ESPN REPORT: The Penn State Nittany Lions football Head Coach is Being Fired Due to…
As the Blue Devils wrap up their hiring process to replace former head coach Mike Elko, Manny Diaz, the defensive coordinator at Penn State, is “the focus” of their search for a new head coach. If Diaz leaves Penn State, head coach James Franklin will replace both coordinators in the same offseason for the second time. Diaz, in his second year at Penn State, has been on Duke’s radars for more than a week.
What state defense is all about. In addition to teaching football in general, which we spend a lot of time on, I believe he has done a pretty good job of teaching the defensive players how to approach the game specifically on the defensive side of the ball.Manny has done an excellent job of coaching football, establishing guidelines for our practices, including jog-through periods and full-speed drills, and he has just elevated the defense to a new level of consistency.”
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After losing his job as head coach at the University of Miami, Diaz arrived at Penn State in 2022. He has stated that he intends to take on the role of head coach once more. Diaz earlier today informed Statecollege.com’s Mike Poorman thatyear, saying he would only act in such a situation.
At the Penn State football media day in August, Diaz said to Poorman, “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.” “It’s important to accept a job offer when it’s appropriate. I think what’s going on here gives you a sense of that. It takes not to be desperate to move anyplace when you’re in a fantastic place with nice people.”
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After the 2015 season, Franklin fired both offensive coordinators and appointed Kansas native Andy Kotelnicki as his replacement. HeIn November 2015, offensive coordinator John Donovan was sacked. Joe Moorhead was hired in December, while Brent Pry was moved to defensive coordinator following Bob Shoop’s departure for Tennessee in early January. 2016 saw Penn State win the Big Ten.
Franklin stated that if he had to replace Diaz, he will repeat the “very transparent” approach he and Kotelnicki took during their interview discussions.
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“I don’t know how many times or hours me and Andy have spoken together, but I think one of the things that was helpful for him as well as for me was that we felt like we were both being very transparent about what he was looking for and what I thought we needed,” Franklin said. Additionally, for himHe had to feel good about what he was joining in order to leave a program and a guy [Kansas head coach Lance Leipold] with whom he’d been with for 11 years and with a very, very secure contract. And it was my responsibility to ensure that we were obtaining all we needed.” At Penn State, Diaz built one of the nation’s top defenses in 2023. The team leads the nation in total defense, sacks, and fewest first downs allowed while ranking second in pass defense, rushing defense, and turnovers gained. The Lions have held 17 straight opponents to 24 points or fewer, the longest streak forsuch a trend throughout the country.
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Before the Michigan State game, Franklin stated of Diaz, “We’ve been fortunate to play good defense here for a while, but I do believe that Manny has done a phenomenal job of not only taking what we been able to do here over ten years, but taking it to another level.” “Of course, we’ve talked about the marginally different style. Because there aren’t many gimme, free yards on the field with as much media attention as we play, you have the potential to be more oppressive with this strategy, as we have discussed in the past.
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He’s done an excellent job, in my opinion, of teaching and promoting the Penn Standards.
