Penn State Football hires Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator

Penn State Football announced this morning they have landed Manny Diaz as the team’s defensive coordinator 

Penn State Football has got their guy.

Manny Diaz will replace Brent Pry as the Nittany Lions‘ new defensive coordinator after being fired by Miami last few where he served as their head coach for three seasons.

Diaz comes to Happy Valley with a plethora of experience. At age 47, he has been coaching since 1998, where he began as a grad assistant at his alma mater Florida State.

His first defensive coordinator job came at Middle Tennessee in 2006, and he then bounced around I. That same position at Mississippi State, Texas, Louisiana Tech, and then Miami before ultimately becoming the Canes’ head coach.

Diaz is also known to be a strong recruiter and despite being fired at Miami after only three seasons, he had plenty of talent on that team especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Since 2019, Miami has had nine defensive players drafted into the NFL, including two first-round picks in 2021 in edge rushers Jaelan Phillips and Gregory Rousseau.

This is a strong hire by James Franklin and Penn State Football and one that shows the new contract for Franklin with increased assistant pool money is already paying off.

This has a no-messing-around approach feel to it, to go get a guy who was just a head coach and has over 10 plus years of experience as a defensive coordinator.