As new Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz walked into Beaver Stadium a few months ago for the first time in his new role – it was cold. Very cold. It probably was something of a shock to the system only hours removed from being in Miami for the last several seasons. Nothing says “Welcome to the Big Ten” quite like blistering winds and snow.
Fast forward to this past week and Diaz is walking Penn State’s practice field in shorts and it’s not particularly warm. For a coach who is replacing a longtime staple on James Franklin’s coaching staff in now Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry, Diaz no longer looks like he’s acclimating, he looks like he belongs.
“He’s done a really good job in meetings,” Franklin said following Wednesday’s practice. “He’s got a presence to him. I like how he views the game of football and how he leads.”
Despite the fact Diaz has now been with Penn State for a few months, the opening half of spring practice has been the first real evaluation period Diaz has been able to have with his new team. As Diaz noted on Wednesday following practice, he might have been with the team for the Outback Bowl, but he was still learning names and numbers, let alone tendencies.
In turn, everyone gets a bit of a blank slate as spring practice continues to roll along.
“I didn’t want to make a lot of impressions on the players themselves,” Diaz said. “I wanted to give everybody a clean slate, get to know who they were in winter workouts, and then now, really through the seven practices we’ve had up to this point, really let that define them, and I think they’ve enjoyed that.”
On a personal level, going from all the rigors of being a head coach to simply a defensive coordinator has been a nice change for Diaz. Like former Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead once opined, getting back to football – and away from the business of a running a football program – can be a nice change of pace for former head coaches.
Diaz is no different, even if his dismissal from Miami wasn’t how he envisioned things going, there are worse things than getting back to coaching and nothing else.
“Ultimately, as a coach, you’re a teacher,” Diaz said. “I’m blessed with the guys that I have. I have great guys in the linebacker room. I’m really fortunate for the defensive personnel in general. Not just of their talent, but who they are. You get back to that room, you get back to that relationship of being a teacher. You try to do that as a head coach, there’s just a barrier. It’s just not that same. That part has been nice.”
Diaz will have his hands full in 2022 as the Nittany Lions look to bounce back from injuries and departures to the NFL. The good news for fans though might be found in the fact Penn State has seen plenty of change over last decade, but having a nationally relevant defense has been a steady constant throughout the years.
And Diaz isn’t looking to change that trend any.
“[Players leave] but what doesn’t change is the standard,” Diaz said. “The names aren’t the same but the expectation of how they need to play does not change. Our guys are excited about that and want to step up.”
