Manny Diaz on when James Franklin reached out, why he went to Penn State

Former Miami coach Manny Diaz got back on his feet quickly, landing at Penn State as the defensive coordinator. He spoke about the process of getting to Happy Valley this week.

During a National Signing Day special, Diaz discussed the craziness of last week. Miami let him go as coach and decided to hire Oregon coach Mario Cristobal. Less than a week later, James Franklin called Diaz to replace Brent Pry, who left for the open Virginia Tech head coach job.

Diaz went into the process of getting hired at Penn State and Franklin’s role in making it happen.

“Last week was a whirlwind,” Diaz said on PSU TV. “The days, they all seem to run together. It was sometime middle of last week. It was hard for me to wrap my brain around, ‘Hey, listen, at what point are you going to jump back into this thing?’ To coach defense at Penn State, to coach linebackers at Penn State, that’s uncommon. People work in this profession their entire lives and wish they had the chance to coach here and especially to coach defensive linebackers.

“The more [Franklin and I] spoke and what his vision was and how he operated and the values that we he was about, I think we found that we were aligned. There was already an alignment defensively, and it ticked all the boxes.”

More about Manny Diaz

Penn State becomes the sixth school where Manny Diaz has served as defensive coordinator since 2006. After working four seasons at Middle Tennessee State, he quickly rose through the ranks at Mississippi State, Texas, Louisiana Tech and also Miami.

Diaz also served as head coach at Miami from 2019-21, accumulating a 21-15 record before parting ways in order to make room for new head coach Mario Cristobal and his staff. The 47-year old Miami native also went 0-2 in bowl games over three seasons and finished his final season 7-5 with a Sun Bowl berth.

The press release announcing Diaz’s hire included a statement from the former Hurricanes coach.

“My family and I are so excited to come to Happy Valley and join the Penn State family,” said Diaz. “The opportunity to lead Linebacker U is an honor and I will work every day to uphold that tradition. Penn State’s defense has been among the nation’s best, both historically and under Coach Franklin. I will continue to pursue excellence with our defensive unit on a daily basis. I can’t wait to get on the field with this talented group, to get to know them, and to ultimately develop them as football players, students and young men. Penn State’s fans are the best in the country, and I look forward to seeing them this fall in Beaver Stadium!”