Happy Valley Insider - Penn State DC Manny Diaz named new Duke Head Coach
Penn State Football will have to look for a new DC as Manny Diaz is likely heading to Duke to become the new Head Coach.
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Football REPORT: Penn State DC Manny Diaz expected to be Duke Head Coach
- Thread starter Richie O
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Just can't win in the coordinator game anymore, can't hold onto these guys. The reality is that if they suck, they get fired.....If they are good, they get HC jobs. Just is what it is. Frankly, programs were sniffing around Poindexter last year and if Manny doesn't take the Duke job and Poindexter doesn't get promoted, he'd probably be gone.
The 2024 season with 2 new coordinators, new teams from the PAC 10 playing in our conference, and a 12 team playoff is going to be a very interesting season.
Congrats to him. I thought we'd only have him for a year. Thrilled with 2. Hope he's very successful at Duke. Not easy to win there.
Good luck Manny, I can see Poindexter as the next DC.
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If Manny failed as head coach at Miami why does he think he will succeed at Duke? Manny may well be one of those coaches who is great at being an assistant while sucking at being a head coach.
Happy Valley Insider - Penn State DC Manny Diaz named new Duke Head Coach
Penn State Football will have to look for a new DC as Manny Diaz is likely heading to Duke to become the new Head Coach.
Manny didn’t fail at Miami… second best record in the conference behind Clemson. Miami went for Mario instead and look what that’s got them. Manny will do well at Duke in an environment that is much better than the Miami cesspool. Great gig for him and he deserves it. He can crank it up for 2-3 yrs and get a bigger job later but the Triangle area is a great place to live. He showed Franklin how to play defense. Promote Poindexter and let’s rock and roll!
Beat me to it. Manny didn’t fall, the key boosters were enamored with Christobol and once he said he was interested whoever the coach was at that time became a walking dead man.
Agreed. If he can win 7-8 (occasionally 9) games there consistently, he'll have the job for as long as he wants it or move to a bigger, better job. From a PSU perspective, going to Duke may be a good thing since that may not be the type of program some of our defensive guys are willing to transfer to to follow him.
he was only HC there for three years, not enough time to go through the entire cycle. He posted a 21-15 record. They made a bowl game every year (Indy, Cheeze It, Sun). What doomed him is that he set really high expectations for the '21 season only to start out 2-4. They ended up with a winning record but it was too late. Also note that '20 and '21 were COVID-affected.
He is a very presentable guy with a lot of charm and charisma. For a U like Duke, he fits in perfectly. If I was a university president looking to hire a HC from a Coordinator, I am not sure I'd look much further than Manny. I understand the other "finalist" was tOSU DC Jim Knowles. I mean, while JK looks great, Manny could be the cover in Play
Good thing we didn’t hire based on photographic looks or Joe wouldn’t ever had been given the job.he was only HC there for three years, not enough time to go through the entire cycle. He posted a 21-15 record. They made a bowl game every year (Indy, Cheeze It, Sun). What doomed him is that he set really high expectations for the '21 season only to start out 2-4. They ended up with a winning record but it was too late. Also note that '20 and '21 were COVID-affected.
He is a very presentable guy with a lot of charm and charisma. For a U like Duke, he fits in perfectly. If I was a university president looking to hire a HC from a Coordinator, I am not sure I'd look much further than Manny. I understand the other "finalist" was tOSU DC Jim Knowles. I mean, while JK looks great, Manny could be the cover in Playgirlperson.
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It's odd that some think 21-15 at Miami isn't failing but 10-2 or 11-2 at PSU is. He will be lucky to repeat 21-15 at Duke. They've had 1 season with less than 4 losses since 1965 and the winning percentage is .373 in that span. Just not a great opportunity playing second fiddle to basketball and in a conference that is going to be even more forgotten next year. It's a payday and I'm sure he has confidence that it's a stepping stone and I hope it is but looking at it objectively I'd say he is much more likely to be a DC somewhere in a few years than a HC at a better program. As far as recruits following him, that seems laughable. Maybe he gets some transfer portal guys that are being processed out.
Dammit. And two of the candidates we likely would have had interest in, Lynn and Robinson, both just took new jobs so they likely aren't an option. The timing particularly sucks, now the portal is open and many coaches have already moved and found spots for next year which complicates the search and really hinders our chances to pull in defensive recruits from the portal with an open coaching position.
well, CJF has been at PSU for 9 years. He's had a lot of time to build a program and get his kids and staff in place. Manny was at Miami for only three, meaning his senior and RS seniors weren't recruited by him. JCF's teams went 7-6, 7-6, 11-3 his first three years, although he had to deal with crippling sanctions. Diaz inherited a team that went 4-4 in the conference and 7-6 overall.
It comes down to expectations.
Don’t care how good of a coach he is, but Duke is just not gonna get the level of talent necessary to be successful. I think he should have waited for the right opportunity instead of jumping to just another vacancy.
21-15 at Miami in a weak ACC is failing
Lots of coaches fail their first time though. Hell some fail multiple times and still get more shots.
