Duke announces Penn State coordinator Manny Diaz as new head coach
Penn State football will officially have two new play callers in 2024. The Lions are losing second-year defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, who is taking the head coaching job at Duke, according to multiple reports. The Athletic first reported Diaz’s interest in becoming Mike Elko’s replacement. He, of course, left the Blue Devils to go lead Texas A&M. Other known candidates for the ACC opportunity included two other defensive coordinators, according to The Athletic: N.C. State’s Tony Gibson and Ohio State’s Jim Knowles. Duke announced the news Thursday night.
Diaz was Temple’s head coach for two weeks before the 2019 season. He then abruptly changed course and took the Miami job. He led the Hurricanes to a 21-15 mark over three seasons before being ousted in favor of Mario Cristobal. Penn State coach James Franklin moved fast to bring Diaz to State College. The results have been stellar. Employing his aggressive scheme that features plenty of man coverage and blitzing, the last two Penn State defenses have been among the nation’s best in points allowed, opponent yards per play and per game, turnovers, sacks, and tackles for loss, among other stats.
Penn State hired Andy Kotelnicki to be its new offensive coordinator last week. He replaces Mike Yurcich, who was fired in November.
Diaz always wanted to be a head coach again
The Lions undoubtedly wanted to keep Diaz another season. But, there was never a question about the fact that he would become a head coach again at some point.
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“In terms of ambition, yeah, I’d like to be a head coach again,” Diaz said in late December 2022. “I enjoy it. I think there’s some unfinished business with the way things happened a year ago. But I think the second time around, I think you’re a little wiser in the opportunity and you don’t necessarily let the opportunity choose you.
“I think you choose the opportunity a little bit differently. And so when you don’t have a platform that you feel comfortable where you’re at, you may feel more desperate to just lunge for something. So that’s where I’m very blessed that I’ve got a place where I know we can play great defense for a long time.”
Where do the Lions turn from here?
Lions head coach James Franklin will have plenty of options to fill this role. And, just like the candidate list at offensive coordinator, Penn State will have internal and external possibilities. Safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, for example, was the defensive coordinator at UConn for three seasons and has held a co-defensive coordinator title at both Purdue and Penn State since then. Former ACC and Big Ten defensive coordinator Robb Smith is also an analyst on this year’s staff. And, Franklin undoubtedly has as short list of outside possibilities at the ready, too.
