Duke's Manny Diaz not taking the bait regarding Florida State opening

Duke Blue Devils head coach Manny Diaz. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Duke's Manny Diaz not taking the bait regarding Florida State opening

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Nov 2, 2026 8:03 PM ET

Manny Diaz is happy with the Duke Blue Devils.

That's at least his official story as 6-2 Duke heads into a massive Week 10 road contest against the 4-4 NC State Wolfpack.

The reason Diaz is having to address his commitment to Duke is that his name is being thrown around as a potential replacement for Mike Norvell, whom the Florida State Seminoles recently fired after six-plus seasons in Tallahassee.

Diaz, 52, is from Miami, Florida, and he's a Florida State alumnus, so the ties are there.

That's why he's a hot name for the FSU opening, but he recently reminded folks that he was a name tossed into the high-profile coaching search at Penn State last offseason.

And yet, he remained in Durham.

"It's the same thing as last year," Diaz said, per Ben Portnoy of Fox Sports. "My bags were packed for Penn State. I addressed the team last night. I made it pretty clear, I'm really, really happy here. Love being here."

Duke HC Manny Diaz here in Durham was asked about being linked to the Florida State job:

"It's the same thing as last year. My bags were packed for Penn State. I addressed the team last night. I made it pretty clear, I'm really, really happy here. Love being here." pic.twitter.com/pIVXnJ429e
— Ben Portnoy (@bportnoy15) November 2, 2026

Manny Diaz has strong ties to Florida State

Diaz's ties to the Florida region are strong, of course.

He's the son of the former Miami mayor, was a three-sport athlete in high school and graduated from Florida State in 1995.

In fact, Diaz's first coaching job was at Florida State as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden. He then slowly worked his way up to becoming one of the best defensive coordinators in college football, and that opened up an opportunity for him to be the head coach at Miami from 2019 to 2021.

Diaz went just 21-15 in three seasons at Miami, but he's been excellent in his second go-around as a head coach while at Duke.

He's currently 24-11 at Duke, and last season, he led the Blue Devils to an ACC championship, which was just the second in program history and their first outright ACC title in 1962.

As Diaz puts it, anything other than discussing Duke's preparation for NC State is simply noise.

“Anything we focus on other than finding a way to beat NC State is a distraction," he said. "So, internet rumors are going to be internet rumors. I told the coaches and players the same. … That’s just the cost of success, which I’d rather have than the alternative.”

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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