Notre Dame Football: Could Bob Diaco Be Headed to Rutgers?

Outside of some recruiting news, it had been a relatively slow week in college football. All that changed on Thursday morning when Greg Schiano, the 11-year head coach of Rutgers, accepted the head coaching position with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

With National Signing Day less than a week away, Schiano's departure leaves the Scarlet Knights without a leader at the worst of times. Rutgers is in heated competition for many of the nation's top recruits, many from nearby high schools.

Landing a current FBS head coach, even from a lower-tier school, will be difficult this late in the process. The silly season of college football coaching changes generally winds down in the last week of January, as teams finalize their staffs in the week or two following the national championship game.

Rutgers could turn to an FCS coach. Georgia Southern's Jeff Monken or Delaware's KC Keeler have the youthful exuberance that Schiano had 11 years ago as a defensive coordinator at Miami (FL). Or, they could turn to a coordinator of a major program, such as Big East rivals Pitt, West Virginia and Louisville have done in the past few seasons.

Enter Notre Dame's Bob Diaco.

In just two seasons, the 38-year-old defensive coordinator turned the Irish defense from one of the worst in the country to one of the best.

The similarities to Schiano 11 years ago are numerous. They're young (Schiano was 34 when hired), defensive-oriented, Italian and natives of the Garden State. Their hometowns are a mere 15 miles apart. Given that Rutgers was the laughingstock of college football prior to Schiano's arrival, shouldn't they be looking for the next Schiano? 

Diaco proved his recruiting prowess in the Northeast a year ago, landing Brooklyn linebacker Ishaq Williams at the last minute with an early-morning visit to Williams' home. Having a coach familiar with the Tri-State area would be a major benefit to a program without the prestige to recruit on a national level.

Had Schiano left a month earlier, would Diaco be a candidate to replace him? Probably not, but circumstances are different this late in the game. There is no time for a lengthy coaching search.

With the quarterback position still a concern and the program's all-time leading receiver gone, the Irish are expecting to lean on their defense even more so in 2012 than they did in 2011. Losing their coordinator would be a damaging blow to the team just as the trials and tribulations of last season were finally being laid to rest and the annual preseason optimism was beginning to develop amongst the players, coaches and fans.

When Bear Bryant left Texas A&M after the 1957 season to return to his alma mater, Alabama, he said, "When Mama calls, then you just have to come running."

Notre Dame better hope that Diaco didn't always listen to his mama.

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