Duke expected to hire New England Patriots staffer V'Angelo Bentley as cornerbacks coach

The Duke Blue Devils are set to pluck a coach from the NFL coaching ranks. The Blue Devils are expected to hire New England Patriots staffer V’Angelo Bentley as their cornerbacks coach, Matt Zenitz reported on Wednesday evening. Before joining the Patriots, he started at corner for Illinois and worked for the Penn State Nittany Lions for three seasons.

Bentley joins former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz in Durham, North Carolina. Diaz was recently named the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, after spending the 2022-2023 seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions. Bentley was in Happy Valley from 2019-2021 before serving as an assistant for the New England Patriots the previous two seasons. His tenure at Penn State actually never overlapped with Manny Diaz.

Before coaching, Bentley played defensive back and return specialist with Illinois from 2012-2015. He set the program record for kick return yardage and was also the only player in Illinois football history to record a kick return, punt return, interception return, and fumble return for a touchdown.

In his high school career, he played with Glenville (Cleveland, Ohio), one of the top programs in the state of Ohio. In the 2012 cycle, he was rated as the No. 841 overall player in the country and a three-star recruit, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

Some other staff members from the Penn State staff were also hired away by Duke–Gabe Infante and Rick Lyster. Both of them arrived at PSU as the same time as Manny Diaz.

Diaz was also the head coach of Miami, leading the Hurricanes to a 21-15 record in his three seasons at the helm before being fired in 2021. Before that, Diaz made stops at various programs as a defensive coordinator including at Miami, Mississippi State, and Texas.

Diaz has been a pivotal piece to Penn State’s recent success, ranking first in the country allowing just 223.3 yards per game. Additionally, Penn State gave up just 11.4 points per game in the 2023 campaign, the third-least in the nation.

Along with his defensive expertise, Diaz brings no shortage of ACC experience with him to Duke. Diaz began his coach career as a graduate assistant at Florida State before spending two more seasons in the same role at NC State.

After a few grueling years, Diaz became the safeties coach and special teams coordinator in his last two seasons at NC State in 2004-05. In total, Diaz spent 14 years in the ACC between his time with the Wolfpack, Hurricanes and Seminoles.

On3’s Grant Grubbs also contributed to this article.