College Football

UConn's Diaco makes change at offensive coordinator

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:23 p.m. ET

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STORRS, Conn. (AP) UConn football coach Bob Diaco has shuffled his coaching staff in an attempt to jumpstart the anemic Huskies offense.

Diaco announced Tuesday that he has demoted offensive coordinator Frank Verducci and moved running backs coach David Corley into that role.

The Huskies (3-6, 1-5 American), who have lost three straight games, face Temple (6-3, 4-1) on Friday.

UConn ranks 106th out of 128 Bowl subdivision teams in total offense and 126th in scoring offense, averaging just over 361 yards and 18 points a game.

''It's obviously not something I wanted to do, but very necessary,'' Diaco said.

Diaco, a former defensive coordinator at Notre Dame has taken a hands-off approach to the offense. He said he does not expect Corley to bring a significantly different look to the Huskies style, which is based on establishing the run and limiting turnovers.

''We can do what we can do at this point with our offensive players,'' he said. ''They are good at particular things and not good at particular things. David is really talented and he's going to be a real icon in our profession, but he's not a magician.''

Corley was a quarterback at William & Mary and spent six years on the coaching staff there before joining Diaco in 2014 at UConn, where also has coached wide receivers.

He said his play-calling experience has been limited to a couple of series in a single game at William & Mary, when the offensive coordinator had issues with his headset.

But he's confident he can do the job.

''We feel like we've got some talented players offensively, and we've got guys who are good enough to help us win ballgames,'' he said. ''We've just got to now put these guys in the best position possible to utilize all of their skillsets.''

Tight end Tyler Davis said the players are excited about the change.

''He brings a lot of excitement and energy,'' he said. ''We know we've got a lot of good football players on this team and once we put it together, we're going to be a good team.''

Diaco says Verducci will stay on the staff and work with the tackles and tight ends.

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This story has been corrected to show Corley joined UConn in 2014, not 2013.

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