Manny Diaz’s Leap of Faith to Coaching

Diaz kicks off his first season as Duke’s 23rd head football coach

Duke head football coach Manny Diaz runs onto the field, flanked by police officers and followed by players in uniform
Manny Diaz says taking a chance led him to his first season as Duke’s 23rd head football coach. Photo courtesy of Duke Athletics.

If Manny Diaz had really thought about it, considered all the pros and cons and possible ways he could fail, he probably would have never started down the path that has led him to his first season as Duke’s 23rd head football coach.

He never would have taken that initial step of leaving his job as a production assistant at ESPN in 1997. He never would have shown up in Tallahassee, Florida, with only a hope that a career as a football coach was a better fit for him.

“We often think, ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’” said Diaz, 50. “I don’t think we think enough, ‘What’s the best that can happen?’”

Diaz calls it “youthful naivety” now, but in retrospect, it was a bold move to leave what had long been his goal to work as a sports journalist. He attended Florida State University, where he was a communications major and sports editor of an alternative campus newspaper and traveled across the country to cover Seminoles football games.

His first job as a production assistant at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, meant cutting game highlights, logging films and talking with football analysts. Stephanie Druley, now ESPN’s Head of Content Operations, told the Miami Herald in 2019 that he was “very intense, very driven, even at that young age.”

But Diaz started to realize that it wasn’t the career he’d find fulfilling.

Duke head football coach Manny Diaz gives high-fives to a line of children as he walks down a sidewalk.
Duke head coach Manny Diaz interacts with pint-sized fans during the first Blue Devil Walk of the 2024 season. Photo courtesy of Duke Athletics

“You’re not quite inside the circle,” he said. “The closer I got, the more I got that feeling that I wanted to be inside that circle.”

So, at age 23 and with his wife, Stephanie, five months pregnant, Diaz moved to Florida with the hope that he could land a job that would propel his coaching career.

“Had I known what I was up against, if I had I known what the steps were, I doubt I would have taken them, because you would have realized how stacked the odds are against you,” Diaz said.

He started as a volunteer for Florida State, but by the end of 1997 season, FSU coaches trusted Diaz enough to break down opponents’ film. That led to an assistant position at NC State and eventually his first head coaching job at Miami, where he led the Hurricanes to three consecutive bowl appearances from 2019-21. Most recently, Diaz was defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Penn State before accepting the Duke job and moving to Durham with his wife and three sons.

All because he took a chance.

“I think in a weird way, it helps just going and jumping without a parachute,” said Diaz, who has coached in 21 bowl games over his 26-year career. “Because logically, rationally it may not have made sense.”

After all, what’s the best that could happen?

Cheer on the Blue Devils and Share Your Game Day Photos

The Duke Football Employee Kickoff Celebration is Oct. 26, when the Blue Devils play SMU at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. On game day, Duke staff and faculty are invited to share fun pics during the game on social media. Be sure to tag @WorkingatDuke on social media and use the hashtag #DukeEmployeeKickoff to be eligible win a chance at a football signed by Head Coach Manny Diaz.

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