Lots of coaches fail their first time though. Hell some fail multiple times and still get more shots.
Its nice landing spot though. Maybe he doesn't want more of the big program booster blood sucking. Its a nice part of the country, he'll make $3 or $4m a year....nobody will be calling for his ass if he wins 6 or 7 games. Unless you have huge success at a big program, you're gone after 3 or 4 years.
That may be the case and honestly good for him if it is. But I don't think there are many coaches at that high of a level that aren't looking to get to the highest level and that will never be done at Duke. He'll certainly have different stressors as a head coach though and an academic institution like Duke. It may be worse than being a coordinator at a big program like PSU but he will be getting paid for that.
This recruiting guy says he was a disaster in Miami on the recruiting scene. He does also say that he thinks he’s a great DC, just not HC material
Agree he didn't get quite a fair shake at Miami. If Miami was successful though he would have had a HC opportunity waiting when he was pushed out.
I also agree it comes down to expectations. I think our fan base probably has some unrealistic ones at times. We should be able to beat UM or OSU more often than we do though. I think the shake up in the Big 10 will actually be good for us. We will see.
But as you allude to, we can't really look at JCF's first few seasons because of the sanctions. Also, Manny was in the ACC with Miami not the Big 10. Manny certainly is going to be at a worse starting spot at Duke than he was at Miami and be disadvantaged more than when he was at Miami.
Totally, its a "different strokes" thing, nobody can argue either a bad decision, he'll make $$$$$$$$$$$ either way, maybe longer at a Duke. I mean, let's face it and we know this being penn state fans, only about 2 or 3 programs seem to realistically have a shot at the big prize each year. Often, the same 2 or 3 schools. There are 140 other well paying HC jobs out there. Although incredibly compensated, jimbo knows this now.
To be 100% honest, I think PSU has held onto the notion of "student" athletes far longer than tOSU and UM. The last two head coaches got run out on a rail and have very spotty reputations (tOSU for tatoo-gate which was finding a way to pay players indirectly and then lying about it and Meyer that covered up for an assistant accused of spousal abuse). UM is now giving an extension to a coach who has had three assistants fired for violations and been suspended twice in one year.
While they are winning football games, it isn't without cost. tOSU may also be in "implosion mode" so we'll see what happens with them moving forward.
Regardless, CJF has run an exemplary program with good kids and academic progress while not quite beating programs that fall into the top five consistently. Actually, UM has only been really good the last three years.
Manny was a pretty decent recruiter here. Kids don’t sign up if they don’t feel comfortable with the coordinator. Anyway that’s the guys opinion, and he’s entitled to have one. Alternatively, if given enough time I could find a person that would argue that water isn’t wet.
Meanwhile Georgia made the top 4 in Smart's 2nd year, Texas made it in Sark's 3rd. Yet Franklin can't after 10. But it isn't his fault, nothing is ever his fault. He is a great recruiter - just look at the wealth of playmakers at RB and WR we have. And no coach is better at in-game decisions, he is just a wizard. The top teams live in fear of having to play us as we are so adept at putting the beatdown on top competition. Looking at the NY6 participants, there is really no team that is worthy enough to play us, we are just so damn wonderful.
They didn't have crippling sanctions and were well-run programs before hiring Smart (GA) and Sark (TX). Both had great recruiting classes in the heart of the best high school football in the nation.
GA was 13-1 and 10-3 before Smart. TX started 5-7, 8-5 before being 9-1 in the second hottest football recruiting hotbed in America (to FL). This is Harbaugh's 9th year and he started out 10-3, 10-3, 8-5, 10-3, 9-4, 2-4, before winning the B1G three years in a row.
Success isn't linear and the starting points are in different places. it is hard to imagine a program in a more challenging position than when CJF took over.
I venture to think that Franklin knew this was coming and at least has some sort of plan. I'm not overly concerned. Wish it would have happened a little earlier before the portal opened but whatever.
The sanctions simply weren't as crippling as people want to claim.
Also, Georgia wasn't 13-1 before Smart. 8-4. 9-3. 9-3 during Richt's final 3 years. They did have a nice 11-1 season prior to that before losing to Bama in the SECCG game but they hadn't seen a 1 loss season since 02. We were more recent than that.
Harbaugh's a better comp--but Smart and Sark (especially Smart) were way ahead.
As long as it's not any starters or major contributors I'm fine. I would fully support some of the guys deeper on the depth chart going and getting some playing time. That's what I think the intent of the portal was.
The intent of the portal was to postpone more erosion of NCAA authority due to expected Legal action from players seeking a more liberal transfer policy. Any other outcomes either positive or negative are merely incidental.
Manny Diaz: “I accomplished everything I could possibly accomplish at Penn State. It’s not my fault that James Franklin and the offense are so incompetent. Bye Penn State!”
it’s been commented quite a bit that Elijah Robinson does not like James Franklin. The story that I heard was that Franklin bad-mouthed Robinson on the recruiting trail and Robinson found out.
Poindexter. That is who I think should be the next PSU DC.
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