Florida Atlantic fired head coach Willie Taggart just five days ago and they have already found his replacement. In a process that involved Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], FAU announced that they have hired former Houston and Texas coach Tom Herman.
Diaz in his first year as Penn State’s defensive coordinator coached a scrappy defense that included five players making All-Big Ten teams. He furthered the development of both [autotag]Joey Porter Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Ji’Ayir Brown[/autotag] specifically.
Diaz did all this after a short stint as the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes where he had a record of 21-15 in three season. Much like Herman at Texas, Diaz struggled to bring his hometown team back from the shambles they had played in recently.
Despite all that he still was a finalist for the FAU job.
Former Texas & Houston coach Tom Herman has been hired as FAU’s new coach, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. Herman was 54-22 in 6 seasons – 32-18 at Texas & 22-4 at UH. Herman’s teams were perfect 5-0 in bowl games, including 2 New Year’s 6 bowls
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2022
We can confirm that Herman will be FAU’s next coach. @Brett_McMurphy had it first. Manny Diaz was also a finalist. https://t.co/GB8xuXFHxO
— Andrew Ivins (@Andrew_Ivins) December 1, 2022
While Diaz missed out on the FAU job it shows that he does have the urge to be a head coach once again and that the [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] coaching tree may be expanding once again. Despite that job being gone Diaz does have another chance to return to the sunshine state, perhaps before winter sets in at State College, with the USF job still open.
While he isn’t officially reported to be interviewed or even interested, it seems no school or team may be off the board for Diaz. Especially a return to his home state.
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