Bob Diaco, who had been Notre Dame's defensive coordinator, is the new coach at Connecticut.
UConn officially announced his hiring Thursday morning.
Diaco, 40, had been with the Irish for four seasons. Before that, he spent one season as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati. In all five of those seasons, he worked for Brian Kelly.
Diaco, a New Jersey native with extensive recruiting ties to the Northeast, also has worked at Virginia and at Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. He played linebacker at Iowa from 1992-95 under Hayden Fry.
UConn fired Paul Pasqualoni in late September after a 0-4 start. He was 10-18 at UConn after taking over when Randy Edsall left for Maryland following a Fiesta Bowl appearance in 2010.
Diaco's Northeast ties should be a needed boost to the program, which also needs to shore up some defensive shortcomings. Compared to other Northeast schools such as Boston College and Syracuse, UConn suffers from being in the AAC, which is losing Louisville after this academic year. Going forward, the AAC is going to be lumped in with the Mountain West rather than with the so-called "big five" leagues (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC). That Edsall guided this program a BCS bid is going to be more and more remarkable as more seasons pass.
Diaco won the Frank Broyles Award in 2012; it's given to the top assistant in the nation. He was a Broyles semifinalist in 2011.
Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi reportedly was UConn's No. 1 target, with Diaco the second choice. Narduzzi also has a defensive background and some ties in the Northeast.
Diaco's departure means Notre Dame is looking for two new coordinators. Offensive coordinator Chuck Martin took the coaching job at Miami (Ohio) last week.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
