Penn State has tapped former Miami head coach Manny Diaz as its new defensive coordinator, adding a highly regarded defensive coach and recruiter to the staff.
Diaz spent the past three seasons as Miami's head coach, and 18 days before that in December 2018 as the head coach at Temple.
"Manny is a veteran defensive play-caller whose head coaching experience will bring tremendous value to our organization," Penn State coach James Franklin said in a statement. "He has an innovative approach to complement his extensive Xs & Os knowledge which he developed through his stops at multiple Power Five conferences.
"Manny's defensive philosophy is in line with our scheme and will help in the transition with our current team. His defenses have been aggressive and led the country in several categories throughout his career."
Miami fired Diaz on Monday in a messy and public process that Diaz said "disappointed" him. He went 21-15 in three seasons at Miami, which then hired Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, whom it reportedly gave a hard deadline to accept the job. Otherwise, according to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger, Miami would have retained Diaz.
It's a bold hire for Penn State and Franklin, who recently signed a new 10-year contract that included additional "investments" into the program. This could be considered among them.
"With this contract, we are signaling our sustained commitment to being one of the premier programs in the history of college football," Penn State Athletics Director Sandy Barbour said in announcing Franklin's new contract. "Our goals and aspirations relating to football have never wavered, and our investments today and in the future of our program will allow us to compete at the highest level."
On the field, Diaz is a natural follow to Brent Pry, Penn State's defensive coordinator for six seasons who left to become head coach at Virginia Tech. Like Pry, Diaz is a coordinator and linebackers coach; he filled those roles for three seasons at Miami before becoming head coach in 2018.
Diaz runs a risk/reward defense that blitzes plenty and pursues turnovers aggressively. He introduced the "Turnover Chain" at Miami in 2017, when the Hurricanes tied for fourth nationally with 31 forced turnovers. Miami slipped to 116th nationally in turnover margin this season.
Penn State certainly is a departure for Diaz, who has spent the majority of his career in the South. He is a Miami native, graduated from Florida State, began his coaching career there as a graduate assistant and spent six seasons at Miami, which he called "home."
"The U has truly been 'the job' for me since I first got into coaching," Diaz said upon becoming head coach in 2018.
Still, Diaz has worked in Pennsylvania before. Diaz made that statement about Miami after spending 18 days as Temple's head coach in 2018. Hired to replace Geoff Collins on Dec. 13, 2018, Diaz left the program to take the Miami job on Dec. 30.
In a 2019 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Diaz said he understood the negative reaction to his decision. Diaz also said that the Temple administration understood his position.
"Everybody, I think, was disappointed, but there was a sense of understanding," Diaz told the Inquirer's Marc Narducci. "This would have been great and it would have been great for both of us. They knew Temple was going to be great for Manny Diaz and I believed it was, and I felt like I was going to be great for Temple."
In addition to his skills coaching defense, Diaz has developed a strong reputation as a recruiter. His 2021 class at Miami ranked second in the ACC and 10th nationally, according to 247Sports, and he built a top-20 class in 2020.
"The opportunity to lead Linebacker U is an honor and I will work every day to uphold that tradition," Diaz said in a statement. "Penn State's defense has been among the nation's best, both historically and under Coach Franklin."
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