Penn State Football: The Many Defenses of Manny Diaz

James Franklin has to like Manny The Miami Defensive Coordinator. As well as Diaz The DC at Mississippi State and Louisiana Tech. Which is why Franklin hired him.

But, the Penn State head coach cannot be that big of a fan of the defensive results that Manny Diaz got over the past three seasons as head coach at Miami (Fla.).

Or what happened when Diaz was the defensive coordinator at the University of Texas, where he was fired just two seasons and two games into the job by then-Longhorns head coach Mack Brown.

For now, though, Manny is The Man when it comes to serving as Franklin’s new “head coach” of the Nittany Lion defense — CJF’s own term — and as the latest department head of LBU.

Diaz was announced as the Nittany Lions’ DC/LB coach on Saturday by Penn State, 11 days after his predecessor, Brent Pry, left to be head coach at Virginia Tech and six days after Diaz was fired by Miami, which at the same time (or after, TBH) hired Mario Cristobal as its head coach.

Diaz spent six seasons on the Hurricanes staff in his native Miami. For his first three seasons at the U (2016-2018), he was a high-energy, very visible and successful defensive coordinator under head coach Mark Richt.

When Richt quit unexpectedly in late December 2018, Diaz beat a hasty return from his brief stint as head coach at Temple – he was actually in Miami the day Richt retired, interviewing a potential coordinator for the Owls — and was named Miami’s head coach. In three seasons as the Miami boss (2018-21), Diaz had an overall record of 20-15, with a high-water mark of 8-3 in 2020.

The trajectory of Miami in 2021 was the opposite of Penn State’s. The ’Canes started 2-4, and then went 5-1 for a final regular season record of 7-5. Diaz was on the hot seat from the very start of 2021: The ’Canes opened their 2021 season ranked No. 14, but lost 44-13 to No. 1 Alabama in their opener in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff in Atlanta.

Just like every other college football coach who has been in the game for 24 seasons, the 47-year-old Diaz has both good and bad on his resume.

And Diaz does have an extensive resume. Counting Penn State, he has been at eight different schools. If you count his separate stints at Mississippi State (2010, 2015) it’s nine. And if you count his 18 days as head coach at Temple in December 2018 – when he signed 17 recruits to a binding letter of agreement, then left to return to the ‘Canes a dozen days later with the new signees “stuck” at Temple– it’s 10 schools.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE ELITE

Overall, as a defensive coordinator and head coach, Diaz has seen overseen the good, the bad, the ugly, the great and the elite.

The elite: In 2018, with Diaz as DC, the Hurricanes’ defense was ranked No. 1 nationally in passing yards (135), No. 4 in total yards allowed (279), No. 16 in turnovers created (25) and No. 18 in fewest points allowed (19.5). In 2017, the season the Miami Turnover Chain was created, Diaz’s Miami D was first in the nation in turnovers, with 31.

The great: In Diaz’s first four seasons at Miami – three as DC and the fourth as head coach – the Hurricanes’ defense yielded 18.5, 21, 19.5 and 20.2 points per game. His 2010 defense at Mississippi State (19.85 ppg) and his 2014 Louisiana Tech defense (17.5 ppg, No. 5 in the nation) were stellar as well.

The good: Diaz seen it (almost) all, but never a Whiteout. He has 13 seasons of experience as a defensive coordinator and 12 as a linebackers coach, with stops at Florida State, N.C. State, Middle Tennessee State, Texas, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi State, Temple (zero games coached) and Miami (Fla.).

The bad: As head coach of the ’Canes, Diaz had his focus on the entire squad. But, as a defensive-minded head coach, he didn’t mind the D store. Over the last two seasons, Miami’s national rankings on defense plummeted. In 2021, Diaz took over the play-calling duties for the Miami defense. The results were not very good:

The Canes were No. 77 in total defense (390 yards), No. 84 in points allowed (28.2 ppg), No. 101 in pass defense (251 yards), No. 115 in turnovers created (11), and No. 129 – second from the bottom in all of major college football — in red zone defense (94.9%).

For comparison, here are the numbers for Penn State’s defense in 2021: total defense (344, 43rd); points allowed (16.8, 7th); pass defense (208.3, 34th); turnovers created (19, 40th); and red zone defense (66.7%, 3rd).

The ugly: Diaz spent the 2011 and ’12 seasons as the DC at Texas. Two games into the 2013 he was fired. The Longhorns’ D yielded just 22.23 points in ’11, then 29.23 in ’12. In Diaz’s second season as DC, Texas’ defense was pummeled for 63, 40, 48 and 42 points.

By the second game of the ’13 season, Brown had seen enough. In Game 2 that season, the Longhorns lost 40-21 to BYU, as Taysom Hill ran for 259 yards and three TDs to lead a BYU offense that gashed Texas for 679 yards – 550 on the ground. The next day, after Brown said he watched the game video twice, he fired Diaz. The next season, Diaz turned up at La Tech.

MANNY BY THE NUMBERS

Here are Diaz’s year-by-year stats as defensive coordinator and head coach since 2010 (I’ve not included his stint as DC from 2006-09 at Middle Tennessee State, when MTS went 27-23). Numbers in parentheses are end-of-season national rankings; Texas statistics in 2013 are a two-game average. Diaz was DC from 2010-2018, and HC from 2019-21.