College Football Coach Hire Grades: Duke

Duke Blue Devils: Manny Diaz

Why the job was open: Football is an afterthought at Duke, and success is often hard to come by here. David Cutcliffe managed to find some success but eventually it fell apart in his latter years. What Mike Elko did here was impressive, using the roster he inherited, he got them to an impressive 9-4 season in his first year, then his second season opened in even more impressive fashion with a 28-7 win in front of the whole nation over Clemson. Duke spent time in the Top 15 in the polls, but the dream season fell apart due to injuries late (still won 8 games though.) Still these accomplishments at Duke weren’t going unnoticed, especially by Texas A&M who hired Elko away.

Coach Profile: Diaz got his start at NC State, and his first season with an on field role with the Wolfpack was a special one, 2002 when they went 11-3… To date the best season in program history. He spent a few years there before becoming the DC at Mid Tenn State, where he excelled and eventually he moved on for a year to Mississippi State, a job he eventually parlayed into the Texas DC job under Mack Brown. This was the first role that didn’t end well, after a strong start initially things fell off in 2013 and after the infamous BYU game where Taysom Hill ran for 257 yards, Diaz was relieved of his duties. He would rebound as the DC at Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State and Miami FL. In 2018 Diaz got his first head coaching opportunity at Temple, a job he would hold for 2 whole weeks before leaving and becoming the Miami FL head coach instead. His Miami FL era didn’t start well, their offense struggled particularly late in the year in losses to FIU and in the bowl to Louisiana Tech. They improved during the 2020 Covid year, finishing 8-3 although it ended with a blowout loss to North Carolina and bowl loss to Oklahoma State. 2021 didn’t begin much better, as the Hurricanes began the season 2-4. Suddenly with Tyler Van Dyke at QB they found something, the Hurricanes upset NC State and beat eventual ACC champs Pitt in a 5-1 stretch to close the season…finally the Manny Diaz era had momentum…he was then fired a little more than a week after the season. Diaz rebounded with a strong couple years as Penn State’s DC before landing the job at Duke.

Why he will succeed: There’s no doubt that Diaz can coach a good defense, and he’s back in the area where he got his start so he’s familiar with the territory. Overall he put together a really impressive staff. Duke has invested a lot more into football with better facilities and overall investment compared to the past.

What obstacles are in the way of success: The biggest question Diaz will face is if he couldn’t succeed at Miami FL how will he succeed at Duke? The Hurricanes program has near unlimited recruiting resources which is something Duke doesn’t have. Despite the enhanced investment in the football program, Duke will always be thought of as a “basketball school” something that is often tough to overcome.

Grade: B- – Manny Diaz gets a bit of a bad reputation for how things went at Miami FL but I think a more low-key job like Duke might suit him better, there aren’t loud boosters in the way the entire time. This is still a bit of a risky hire though so I can’t grade it too high.