3 takeaways from Penn State Football hiring Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator

1. A Big Boy Hire for Penn State Football 

When head coach James Franklin signed his 10-year extension in November, one of the many aspects of the deal was an increased assistants pool of money so he could go out and hire the best coaches and retain them at Penn State Football.

The hiring of Diaz feels like that new deal immediately paying dividends for Franklin and the program as he is one of the biggest names on the market and this will be one of the biggest splash hires or the offseason.

He was reportedly making over $3 million a year at Miami and although his salary with the Nittany Lions has not yet been announced, it is probably a safe assumption it will be north of seven figures.

We just saw Ohio State go out and hire former Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and it was reported to be a three-year deal, worth $1.9 million a year.

That is the big boy type of hire Ohio State makes regularly, poaching a coordinator to the same position for their school. The big fish eating the little fish in college football.

If Penn State Football wants to play and compete with the elite in the sport, they must be willing to make hires just like this one.