans will remember for creating the ‘Civil ConFLiCT,‘ and for coming up with the idea for football games to be broadcast on Nickelodeon (which actually happened), spent last season as a defensive analyst at LSU.
The 51-year-old has bounced around since his time as head coach at UConn from 2014-16, working as defensive coordinator at Nebraska, Louisiana Tech and Purdue and as a defensive assistant at Oklahoma. He also spent the 2022 season as a defensive line coach with the New Jersey Generals in the USFL. Diaco went 11-26 at UConn and led the Huskies to the St. Petersburg Bowl in 2015.
Though often thought of as eccentric, Diaco is well-respected as a defensive coach, having won the Broyles Award as the top assistant while at Notre Dame in 2012. He reunited with former Irish head coach Brian Kelly at LSU in 2023.
Diaco will work under Bill Belichick’s son Steve, a former assistant with the New England Patriots who was named the Tar Heels’ defensive coordinator.
Earlier this month, UConn lineman Pryce Yates, who won Defensive MVP at the Fenway Bowl in the Huskies’ 27-14, announced he was transferring to North Carolina next season.
