Duke coach Manny Diaz’s former boss was fired Sunday morning, and he commented on how things ended with James Franklin at Penn State.
“It’s fascinating you say that,” Diaz said at his weekly press conference Monday. “First of all, I just, you know – thinking a lot about the guys up there in State College, staff and players. You know, a lot of the coaches that are there that I worked it, all the guys on the defensive staff were all still there. I know how hard they worked. I know how hard James worked. I know no one cared more about getting Penn State to the top than James Franklin did.”
Diaz went onto say that the situation “does say a lot about where we are in college football.”
“Three weeks ago, they could be number two in the country,” Diaz said. “16 days ago they were leading the number two team in the country, or whatever, in overtime.”
‘I’VE ALREADY BEEN THROUGH IT’
ATLANTA, GA Ð NOVEMBER 10: Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz (left) and defensive coach Ephraim Banda (right) signal the defense during the game between Georgia Tech and Miami on November 10th, 2018 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)
Diaz knows better than most Franklin is going through. After three seasons at Miami, in which he went 21-15 overall and 16-9 in the ACC, Diaz was fired in controversial fashion. Days later, Penn State hired him as defensive coordinator.
After two great seasons in Happy Valley, Diaz got another ACC head coaching job, landing at Duke, where he went 9-4 in Year 1 and is currently 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the ACC in Year 2.
“I’ve already been through it,” Diaz said. “Look, there’s three things you go through when you’re a coach. You’re in the honeymoon phase, you’re in the please don’t leave phase, and you’re in the please leave now phase, right? And, what I just told you is it can change in three weeks. You have got to be present of where you are. And, the second you start thinking about what’s next, you’re about to get it.”
Franklin’s honeymoon phase took place in 2014 when he was hired.
The “please don’t leave” phase took place between 2018 and 2021, when he was linked to various high-level coaching jobs.
The “please leave now” phase happened over seven days, when embarrassing losses to UCLA and Northwestern ended up being the final games he coached for Penn State.
Now the question is, who will replace Franklin?
WHAT DIAZ WASN’T ASKED
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now: Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz during pregame warmups.
What Diaz wasn’t asked was about his own interest in the Penn State job. Considering that he used to work at Penn State and did so in the Pat Kraft era, he’s a candidate almost by default if he wants to be.
Diaz is qualified. But it’s fair to question if the best way to go about replacing James Franklin would be hiring a guy who used to work under him.
