Manny Diaz ranked last among ACC Coaches uses faulty reasoning

Athlon sports recent ranking of Manny Diaz as the worst coach in the ACC uses faulty reasoning to determine their rankings.

Manny Diaz is the only head coach in the ACC in 2019 that is embarking on his first season in that position. Scott Satterfield at Louisville and Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech are entering their first seasons with their schools. Collins and Satterfield have previously been head coaches.

Manny Diaz’s rank as the worst head coach in the ACC was solely based on his lack of experience as a head coach. The ranking relied on a formula. No perspective or broader-based opinion was used in arriving at Diaz being ranked 14th out of the 14 ACC football coaches. Athlon also ranked Diaz 88th in the FBS.

Diaz has accomplished a lot in nearly 20 years as a college football assistant coach. He is not entering his first season as a head coach after running a program as a coordinator running a head coaches’ system. Diaz was the defacto head coach of the Miami defense for the last three seasons. That defense carried Miami.

Miami’s defense was one of the elites in college football during Diaz’s three-year tenure as the coordinator. That is not likely to change as he elevates to head coach. Diaz understands the importance of delegating as a head coach. He brought in Blake Baker to run his defense with Ephraim Banda.

Steve Lassan wrote the articles for Athlon rankings and summarized the coaching rankings for the ACC and FBS. Lassan fit Diaz into a formula in the ACC rankings by placing him last because he is embarking on his first season as a head coach at Miami in 2019. It’s clear the impact Diaz has already made at Miami.

"14. Manny Diaz, MiamiDiaz – a native of Miami – is the perfect fit to replace Mark Richt. After accepting the head-coaching job at Temple in mid-December, Diaz returned to Coral Gables once Richt decided to retire.Diaz spent the last three years working as Richt’s defensive coordinator, helping the Hurricanes rank near the top of the ACC on that side of the ball. He also has stops as a defensive play-caller from stints at Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech, Texas and Middle Tennessee.Diaz has no previous experience as a head coach. However, Diaz and his staff seem to be pushing all of the right buttons going into the 2019 campaign."

Lassan’s summary of Diaz is in conflict with itself. He praises Diaz and says he’s pushing all the right buttons. Can that be said about the other 13 coaches in the ACC? Past scandals with messes to clean up and mass defections from their rosters have hindered the offseasons for some of Miami’s ACC rivals.

Diaz has profited the Miami football program by as Lassan said pushing all the right buttons. No FBS program did a better job of utilizing the transfer portal than Miami has. The Hurricanes added nine players (with December addition Asa Martin re-entering the transfer portal earlier this week) than Diaz and his staff.

The recently completely Paradise Camp showed that Diaz and his staff are serious about competing with the best programs nationally in recruiting. Miami is on the verge of filliping their second recruit from Alabama in less than a year. That’s proof Diaz should be higher in Athlon’s rankings.

Lassan and Athlon also ranked Diaz 88th in their national coaching rankings. The same summary was used to analyze what Diaz brings to the Miami football program and their future. The statement that Diaz has not coached a game yet has a lot of faults. Being a college football coach goes far beyond the sidelines.

No college football coach has done more this offseason than Manny Diaz. The improvements made by Diaz and his staff for Paradise Camp will pay dividends in years to come. The players added through the transfer portal will pay off on the field in 2019. At the end of 2019, Diaz will be a top five coach in the ACC.