Manny Diaz isolating but feeling good after testing positive for COVID-19

Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz is in isolation but feeling good after revealing on Friday morning he tested positive for COVID-19.

In a Friday morning, Twitter post, Miami Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz revealed he is in isolation but “feeling good overall” after testing positive for COVID-19. Diaz is continuing to work with the Miami football team virtually as they prepare for their December 5 game at Wake Forest.

Miami had to cancel its games Saturday against Georgia Tech and November 28 at Wake Forest after a COVID outbreak hit the Hurricanes. The Miami game against North Carolina originally scheduled for December 5 was rescheduled to December 12. Georgia Tech is tentatively scheduled for December 19.

December 19 is the same day the ACC Championship game is scheduled that Miami is still in the running for. The Hurricanes need a Clemson loss or two Notre Dame losses to reach the title game. Miami can still tie for the ACC regular-season title with a Notre Dame loss but would lose the tiebreaker.

Miami had its season put on hold after having 11 players unavailable due to testing positive for COVID or through contact tracing against North Carolina State on November 6 and lost 13 players for the game against Virginia Tech on Saturday. Manny Diaz testing positive for COVID-19 is the first known case for a Miami coach.

Diaz was quoted by Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald discussing the precautions that the Miami coaching staff has taken this season to minimize the possibility of contacting COVID-19. College football programs like the rest of society have maximized virtual meetings and minimized in-person meetings.

"“We sort of have unofficial if-this-then-that staff dynamics…We try to do a really good job in the building. We don’t meet in our normal offensive and defensive staff rooms. We meet in big team meeting rooms. We’re in large areas. We’re all spread out apart from each other.We’re obviously always wearing masks when we’re in the building, so we do as much as we can. And it’s still hard and there is not guarantee that it won’t affect our staff.’’"

Because of the COVID outbreak, Miami has altered practice and team meetings this week as stated above by Diaz. Diaz is the latest Power Five head coach to test positive for COVID-19. According to Yahoo Sports, Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst, Dan Mullen of Florida, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman Mike Norvell of FSU tested positive.

Norvell missed the Seminoles 52-10 loss to Miami after testing positive and was the first coach to miss a game. With more than two weeks until Miami plays Wake Forest, Diaz should be expected to coach against the Demon Deacons. With a 7-1 record, Miami still has a lot to play for this season.