Duke football introduces Manny Diaz as its new head coach

And dedication to the sport of football as a young

professional

He stepped away from an emerging career at ESPN to

pursue his dream of coaching beginning as an unpaid volunteer

at his alma mater Florida State

And since that time he has amassed an outstanding record

He's made his mark as a defensive coach and played

a key hand in building nationally ranked defensive teams just

down the road here at North Carolina State

He knows the AC C well serving as a defensive

coordinator at Miami again producing highly ranked defensive teams before

being named head coach and over three seasons leading the

Hurricanes

His teams achieved the second best conference winning percentage in

the AC C this year at Penn State Manny co

ordinated again one of the top defenses in the country

and we think the best is yet to come here

at Duke

with man at the helm of our program

We look forward to our team's successes on the field

in the classroom in the community and beyond man

I know you've been at some other schools with well

known hand signals but I think you'll feel right at

home as we welcome you with Bowl City pride

Welcome to Duke University

We're thrilled to welcome you Stephanie Colin Galvan and Manning

to Duke and to do so let's go

And now it's my great pleasure to bring to the

podium

Our fantastic vice president and director of Athletics Nina King

Great good morning great to see everybody

Thank you so much for joining us on this historic

day uh for Duke Football

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome our new head coach

here in Durham

Manny Diaz is the perfect fit for Duke

And I wanna share with you all why When we

asked our current student athletes what they wanted in a

head coach we heard comments like someone who pushes them

to be better every day someone who values his players

on and off the field

A player coach someone who's fun to play for a

man of integrity

Our internal search committee had been in discussions on what

we as administrators wanted to see in our next head

coach

We knew we needed someone who embodies the values of

Duke University respect trust inclusion discovery and excellence

Someone who's committed to those values in athletic and academic

settings someone who will create a bold vision and continue

to elevate the Duke football program to be the very

best we can be over the past week and a

half we worked meticulously to find the right person to

lead our football program

Manny emerged as a leader who embodied all of those

characteristics

And more additionally during my conversations with me it was

clear that he will prioritize the holistic student athlete experience

and continue the positive momentum around Duke football

Not only is he a thoughtful communicator he leads with

a collaborative mindset to build meaningful relationships and those relationships

