Duke to hire SMU's Jonathan Brewer as offensive coordinator

Manny Diaz appears to be closing in on his first major hire at Duke. He is set to hire SMU co-offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer as the Blue Devils’ OC, On The Pony Express’ Billy Embody reported.

The expectation, according to Thamel, is Brewer will run an offense similar to the one Rhett Lashlee ran as Diaz’s offensive coordinator at Miami by spreading the field. That unit ranked fifth in the ACC in Lashlee’s first season as the Hurricanes’ OC, but dropped to 10th in the conference in 2022.

This past year, SMU’s offense — led by Brewer and Casey Woods — ranked No. 2 in the American Athletic Conference, averaging 465.5 total yards per game this past year as the Mustangs finished 11-2 in Lashlee’s second year at the helm.

Jonathan Brewer got his coaching start at Auburn in 2013 as a graduate assistant and became a quality control coach in 2016. He then left for a role at UConn, where Lashlee was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and headed to SMU from 2018-19 with him.

Brewer then became a quality control coach from 2020-21 at Miami under Lashlee and Diaz before becoming Lashlee’s OC and quarterbacks coach at SMU when he took over as head coach.

Duke recently announced Diaz would be the program’s next head coach after Mike Elko departed for Texas A&M, where he was defensive coordinator before taking over in Durham in 2022. Diaz spent the last two seasons at Penn State as defensive coordinator after leaving Miami following the 2021 season. This past year, he helped the Nittany Lions rank No. 1 in the country in total defense, holding teams to 223.3 yards per game.

After Duke announced his hiring, Diaz wrote a letter to the Penn State community expressing his gratitude for the last two seasons as he prepared to don the big headset once again.

“Thank you Penn State – for everything,” Diaz wrote. “It has been a great couple of years in State College. Being part of the tradition, history and passion surrounding this incredible football program is an experience the entire Diaz family will forever cherish.

“I am a better coach for the time spent here and I could not be more appreciative to James (Franklin) for giving me this opportunity. The faith, trust and support from James, Pat Kraft, President Bendapudi and the entire leadership team at Penn State means the world to me.”