Duke is finalizing a deal to make Penn State DC Manny Diaz its next head coach, sources tell @YahooSports.
December 7th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
This is good
December 7th, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
Eh. I'd have rather they hired Knowles. Diaz at PSU isn't enough to overcome his idiotic head coach. Michigan will continue to beat PSU, with or without Diaz, more often than not. Taking Knowles away from osu would have been much more fun, in my opinion.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:03 AM ^
Yep, I would have liked them to know Knowles.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:11 AM ^
THE KNOWLESEDGE!
December 7th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
Knowles sucks
December 7th, 2023 at 11:30 AM ^
I would have agreed after last year. This year, with a number of the same players? Hard to argue they weren't solid.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
Of course, you generally expect a talented, veteran defense to be good.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:22 PM ^
M was not as good in O
December 7th, 2023 at 11:19 AM ^
OSU's luck may be changing (we can only hope), but look at the number of times they've made lemonade out of lemons the past twenty years.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
What "lemons" has OSU had to work with?
December 7th, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^
I think referencing coaching changes where OSU fires a coach and then gets a very good coach, or a QB injury where OSU's third string guy plays great and carries them to a championship, etc. OSU has not faced much adversity, but when they have, it's almost been a positive for them.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:39 AM ^
Given the constraints of their HCs, neither Diaz nor Knowles are going to routinely beat Michigan.
December 7th, 2023 at 6:33 PM ^
We don't play PSU until at least 2026. So who cares.
December 7th, 2023 at 5:56 PM ^
He is good at making Tik Tok videos to rile up opponents so why not go to Duke
December 7th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
Good for Duke
And bad for Penn State
Which is good for Michigan
December 7th, 2023 at 12:07 PM ^
Gud for Dook.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
Is this good for Duke? The last 2 head coaches (Cutcliffe and Elko) seem less gimmicky that the Diaz blitzball approach.
December 7th, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^
Except UM doesn’t play PSU every year anymore, and I’m pretty sure PSU isn’t on the schedule next season.
December 7th, 2023 at 10:58 AM ^
A little sad, I quite enjoyed watching UM play against Manny Diaz defenses
December 7th, 2023 at 11:00 AM ^
Assuming that PSU's DC replacement can't fill Diaz's competent shoes, are we going to wave good by to Franklin next year when PSU craters? What will Franklin then do? Most likely work on his sketching talent.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
This meme gets an auto-upvote from me.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:16 AM ^
They made a great OC hire, so most likely they'll now be good at offense and shit at defense.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
I dunno. Franklin must be the world's best poker player. Not as such for football and coaching. But he keeps hiring amazing assistants, with a few whiffs in the middle. I just don't see a bunch of ready to pluck high quality DCs out there who aren't getting better offers. Knowles didn't exactly seem the right fit, but he's holding his own. To be honest I didn't expect this much from Minter neither. Who could Penn State hire, and from where except within the B1G can you find excellent defensive coaching (a hint of sarcasm in there)?
December 7th, 2023 at 1:02 PM ^
PSU can always hire Parker away from Iowa…. But he is probably already heading to MSU.
.
.
Boom!! tRCMB-ed
December 7th, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
Parker is likely heading to MState?
December 7th, 2023 at 12:41 PM ^
I don't know if we'll see a big difference. PSU has a lot of talent, so while Diaz was good, there's no reason a new DC shouldn't come in and do reasonably well.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
*Dook
December 7th, 2023 at 11:05 AM ^
Why the fuck is nobody hiring Brian Hartline?! That's one dude I would like to go away.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:44 AM ^
I dont get why Hartline doesnt get a lot of attention. I thought he would have been a homerun hire for MSU. One that would have made me think MSU might be frisky in a few years.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
True, but I feel like they hit a homerun with Smith. Was really hoping he'd go somewhere else...
December 7th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
Probably because everyone knows Day is the OC and Hartline is mostly a really good recruiter.
He'll land somewhere eventually, but I imagine only a P5 job can pull him from Columbus.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
Thanks to your comment, I am now a part of this everyone of which you speak.
