There’s been a lot of talk on the internet about defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, who has seen his approval rating cover the entire spectrum throughout his first year as the head of the Notre Dame defense.
The South Bend Tribune has a great article on the relationship between Diaco and his players, with linebacker Darius Fleming providing some of the better quotes we’ve seen this year.
“We’ll just be going to 11 on 11,” Fleming explained, “and then he’ll just bring up some kind of story that he feels relates to the topic. But we don’t. So we’ll just go along with it. Just like ‘yeah, yeah, that’s really good coach.’
“I mean, he’ll talk about turtles. He’ll talk about scorpions. I think he might have read a lot of books when he was younger or something like that. But he’s always got a story for something.”
Diaco’s media sessions have always been enjoyable to watch, his latest a textbook example of how to say absolutely nothing while still being polite and pleasant, something recent Irish defensive coordinators couldn’t always do.
Still, if Diaco’s tales of scorpions and turtles are the reason the Irish have played incredible defense the last quarter of the season, Irish fans should hope Diaco’s been doing his reading over the holidays, even if one of his best linebackers doesn’t always follow along.
“Some of the stories he tells, I have no clue what they mean,” Fleming said. “But I just, you know, go along with it. This is on film, so hopefully he doesn’t see this.”
It seems Diaco does most of his reading from leather-bound books, so Fleming’s secret is probably still safe.