and connections are critically important to him

Through my conversations with those who know man I learned

he's a respected teacher and mentor of young men all

qualities that Duke values and that Duke student athletes deserve

And of course as President Price said coach Diaz has

an unbelievable football mind and a track record of success

that will allow him to hit the ground running here

in Durham

He is well prepared to lead Duke football into our

next iteration of success with that

I am confident that Marie Diaz is the perfect fit

for Duke University and could not be more excited before

I invite coach Diaz up here a couple of people

a few people I'd like to thank first and foremost

thank you President Price for once again trusting me with

this process and for your unwavering support

Deeply grateful for our partnership to our search committee senior

associate athletic director and our football administrator Art Chase deputy

athletic director Heather Ryan deputy athletic director Todd Mezzo and

deputy athletic director Troy Austin

We spent a lot of time together these last 10

days and I'm truly grateful to be on the same

team with colleagues that bring their genius to work every

day

Once again we partnered with Parker Executive Search and Daniel

Parker to bring the very best coach to Duke University

and a big time to Daniel and his team for

their astute council and their assistance during the thorough strategic

and swift process

From day one coach Trooper Taylor you have my deepest

appreciation for continuing to be a rock within Duke football

You served during our interim head coach during a time

that is critical for our student athletes

You're a one of a kind leader and I have

the utmost respect for you and how you kept our

student athletes staff and recruits grounded during a time filled

with anxiety and uncertainty

Thank you for keeping our team focused and prepared for

the Birmingham

and most importantly a huge thank you

Goes to our Duke student athletes our football players you

play a critical role in this process your voices matter

and we appreciate your thoughtful input and feedback as we

work to get this decision right I said it before

and I'll say it again

You are Duke football

I couldn't be more excited for you all to embark

on this journey with coach

There's so many others that have touched this process both

within athletics and in the university and please know that

I am deeply grateful for your commitment and unwavering support

through it all

Thank you

And now I am absolutely honored to have this opportunity

to turn it over to the man

We're most excited to hear from today

Ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming the 23rd

head coach of Duke football Manny Diaz

Thank you all

There was something about Duke first and foremost

I want to thank God I want to thank him

for his un electing grace allowing me to be here

today

What a privilege and an honor to stand here on

the stage to stand in front of all of you

as head football coach

The anticipation for this moment over the last 24 hours

48 hours a couple of weeks to be here to

be in front of the team yesterday

It's been special

It's been everything that I thought it to be

I can't tell you how excited me and my family

are to be here to that point

I'd like to introduce my wife

You have to you have to meet and Gavin at

another time

They couldn't be here today

But I want to share this family is the most

important thing in my life

I get used to seeing them around here a lot

It is a family program and we want to make

sure they're a part of that

Instead of me my best friend my biggest supporter I

wouldn't be here without you

She's the best and you know I love them

So thank you very much for that

But there's something about Duke

The story begins in the last couple years the first

character of the story is none other than David

and I get on the phone with and as David

and his outstanding staff was here and he would be

going to tell me there's something about Duke

And then you watched the season a year ago 2022

and you watch the success that you guys have

I talk on the phone again and say there's just

something about Duke and then like most of America home

on Labor Day Night this past year Clemson comes into

town and you just see it happen and again talking

about it afterwards

And what is it There's something about Duke fast forward

now after the season ends and all of a sudden

now there's a contact from Nina there's opening at Duke

So would you be interested Of course you'd be interested

because you've got this curiosity you got this intellectual progress

What is this thing about Well what happens in a

process is that you begin to go through the people

and you begin to meet the people and you decide

whether it's a finna mentioned that word when she was

up here the desire to have a championship culture academic

performance and competitive excellence in all aspects of life

That's what I'm about as a coach

And to me that's what the student athlete experience here

is about

So where does that begin with the Duke administration that

begins with President Price What a what a conversation

We had just an extraordinary time to hear his viewpoint

his vision for this university's greater whole and specifically with

all the chaos going on in his intention that Duke

always competes for championship at the highest level in cost

of all his commitment to that made me feel so

secure in pursuing his job to excel at

One thing is to excel at all things

And if we can be a lead in anything we

should be a lead in everything