My guess is Ryan Day knows that BHK5H.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
Allegedly?
December 7th, 2023 at 12:42 PM ^
In the past he said he simply loves coaching the WR position so he has no interest in doing anything other than being a WR coach forever. But I think after he became the OC this year he's made some comments about how his interests have grown and now he would love to be a head coach, but only for an opportunity that has a good shot at a national championship or a Super Bowl.
What can we do to get some NFL teams to come knocking on his door? Come on Bears, go convince him it would be fun to team up with Fields again
December 8th, 2023 at 8:50 AM ^
What's the big fear of Hartline? He recruits 5* receivers, then doesn't teach them to block or chase down interceptions.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
I don’t think PSU is on Michigan’s schedule next season. Which is kinda weird. But also good considering there are already quite a few tough matchups.
December 7th, 2023 at 7:14 PM ^
PSU might actually become the favorite to win the Big Ten next year.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
well that's funny to me
December 7th, 2023 at 11:08 AM ^
Diaz was a decent coach at Miami and has a plan defensively but (a) he's not going to get that level of athlete at Duke, which will limit the ceiling for his defensive system in terms of overall intensity, and (b) he strikes me as a guy you can gameplan around. Like, he had 2 years to plan for Michigan and even at home with Michigan down their HC with barely 12 hours to prepare he still didn't seem able to adjust.
But it's not a bad job by Duke to replace Elko with a name defensive guy, so if nothing else it should help keep the identity of the team going.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:13 AM ^
Somewhere out there, our old friend, NittanyFan, is kicking his dog in the face.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:17 AM ^
lets hope not. maybe he's just making faces in the mirror.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:19 AM ^
I don't have a dog!
Diaz was a good DC, but I don't think he was great --- game-day adjustments were merely good.
As for 2024 and beyond, I imagine the PSU defense will be about the same as it has ever been. They'll recruit talent, they'll be solid. PSU rarely has a non-Top 20 defense (2016, 2013, that's really it for their B1G era).
Say what one will about Franklin, but this is now 4 coordinators -- 2 OC and 2 DC -- who have left for FBS HC coaching roles in 7 years (Joe Moorhead, Ricky Rahne, Brent Pry, Manny Diaz) --- 3 of those P5 jobs. His top assistants are moving on to good roles, it makes it easier to recruit new folks there.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
franklin will hire sean spencer away from florida.
Edit.... Elko hired him away from FL and took him to A & M
December 7th, 2023 at 11:37 AM ^
What I'll say about Franklin is that he's a good recruiter, below average game day coach who has reached his and his team's peak and will now have PSU vary between great (for him) teams like this year (#5 SP+) and good teams (top 10-20).
May Frames stay at PSU forever!!
BTW- Moorhead is making 500k as HC for the Akron Zips- not sure that is the best success story to list first for Frames
December 7th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
I listed the 4 departures in chronological order.
Moorhead went to Mississippi State after 2017, he was 14-12 there over 2 seasons but they let him go. I think the firing was more personality/fit/culture driven then performance, as 14-12 down there isn't terrible.
My point there: he is at Akron now and he's definitely struggling there, but I wouldn't necessarily label him a failure post-PSU.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
Moorehead is still preferred to less head. Also to most any OC I could imagine. He is a genius.
December 7th, 2023 at 11:45 AM ^
This a thousand times over. Michigan has a handful of assistants on their staff right now who can be HCs at the level above Akron. It must be hell to be a Franklin assistant.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:03 PM ^
"I don't have a dog!"
I would hope not if you'd be kicking them in the face! But also, without a dog your life is missing happiness.
December 7th, 2023 at 12:09 PM ^
Manny was already a head coach at Miami, so I'll give Franklin partial credit. Let's call it 3.5 coordinators.
December 7th, 2023 at 2:06 PM ^
Yeah, the assistants he does keep around do have a decent track record of going elsewhere and being successful. I agree PSU will be able to find another decent DC who'll keep them humming along.