CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli released the first wave of his ranking of the 68 Power Four football coaches on Wednesday, and he doesn’t sound particularly bullish on first-year Duke coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag].
Fornelli had Diaz as the 48th-best coach among the Power Four conferences. In another phrase, that means the Blue Devils leader is the 21st-worst football coach among the Power Four conferences.
Diaz spent three years with the Miami Hurricanes in 2019-21, and he won at least six games every season and finished with a 21-15 record. He also spent the last two seasons as the Penn State defensive coordinator, and the Nittany Lions finished with the ninth-best scoring defense in 2022 and the third-ranked scoring defense in 2023.
The Blue Devils won eight games in each of the past two seasons, the first time Duke has done so since 2014-15. Diaz takes over for Mike Elko, who left to become the head coach at Texas A&M.
“It’s not the easiest job in the country,” Fornelli wrote about Duke. “But Mike Elko left him a solid foundation, which could help Diaz get the Blue Devils up and running quickly.”
Diaz gets his first crack on the sidelines at Wallace Wade Stadium on August 30 against Elon.