And that to me is part of what makes Duke

do you call De De Bennett Provost and Mary Pat

mcmahon

And you go through and you're looking at the bias

and the track record we're talking about building a spaceship

going to Mars I mean and every person you meet

is more extraordinary than the next and then just in

the conversation and what Duke means to them and what

it's all about and you're just more and more interested

you're more and more engaged and then it's about neither

And you know in our relationship and her to have

faith even to give me a call to get an

idea of what type of man and what type of

coach I am

But the more I spoke with her the more I

spoke with our chase I didn't the passion for the

student and athlete experience to have the best student athlete

experience in the country is where we were aligned in

addition that she mentioned that collaboration collaboration and connection two

things that I'm all about

OK

In the time that I've been in here OK

The conversations with some of our c with all of

our supporters some of our boosters hearing their mindset hearing

what makes them hearing their backgrounds

And it continues the trend

You keep the person the next person you meet is

more dynamic and more than the last one

OK And I hear words like galvanize your words like

people want to come together

OK You got all this in mind

And I think back and I think of you know

someone who I learned a lot from was a to

me David Cutcliffe when I was a head coach in

the AC C and we were all the coaches calls

and I saw the success that he had here and

then obviously what Mike did and and and and the

energy that he brought to this program and the way

the past couple of years all these things go into

play right But then ultimately it's got to be about

the young men in the room something about Duke and

as a collaborator I feel like even though you're all

here to hear me talk I'm here to listen

I want to know what makes Duke special

I had an a team meeting in front of these

young men yesterday but I tried to get as many

as I could in my office in the time that

I had afterwards

And there was one young particular who said something and

then finally clicked the whole story

The something about Duke's story finally made sense

And what he explained to me is this he said

when we're on campus and this is a direct quote

we are surrounded by the best people in the world

say that one more time when we're on campus we're

surrounded by the best people in the world

And when we come back in the locker room we

think we are the best locker room in the world

And that's it

That's the something about that is the culture

OK That is the key

That's the most important thing

And that is the thing to me right now that

is so worthy of protecting

Ok

There's been a time of transition and as I told

the team yesterday at the time of transition the human

brain is is is built to separate us from the

whole to think of nothing but itself and what we

realize in this game

And that's why I think we all love this game

It's a game where individual goals and individual achievement come

through team success

If you want to be great you need the team

to be great

You need to pour over the team for you to

individually get out of this game what you want to

get out of it

But you have to believe in something you've got to

believe in something

You've got to believe in something that's bigger than yourself

And there can be under the uncertainty that we've gone

through in the last couple of weeks can creep in

what to believe in

The what is it You believe in the dude you

believe in the people that do and it's not a

one man show

I know there's only one person talking right now but

this is not going to be about me

This is going to be about us starting in the

locker room and everybody else in college football alignment wins

and the most aligned staffs the most aligned universities the

most aligning booster groups

When everybody in the same direction those teams win and

when you don't have that you can always look and

see a reason why for some reason those teams always

tend to struggle

I feel blessed that I am in a place that

has pure improper alignment and I want to thank President

Price for that opportunity

Thank you both very much

So as you mentioned what matters right now Ok what

matters right now is that current team We've got to

keep that current team together

There's great talent

Um There's great people in that locker room and we've

got to build on that

The first thing Order business is that they got to

go in A B game they got to finish the

season they finished the season in the manner that it

deserves in the manner of the guys that are going

out the graduating seniors that they deserve to go out

as winners

Ok

I wanted to echo Nina's comments on the current staff

here uh trooper Taylor and and and the rest of

the guys I had a chance to meet with yesterday

a phenomenal job and many of those guys are in

a level of uncertainty that they don't deserve to be

quite honest

And we understand that as coaches in this profession we

all sign up for that doesn't make them great teachers

doesn't make them great men and doesn't make them great

mentors

And I look forward to meeting with those guys one

on one and assessing their potential for a future here

at Duke as we get down the road

So the stand we're in an era where the essence

we believe an outstanding recruiting class get across the line

here seven days a week from Wednesday

And we all know the reality of the port

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 the growth that's happened in the past

