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By Andy Stine
astine@altoonamirror.com
There wasn't much Penn State could do to stop Manny Diaz from leaving if he found a job that he liked. In the end, it turned out that Duke was a good enough job for the Lions' defensive coordinator to accept on Thursday.
It was inevitable that Diaz would be highly sought for a head coaching job after the two seasons he had at Penn State. The Nittany Lion defense was statistically the nation's best this year, allowing 223.2 yards per game. That was the best mark for a season since Alabama in 2011. The Tide had current Georgia head coach Kirby Smart as a defensive coordinator that season, and had players that went on to become stars in the NFL such as linebackers Dont'a Hightower and C.J. Mosley, and cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick.
Diaz takes over at Duke, which confirmed the hiring on X Thursday at 9 p.m., for Mike Elko, who was named the head coach of Texas A&M on Nov. 27. The Blue Devils went 7-5 this year under Elko, including a signature win over Clemson to open the season. Duke plays Troy in the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 23.
Diaz led a PSU defense that saw cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and safety Ji'Ayir Brown get drafted in the second and third round, respectively, of the NFL Draft last year. Defensive end Chop Robinson declared for the draft earlier this week and is expected to be a first-round pick, while cornerback Kalen King is a possible first-rounder this year. Defensive end Adisa Isaac and linebacker Curtis Jacobs, if he declares, could also be selected in April.
It probably also helped his case that Diaz has been a head coach before. Diaz was the head man for his hometown Miami Hurricanes from 2019-21, where he compiled a 21-15 record. Even though he was making progress at Miami, the university fired him to bring in Mario Cristobal from Oregon.
Whether Penn State stays in-house in the search for a new defensive coordinator will be an interesting decision. Anthony Poindexter already has the title of co-defensive coordinator along with his duties as the safeties coach. Cornerbacks coach Terry Smith is the staff's associate head coach.
If PSU coach James Franklin makes the decision to open up the job for outside candidates, he'll likely have a large selection of strong talent. The last two defensive coordinators have gone on to head coaching jobs in the ACC, including Brent Pry who was named the head coach at Virginia Tech after the 2021 season.