Rockne's Roundtable

1) I personally don't know if Diaco has aspirations to be a head coach anywhere or not. For all we know is his name is a hot coordinator name for future head jobs right now. Not every assistant is head coach material. See Charles Weis as exhibit 1A. There are some quirky personality traits with Diaco that make me question whether he would be a good head coach or not.

2) To John's point I think the last few years ND has started to open up the purse strings a bit and pay these guys a more competitive salary. Maybe not SEC coordinator salaries but they are definitely much more competitive than they have historically been. They got raises last year and that all correlated with some of the title changes(i.e. Diaco as Associate Head Coach). Also there would be a lot of leverage in the coaching staff's favor considering the success of this year and the program that is being built. For the last 15+ years the coaching staff didn't have much leverage to work with to get their staff's paid more competitively.

3) I doubt that Diaco leaves ND after this season but if he were to take a job somewhere there are a number of things that could happen that would not concern me. Kelly's most trusted assistant and per reports and interviews the most respected coach at ND currently Chuck Martin would likely be moved to DC imho. Then there is the potential that Kelly's long-time OC Jeff Quinn could be fired at Buffalo. If that were to happen he would be a potential candidate for Kelly to bring in as the OC in that scenario.

4) I just don't get these young head coaches that impatiently take a crap MAC job when it opens just to be a head coach. I would focus on making my name even more attractive each year to where you can land in a spot that sets you up better for future success. Look what Will Muschamp was able to parlay his resume into rather than going to the bottom feeder schools where coaches go to die. I know it's worked for some including our current head coach but it's still just a tough proposition for many coaches. I would focus on honing my craft at the big name school gaining the experiences there.

Like John said, Diaco doesn't need to leave for just any job. He can kind of pick his spots here. He's 39, so the timing probably will be right in the next year or two. I've always thought Chuck Martin actually would be the first to get a head coaching job offer among the assistants. He too can be a little more selective.

Keep in mind that Barry Alvarez didn't leave even after ND won the national title in 1988. He stayed another season in 1989 before going to Wisconsin and becoming a Hall-of-Fame head coach. I could see Diaco staying at least another year. I've often said that if you're the defensive coordinator at ND for more than three years, then the program can't be doing that well (Joe Yonto being a prime exception. No one loved ND more than that man.)

I agree with those thinking Diaco will stick around for another year or two to solidify his credentials. I also think Kelly may give him a little more time with the media next year to give him more experience dealing with the media. I'm somewhat surprised that he hasn't been given more time with the media this year.