year

We've got to continue to grow on that and to

do that we've got to be active we got to

make sure that we are selective

We pick the right type of people in the portal

that can help us win because we are trying to

build off what's happened and get right into it

And that will be again one of the most urgent

and elite urgent and elite topics that we've got to

attack from a field standpoint defensively

You know and again I've got to take a pause

right here to think about defense

I've got to think again

Thank first the players who had a chance to say

goodbye to you Thursday night at Penn State those people

those young men the opportunity to mentor them the last

two years

And as a teacher and your teacher knows you get

taught by the young men is the same way that

you teach them

They taught me so much

They aspired to be great

They viewed pressure as a privilege

They made it a purpose to be the number one

defense in the country

And that's a big statement I got coming and they

for the staff that we have there when you talk

about that wins

If there is a coaching staff in the country that

had more fun than us this past year I love

to see it

It almost to the point where it shouldn't be allowed

but some great men in that room

And I think the players picked up on that forever

believe the alignment and chemistry wins

And then again thank you to James Franklin for bringing

me to Penn State

Letting me get a feel for what that culture was

what it meant to be a part of the tradition

in that program

And again to allow us to have a success we

had defense in the last couple of years

But to that point we talking about we're talking about

talking about aggression

To me the point is to get the other people

to mess up and try to force mistakes to get

them to lose football games

And we know what does that turnovers the shortest indicator

of winning and losing How do turnovers turnovers happen the

most in long situations How to create long situations you

got to create That's the avenue for playing great defense

That's what we were able to accomplish this past year

the reverse on offense

So an offense you've got to create explosive plays after

turnovers it's explosive plays

So again our offensive identity we want to be explosives

We want to be able to push the ball down

the field

We got to see playmakers and we've got to be

quarterback friendly

So overall you see a team that you want to

watch us play you want to see the passion that

we play with

We should look like we're the most excited team to

play

And part of that that's how we practice out there

We got to practice with passion we got to have

fun playing football

There's a lot of stuff in college that's not always

fun but Saturdays that's special

And when people come to watch us play we for

sure have to look like we're the ones having more

fun than anybody else's point where they almost think we're

a little deranged and you know what You guys No

feeling we probably are a little deranged

Ok

We got to show toughness great toughness

And again that's not just physical toughness in this game

I mean that's mental toughness

You want to root for a team that's resilient

You want to root for a team that's never out

of the fight

You want to root for a team that never gives

up

It is hard to be relentless ok And then you

want to root for when the best is required they

step up competitive excellence and that's what's going to define

us and that's who we want to be

So we put those things together ok We're true to

who we say we are

OK We feel good about who we are we're aligned

and you got a bunch of guys that trust each

other and that's when we play fast and that ultimately

is our goal as a coach

So to me I am humbled

Hopefully to be the next part of there's something about

Duke and with that I want to thank you for

the opportunity to be here today to address you

And at this point we will open up for you

Thank you so much

We'll now open the floor for questions from the media

There are microphones located on either side of the middle

section

We ask that you please use the microphone closest to

you

Please identify yourself and your affiliation

Aaron Beard why don't you get it started Aaron Beard

the A P you were a first time head coach

at Miami

So there's always the experiences of having to learn what

it means to sort of be the guy in charge

and run a program curious what you took away from

those experiences and also it didn't end the way you

wanted it to there

So I'm curious what your thinking was when you left

there about the opportunity of being head coach again

Yeah you like you learn so much if you're a

first year starter the first time you're a position coach

first time you're a coordinator but there's really nothing like

being a head coach even just now the familiarity of

the last 24 hours since touching down here in Durham

So you're aware you know I've joked it's like parenting

You know the fact you're born this plan means that

you have parents somewhere

You get to watch your parents and think you have

some sort of idea of what it's like until you

bring your first born home

It's like where's the instruction for this thing Right

So I think you know your first year as a

head coach I think you can get your your sea

legs underneath you a little bit more

And I felt that our our 2nd and 3rd year

at Miami I thought we were on the process on

the way of building a really strong culture

You know ac wins the last two years we won

4 to 5 in the last season

So we felt like we were on the way we

understand you're in this profession you understand what it is

but you're always learning like a demand from the players

You're always learning you're always expecting that any time you

play a game you pack what can we do better

And so there are a lot of things getting through

the culture at Pen State that you know if you

got a chance to do it again the last part

of your question is this if you have a chance

to do it again make sure you do it in

the right place make sure do it somewhere or alignment

where support and expectations all melt into one

And that to me is where I feel really good

about this opportunity here

I feel really good about the support we have

I feel good about the timing

I think people are energized to make excellent and I

feel sometimes timing matters and I feel like I'm in

the right time at the right place

How did you regroup after your exit from Miami Which

was honestly a frustrating experience the way that everything went

down sort of how long did it take you to

sort of think about the next opportunity that might come

your job being the coordinator again

There was I'm sure a lot of things on your

mind

It was very quickly because I think he might have

called me an hour after getting fired at Miami

I mean the body called it the funeral

You know what I mean She encouraged me to get

back on the saddle because you don't know where your

next you don't know what that level is going to

be

And you know I do believe in this

I do believe that God is as to where we

need to be when we need to be there

And I think some of the lessons learned at Penn

State maybe a better man maybe a better coach for

sure to be here now

Hey coach Josh Cox says instead of the podcast um

a as you transitioned away from head coaching back to

the defensive coordinator does is there anything you learned as

far as the CEO part from Miami that you're going

to take And then from James Franklin being there kind

of not just the head coach but the CEO role

of the program

And because the other thing extraordinary when you talk about

even two years ago five years ago at Miami college

football is part of the same sport as it was

five years ago

I mean December was nothing like it was the center

of 2018

You know my first

So you have to be constantly evolving because our landscape

is constantly evolving

So yeah I think I think you're like I mentioned

before you're always learning you're always evaluating what are the

best ways to do things

I've been blessed to work with a lot of great

head coaches and to see James and see his program

where it was going around in year 1011 and and

where the players understood what was established

We talked about the power of belief you know where

everybody knew what the core values of that program was

And the players would see comfort in that because it

