Why Penn State firing its football coach resonated with Duke’s Manny Diaz
The firing of Penn State coach James Franklin is endemic to college football in its current state, Duke’s Manny Diaz said Monday, stressing the relentless pressure to win amid the constant demands of roster management and the millions of dollars needed to build the rosters.
Franklin was fired after Penn State’s loss at home Saturday against Northwestern, ending his almost 12-year tenure with the Nittany Lions. Diaz spent two seasons as Franklin’s defensive coordinator before becoming head coach at Duke ahead of the 2024 season.
Franklin was 104-45 at Penn State, won a Big Ten championship and reached the College Football Playoff. But an overtime loss to Oregon, a shocking upset loss to previously winless UCLA, and then the loss to Northwestern prompted the school to make a midseason change. Northwestern was a 22.5-point underdog.
“I know how hard James worked and I know nobody cared more about getting Penn State to the top,” Diaz said Monday. “It does say a lot about where we are in college football right now, that three weeks ago they could be No. 2 in the country (and) 16 days ago they were leading the No. 2 team in the country (Oregon).
“And this is going to happen more. I don’t know that we’re fully aware of how our sport is changing and how rapidly it is changing. We’re in a strange place in this sport.”
The coming of rapid transfers and the awarding of lucrative NIL packages has allowed some previous football “have-nots” — Vanderbilt comes to mind — to become more competitive, while others with stronger, traditional brands built through the decades have or will slip back a bit, Diaz said.
“If you have a university that is aligned top to bottom and wants to play championship football, you can have a championship football program anywhere,” Diaz said. “You can compete for championships anywhere now. The landscape has changed.
“There are legacy brands who believe you have to go to a legacy brand, because that’s the only place that can happen. For a long time, that was true. I don’t believe that’s true anymore, and I think there’s a lot of evidence.”
The Blue Devils (4-2, 3-0) will face undefeated Georgia Tech (6-0, 3-0) on Saturday at Wallace Stadium. The No. 12 Yellow Jackets, Diaz said, might have one of the longest win streaks in the country had a two-point play been successful against Georgia last season — the Jackets lost 44-42 in eight overtimes last November.
With his connection to Penn State, Diaz cannot be surprised that his name has cropped up among potential candidates to replace Franklin. In his two seasons as defensive coordinator, the Nittany Lions ranked among the FBS leaders in many defensive categories in compiling a 21-4 record that included a Rose Bowl win over Utah.
Diaz was a semifinalist for the 2022 Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.
Before going to Penn State, Diaz was head coach of the Miami Hurricanes, coaching in his hometown. He was 21-15 overall in three seasons, and the Canes played in three bowls, but Diaz was fired in December 2021.
Diaz did not address any of the coaching speculation but said, “There’s three things you go through as a coach. You’re in the honeymoon phase, you’re in the please-don’t-go phase or the please-leave-now phase. And it can change in three weeks.”
Diaz referred to Duke’s 1-2 start this year, with losses to Illinois and Tulane, saying, “Once you start getting into what happened then and what happens next and all that, you are going to get beat any week you play.
“College football is about preparation and mindset. That’s the whole key. You’ve got to be in the present in where you are and the second you start thinking about what’s next, you’re about to get it.”
Of note: Freeman, Johnson could return
Diaz said Monday that injured linebackers Tre Freeman and Kendall Johnson are expected to be ready for Saturday’s game. Freeman was injured on the second play of Duke’s 45-21 win at California, and Johnson has missed the past few games.
The Blue Devils have lost middle linebacker Nick Morris Jr. for the season. The injuries to Freeman and Johnson allowed younger linebackers such as Luke Mergott, Bradley Gompers and Elliott Schaper to get more snaps in the wins over Syracuse and Cal.
