Manny Diaz to face Miami for first time since firing

Manny Diaz was supposed to be the next great Miami Hurricanes head coach. It all made too much sense. The Miami native and son of the former mayor of Miami spent three years as the defensive coordinator of the Hurricanes under head coach Mark Richt, where he developed one of the best defenses in college football.

During his time as defensive coordinator, Diaz was also the architect of the notorious "Turnover Chain," a gimmick that many other college football programs have taken and ran with. You could argue Diaz was as responsible as Mark Richt for the identity of the Hurricanes during the 2016-2018 seasons.

Diaz's success landed him a head coaching job with the Temple Owls, but when Mark Richt retired just weeks later, there was no question about what Miami would do. They paid the necessary buyout to Temple in order to make Manny Diaz the next head coach of the Miami Hurricanes.

His tenure didn't work out like everyone thought it would. In just three years, Diaz compiled a 21-15 record and was fired before the Hurricanes handsomely paid Mario Cristobal to be their next head coach.

Diaz landed on his feet in a fantastic situation, taking over as the defensive coordinator at Penn State. His success there led him to his second head coaching gig, returning him to the ACC with the Duke Blue Devils.

In his first year at Duke, Diaz has done a fantastic job. He has the Blue Devils at 6-2 through eight games, with their only losses to 5-4 Georgia Tech and 7-1 SMU. His next test is against his former team, the no. 5 ranked 8-0 Miami Hurricanes.

Diaz spoke at a press conference this week, talking about his return to Miami.

"I've grown. I'm different as a coach, as a head coach, as a man [than] I was at Miami. And certainly, the program's in a different place by every metric from when I was there, so... I'm at peace. I've moved on."

Duke HC Manny Diaz

The program eclipsed just eight wins once in Diaz's three years with the program, and that came in the 2020 COVID season when Miami went 8-3. Miami is already at eight wins this year and is likely to play in its first ACC Championship game since 2017.

In a lot of ways, Diaz's firing following the 2021season could be seen as a win-win for both parties: the Hurricanes are in the best spot they've been in in years, and Diaz is also in a terrific spot leading a good Blue Devils team in his first year at the helm.