wasn't a change day to day

So I learned a lot from that experience and learned

a lot from the culture of those guys in that

room

Jim do your magazine and Jim Sports

I want to circle back to the comment you made

earlier about not being content with the status quo wanting

to take the next step

What is the sing for How far can an academic

small products to go in college What is this program

And how do you get how do you get this

thing There we will go as far as we believe

we can go

I believe that I there's a great thing I love

is that what you believe is more powerful than what

you can prove you see all the time in our

country

And I think how far we go is in direct

relation to what we believe we can accomplish how we

see ourselves

If we see ourselves as incapable we will be incapable

if we see ourselves as capable then we can accomplish

anything

Now here's the key the key is once you set

what the North Star is now be obsessed with improvement

right We talked about it to be obsessed with mastery

We're on a lifetime long journey to master our craft

to master who we are as people

So that gets us obsessed with improvement

So now we have the North Star out there but

now all we're trying to do is just plus one

if I can be plus one of what I was

yesterday plus one on what I was a year ago

Those are the steps that get you to where you

want to get to even using this example

You don't there was nothing to do on the first

play of the first game of the season to finish

number one in the country in total defense right It

was a it was a it was a series of

practices workouts meetings down down quarters in the games and

at the end someone said you do this better than

anybody else but it was a journey to get there

We couldn't think about the end

We think that all steps along the way to get

there

Thank you coach Roy Howard Carolina coach I want to

touch on

How do you reassure the players that fuck around through

the ground and hustle the fans the administration that duty

is just not a step program that you're here for

the long haul to be able to sustain a culture

that's already been

Well I think it's a lot of the conversations that

President Price and I had in terms of committing to

each other

What is the what is it that we're trying to

accomplish And once you hear the stated goals towards the

last question that we don't see any reason why we

can't be elite and I keep getting back to you

if you're something you can be elite in anything

And if you're not then it is a choice to

settle for being second best you know

And so to me I don't think our government deserve

that

But ultimately it is what they believe behind you

We've got to get the lock to ignite that belief

and what it means to be Duke

And the fact that the idea is that we can

see it going much further

And I do think what I've learned in the 24

hours I've been here just speaking to some people outside

the program

I think people are stirred up you know I think

people now are energized and realizing that Duke is not

about one man you know and we appreciate everybody's efforts

but this is a collective event and people are now

ready to step forward

The word that has got so far is galvanized

When I hear people talk about being galvanized they recognize

the time is right

We have the right people and it's time to go

And that's why I stand here as a servant of

everybody that's in touch with Duke football right To get

everybody on the same page because this ain't just like

watch the head coach do it

No no this is all of us doing it together

Knew what devils illustrated meaning

I think you had about five months when N I

was implemented as a head coach

And I'm curious how you've seen that change over the

last two years and how much of your evaluation process

and going to the right place enters into the calculation

of why you're here now

Yeah nil like most things it's like you know we

set out to sea and then we decided to build

a boat right Um So um it has changed it

can continue to change

Market dynamics are going to continue to weigh on it

Obviously there was a story that came out this week

I don't know if you talk about what it was

like two years ago

I don't know that anybody can predict exactly what it

will be like two years from now

I do know what helps our game

I do know it helps our young men and I

do know that we need to be competitive in it

And I do know that we've got people who are

excited about that and that but like I said it's

just a new normal

So to your point about what it was like two

years ago when I was a head coach

It was in the infancy then and it is still

evolving

So we've got to stay agile

We got to stay flexible because you know every six

months it feels like it zigs and zags you you

got to try to stay in touch with

We have time for two more two more questions

Andrew and Brett head coach Andrew the Chronicle

It's a bit of a two parter

The first or the first question is what do you

want your time here to be defined by And what's

your barometer for being successful I mean we we asking

legacy you know the press conference wasn't right you know

um wanna know right There's James Franklin right Wanna know

So all you can do is go wanna know today

Um That's actually pretty funny

Uh I assure you of all the things that I'm

thinking about what I want to be a or what

not but I will say this to me like any

coach it's going to be about the relationships all those

guys behind you

Like I told them at some point someone is going

to tap you on the shoulder and say that's it

for football for you

And you want them to look back at this time

of life and you want them to understand that the

role of a co in their life that somebody see

you even sees more greatness than you see in yourself

and have that type of transformative relationship with a young

man and the guys

And I know a lot of guys on the staff

in the back that have done that over their careers

And you get guys by being something when you're 20

years old

But then they get older they get to be 34

and they become parents and they understand the impact that

you had in their life and go along with that

in terms of measuring success that is success success is

affecting the people that you know that God puts us

together to have a chance to impact and influence for

the program

Like right now I said to me the director from

the top is that we can compete with anybody

We know that's a process because everybody's trying to win

right until we find out a way that two people

can play and both win

They are only one at the end of the year

So again as I mentioned we see what the ultimate

goal is and now we look at the next step

ahead and just focus on improvement Friedlander saturday.com

As much of a whirlwind in the last 48 hours

has been in the next 7 to 10 days are

probably going to be even crazier between the staff recruiting

players you have now putting together a signing class and

maybe even recruiting guys out of the transfer portal that

who were here last year where do you prioritize How

do you prioritize and what do the next few days

look like those guys first Absolutely

First

Versus our locker room versus the guys that have already

done it for Duke that already have believed in Duke

and in whatever turbulence that we've gone through in the

beginning of this month that we can write that we

can stabilize that and understand that we keep this team

together that we've got a platform

So that's the most important

Second we engaged the recruits that are committed to us

we expressed our commitment to them asked them to stay

together again

That's why I said something about Duke hasn't changed

What makes this place special what they committed to is

all still here if not better

And then we get those guys to sign as you

mentioned in 10 days

And then as you mentioned there's really no you know

the way the portal works there's not a signing day

for the portal

So whether it's our guys to get our guys back

in the fold the players on the outside who we

believe can help us

There is nerve that it's not in the same timetable

as as a recruiter class

So to your point it's all happening at once and

that's what didn't happen five years ago in the month

of December

And so you've got to be prepared to fight the

battle in front

that concludes today's special event

Thank you for attending and please drive home safely