Bob Diaco, the highest-ever paid assistant in Nebraska’s football program, has a significantly smaller paycheck with his new job as Oklahoma’s outside linebackers coach.
The former Nebraska defensive coordinator, who was let go after one season in Lincoln on Mike Riley’s staff, has an annual base salary of $48,000 in his new position with the Sooners, according to information obtained by HuskerOnline through an open records request from the University of Oklahoma. He was promoted to the coaching job on Monday after serving as a defensive consultant since March.
Diaco earned a base salary of $825,000 at Nebraska, and was scheduled for a raise to $875,000 in 2018.
Diaco was promoted following the firing of defensive coordinator Mike Stoops and a shake-up in the defensive staff.
Now, Diaco will be working at least through the end of this season with Ruffin McNeill, who was promoted to defensive coordinator to replace Stoops.
“Bob has a lot of experience in very good programs and has a list of accomplishments that will help him step in and make an immediate impact,” head coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement Monday.
Stoops was the highest paid assistant on the Sooners’ staff, earning about $920,000 in 2017, according to USA Today’s latest available salary data of college assistant football coaches. McNeill earned $560,000 last year, according to USA Today.
After Diaco joined Oklahoma’s staff as a defensive consultant, the Sooners’ Riley said he planned to use Diaco “for more big-picture ideas.”
“Out here (on the field), he can’t do as much,” Riley said at the time. “But in our staff room, he’ll be like another full-time coach in there.”
At Nebraska, Diaco oversaw one of the worst defenses in school history,