Virginia Tech Faces a Familiar Foe in Manny Diaz

Manny Diaz has had an eventful decade. He started out as a linebacker and linebacker coach for Louisiana Tech in 2014. After stopping for a cup of coffee in Mississippi State in 2015, he ended up in Coral Gables, FL. From 2016-2018 Diaz was the defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes under HBC Mark Richt.

Richt was brought to Miami to fix an ailing Hurricanes program that had underperformed with some future N.F.L.‘ers all over the roster. In this role, Diaz excelled. He was a Boyle’s nominee. The Miami defense was a top-20 unit, and “The U” started putting together some solid results. By the time his tenure had ended at Miami, the defense was ranked in the top five nationally.

With all of the success he enjoyed, it was a matter of time before head coaching opportunities came a calling. The winning suitor was a bit of a surprise, as Diaz accepted a head coaching position at Temple.

Old-school Big East will enjoy the irony here, as Virginia Tech, Temple, AND Miami were members of this once proud conference. Diaz had a very unusual record as head coach at Temple University. He finished undefeated. He never lost a game as Temple’s head coach because he never coached a game. With a final mark of 0-0, Miami pulled the trigger to get him once again.

As the head coach at Miami, Diaz saw middling success. In the end, it wasn’t good enough and he was dismissed. Penn State knew a value proposition when he saw it and hired him to head the Nittany Lions defense. You see,

James Franklin was short a defensive coordinator. His previous coach had just taken his first head coaching job. That coach was Brent Pry. That school was Virginia Tech. On Saturday night in Durham, it should certainly be an exciting matchup. The coaches have way more in common than you might have thought.