By all accounts, Manny Diaz had a dynamic season in his first year as Penn State’s defensive coordinator in 2022.
He was a semifinalist for the Broyles Award — given to the top assistant in the nation — and directed a Nittany Lion defense that finished in the top 10 nationally in myriad key categories: pass break-ups (1st), defensive pass efficiency (2nd), tackles for a loss (4th), sacks (5th), red zone defense (8th, first in the Big Ten), takeaways (9th) and scoring defense (10th)
And the Penn State defense has the makings to be even better in 2023.
For that, and much more, Diaz is beloved by his players.
“Manny is like the grandfather of the defense,” edge rusher Chop Robinson said last week. “It’s his attitude towards us. I just love him. He’s an intense guy. He just wants greatness out of everybody. He has great intensity and energy. Having Coach (James) Franklin’s energy and Manny Diaz’s energy combined pushes everybody to the limit. It makes everybody better.”
The Nittany Lions might have to enjoy Diaz while they have him. If there’s a repeat of 2022 — but with a better performance against Ohio State and Michigan, who hung a combined 85 points on PSU — Diaz will be a hot commodity on the head coaching market come December.
Diaz was 21-15 in three seasons (2019-21) as head coach at Miami (Fla.), despite spending a good — or bad — bit of the 2021 season operating under the shadow of a high-level campaign to ouster him in favor of Mario Cristobal. And that’s exactly what happened — Diaz was fired and Cristobal’s Hurricanes limped to a 5-7 record in his first season as their head coach in 2022.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s defense Manny’d up and didn’t miss a beat despite the departure of longtime PSU defensive coordinator Brent Pry to Virginia Tech, where he led the Hokies to a 3-8 record.
THE DOLLARS OF DC DIAZ
Seemingly, Diaz has been a bargain for the Nittany Lions. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Diaz has a guaranteed contract with Miami that carries him through the 2023 season. For the 2022 and ’23 seasons, Diaz was owed between $6.5 million and $8 million dollars. The amount owed is offset — reduced — by whatever Penn State is paying Diaz.
In Pry’s final season as D-coordinator with the Nittany Lions (2020), he earned $1.6 million, according to Penn State’s annual report of its top earners. (Pry’s salary spiked high and quickly; in 2016, his first year as PSU DC, he was paid $603,643.)
Bottom line, though well-compensated by Penn State, Diaz’s overall earnings — Miami + Penn State — will drop precipitously after 2023 if he stays in Happy Valley. Though we do not know what Diaz is paid, when head coach James Franklin renegotiated his most recent contract, he bargained for Penn State to agree to make his coordinators among the top three paid in the Big Ten and top eight overall. According to a FootballScoop.com report in April 2023, the three highest-paid D-coordinators in the Big Ten are: Jim Knowles, Ohio State, $1.9 million; Phil Parker, Iowa, $1.3 million; and Scottie Hazleton, Michigan State, and Joe Rossie, Minnesota, both at $1.1 million.
Put another way: If PSU’s defense lives up to the hype, Franklin can’t afford to keep Diaz. His stock will be high, figuratively and literally. Other programs will want Diaz to be their head coach. Lots of them, in fact.
According to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, there were 24 new head coach hires among the 133 FBS schools since last season, a turnover of 18%. In the last two years, there were 54 new hires at head coach at FBS football programs. And, over the past four years, there were 96 new head coaching hires. No wonder James Franklin is the second-longest tenured head coach in the Big Ten.
THE CARDS UP MANNY’S SLEEVE
Manny’s day may come. Soon.
But for right now, Diaz says he is (very) happy with where he is at.
Two weeks ago, while standing on the Beaver Stadium turf during media day, Diaz provided an interesting analogy in his reply when I asked him about his “career trajectory.”
“Career trajectory,” he laughed. “What do you mean by that?”
“How long you plan to be a coordinator and do you want to be a head coach again?” I answered.
Diaz is adroit in his handling of the media and in his two years at Penn State, he has never dodged a question. No surprise, given that Diaz was an intern at ESPN and then spent two years there as a production assistant — first on SportsCenter, then on their NFL programs. I like his style.
“Here’s the way I look at it, OK?” Diaz told me. “It’s like a deck of cards, right? Being defensive coordinator at Penn State is one of the top cards in the deck. It’s a better card than being a head coach at some other places.
“You can have a desire to be a head coach again, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to go jump at the first opportunity – especially with the lessons I learned at my last opportunity. You want to take a job at the right time to take it. I think you can get a feel of that from what is happening here.
“There is a momentum that comes with alignment that helps make some things easier. If that’s true, then the inverse must be true as well. If there is a lack of alignment, that creates a friction that makes things not work. That’s why you can watch teams and programs that seem to win over time and some not so much.
“When you’re in a great spot around great people,” Diaz concluded, “you don’t have to be desperate to just go anywhere.”
ON DECK
Should Diaz depart after the 2023 season, there are a number of potential successors currently on Franklin’s quite sizable staff — I counted nearly 80 full-time football employees during a staff picture on photo day in Beaver Stadium on Sunday.
Associate head coach/cornerbacks coach Terry Smith has been with Franklin longer than any other current assistant, having joined the staff when CJF arrived at Penn State in January 2014. Anthony Poindexter is in his third season at Penn State, and is the co-defensive coordinator as well as the safeties coach. Poindexter came close to taking the University of Virginia head coaching position in the offseason.
Two first-year analysts in the Penn State program have vast experience as defensive coordinators. Ola Adams, who works with the Penn State defense, was the DC at Villanova in 2021, when Penn State beat ’Nova 38-17. That season, the Villanova defense was one of the best in the FCS. It was No. 1 in total defense and pass efficiency defense, while finishing third in interceptions. Adams spent the 2022 season in the NFL coaching with the Denver Broncos.
“Ola fits in very well. It’s the kind of person he is,” Diaz said. “He understands defensive and offensive football very well. He had pro experience a year ago. He can fill in the role of what Danny Rocco did a year ago.
“When we get into the season, he can stay a week ahead of us in terms of opponent scouting. And he’ll also do self-scouting, in terms of what is working for us. Or why we are giving up plays in this coverage or that coverage. To have somebody who can come along for the ride, but have a bit of distance to what we’re doing is of great value.”
The other is Robb Smith, who spent his career as a defensive coach but is working with the Nittany Lion offense as an analyst. He previously served as a defensive coordinator at Maine, Rutgers, Arkansas, Minnesota and Duke.
