This year's college football coaching carousel has been much quieter than it was this time a year ago. However, this week two programs hired new coaches of interest to Boston College fans.
On Tuesday, Wake Forest hired Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson. Clawson takes over for Jim Grobe, who steps down after five straight losing seasons in Winston-Salem. Clawson led the Falcons to the MAC title this year after blowing out then-no. 16 Northern Illinois, 47-27. He's known as a program builder, having dug both Richmond and Fordham -- two academically oriented private schools -- out of losing ruts. He's expected to leverage a recruiting footprint at Wake similar to the one he used at Richmond.
Clawson is the third ACC Atlantic Division coach to come out of the MAC in two seasons, joining BC's Steve Addazio (Temple) and Dave Doeren (Northern Illinois). Throw in Syracuse's Scott Shafer's time with the NIU and Western Michigan coaching staffs and the #MACtion ties run deep in the ACC's Atlantic Division.
For more on the Clawson hire, check out Blogger So Dear.
On Wednesday, after being turned down earlier in the day by Michigan State DC Pat Narduzzi, Connecticut hired Notre Dame DC Bob Diaco. Diaco gets the job over Ball State head coach Pete Lembo. A season ago, Diaco's stock was sky high -- leading the Irish defense to a perfect 12-0 regular season en route to winning last year's Broyles Award. This year, while the Irish finished the season with an 8-4 record, the Irish's D took a bit of a step back.
UConn fans are pretty pumped.
After reading about Diaco I LOVE the hire.
— TheUConnBlog (@TheUConnBlog) December 12, 2013
This is a great hire. See you in the CFB Playoffs
— TheUConnBlog (@TheUConnBlog) December 12, 2013
Well, let's not get too carried away, UConn bros.
Diaco reportedly interviewed for the vacant Boston College head coaching position last season, but Bates ultimately decided on Temple's Addazio over the Notre Dame defensive coordinator. The former Iowa linebacker has never been a head coach, but has bounced around as a position coach in the Midwest and has recently followed Notre Dame's Brian Kelly around for his last few coaching spots.
Diaco reportedly will receive a 5-year deal starting at $1.5 million, which is a little less than Addazio money with two less years on the deal. I have no idea whether Diaco will pan out, but at face, this seems like a solid hire. The Huskies get a defensive-minded coach with ties to New Jersey, which will be important particularly with Addazio's ties to his home state of Connecticut. While I don't think that Boston College and UConn will meet on the gridiron any time soon, Northeast recruiting battles just got a little more interesting.
Speaking of programs Boston College does play with some regularity, Notre Dame and head coach Brian Kelly will now have to regroup. The Irish will now be looking for a new defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator, having lost Chuck Martin to Miami (Ohio) last week.