Published By: Sports Desk
Last Updated: December 10, 2023, 01:00 IST
Read all newest and breaking Sports News on News18.com
Duke lives in a special place than the final time the Blue Devils needed to rent a soccer coach. The identical is true for Manny Diaz as he begins his second stint as a head coach.
DURHAM, N.C.: Duke lives in a special place than the final time the Blue Devils needed to rent a soccer coach. The identical is true for Manny Diaz as he begins his second stint as a head coach.
The Blue Devils are driving a speedy rise from Mike Elko’s two-year teaching tenure, going from a program in steep decline to 1 getting ready for a second bowl straight bowl sport. And it’s now on Diaz — who beforehand spent three years main Miami — so as to add to that program-changing jumpstart.
“We are not here to tear down what’s been done, but at the same time we’re not here to sustain what’s been done,” Diaz stated Saturday at his introductory information convention. “The growth that’s happened in the past year, we’ve got to continue to grow on that.”’
Duke introduced Diaz’s hiring on Thursday night time, capping a 10-day search after Elko boarded an in a single day flight to take over at Texas A&M. The Blue Devils gained 16 video games beneath Elko, who inherited a program that had seen the long-successful run of David Cutcliffe fizzle in a haze of blowout losses.
Saturday’s information convention for Diaz in Duke’s indoor follow facility got here near being precisely two years after the one for Elko’s arrival. That hiring required Duke to improve investments in soccer akin to growing the wage pool for hiring and retaining assistant coaches.
“The infrastructure is in a good place,” athletics director Nina King stated. “And when Coach Elko came in, we had a lot of conversations about growing the investment, and we did that. I know we didn’t have much work to do when we brought Coach Diaz in. We’re in a good place.”
The 49-year-old Diaz had spent the earlier two seasons as defensive coordinator at Penn State overseeing a number of the nation’s prime models. Before that got here his stint because the Hurricanes’ head coach, which featured each a powerful run of success in Atlantic Coast Conference play earlier than a clumsy firing.
He went 21-15 from 2019-21 and the Hurricanes went 16-9 in ACC video games throughout Diaz’s tenure, with solely Clemson (22) profitable extra league video games.
“Your first year as a head coach, I think you get your sea legs under you a little bit more,” Diaz stated. “And I felt our second and third year at Miami, I thought we were on the process, on the way, of building a really strong culture.”
But the varsity fired him on the identical day it employed present coach Mario Cristobal in an try to hasten a return to the nationwide elite, with Diaz saying on the time that he was dissatisfied about “the manner in which this played out” in weeks main as much as his ouster.
But he didn’t take a lot time to regroup, both, noting his spouse Stephanie pushed him to “get back on the saddle.” That alternative got here instantly from the Nittany Lions.
“I think (PSU coach) James Franklin called me — he might have called me an hour after getting fired at Miami,” Diaz stated Saturday. ‘I mean, the body wasn’t even chilly on the funeral.”
Diaz, who additionally coached linebackers at Penn State, led a protection that completed within the prime 20 of the FBS rankings in complete and scoring protection in 2022. It stands at No. 1 in complete protection (223.3 yards) and No. 3 in scoring protection (11.4) this season as Penn State (10-2) prepares to face Ole Miss within the Peach Bowl.
He’s taking on a workforce that gained 9 video games in Elko’s debut and gained seven extra coming into the Birmingham Bowl in opposition to Troy on Dec. 23. This 12 months’s workforce opened with a rout of preseason ACC favourite Clemson, cracked the AP Top 25 amid a 4-0 begin and even hosted ESPN’s “College GameDay” for the primary time in soccer — after a number of visits for the storied males’s basketball program — forward of a ranked-vs-ranked matchup in opposition to Notre Dame.
“Listen, It’s different now,” King stated. “And credit to Mike Elko, where he got us, where has put us — I think Manny’s going to be able to come in and just keep the upward trajectory. He’s set up pretty well.”
___
Get alerts on the most recent AP Top 25 ballot all through the season. Sign up right here.
___
AP school soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
