In 2024, the Miami football team will play host to Duke and its new head coach, Manny Diaz. From 2016 to 2018, Diaz oversaw defense for Miami, and from 2019 to 2021, he served as head coach. As the head coach of Miami for three seasons, Diaz guided the Hurricanes to a 21-15 record. In the 2020 season, Miami came in 17th place overall.
Under head coach James Franklin, Diaz has served as Penn State’s defensive coordinator for the past two seasons.In 2023, Penn State’s pass defense of 223.3 yards per game led the country. The Nittany Lions ranked third in the US for scoring defense, giving up 11.4 points per game, and stopping 69.67 yards per game and 153.6 yards per passing yard.
Mike Elko, who finished 16-9 in two seasons at Duke, is replaced by Diaz. Elko resigned to take a position as defensive coordinator at Texas A&M, where he stayed until 2021. Elko takes over for Jimbo Fisher, the Texas A&M head coach who was fired last month after six seasons in the position. When Diaz was Miami’s head coach, Miami defeated Duke 2-1.
Miami’s record in Diaz’s first season was 6-7. 2019 saw Louisiana Tech defeat Miami 14-0 in the Independence Bowl, embarrassing the Miami football team. 2020 saw Miami’s greatest season under Diaz with the departure of offensive coordinator Dan Enos and the hiring of Rhett Lashlee in his place. Miami had an 8-3 season finale in 2020.
After a 2-4 start in 2021, Diaz’s future at Miami was most likely already decided. Miami came back to win its final six games, going 7-5. The only setback came against Florida State. Due to a Covid outbreak, Miami was unable to play Washington State in the Sun Bowl. On December 8, Cristobal was employed.
With networks already established in Florida and the Southeast, Diaz will have a head start in recruiting at Duke. Miami signed the 27th-ranked 2019 class, which he assisted in recruiting, under Diaz. In 2020, Miami signed the class that was ranked 17th among all recruits in the first full class under Diaz. The 11th-ranked 2021 class was signed by Miami.
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