'I've Got a Great Job,' Penn State DC Manny Diaz Says

Despite 'unfinished business' as a head coach, Diaz wants to continue building an 'elite-level defense' at Penn State.

Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said he wants to be a head coach again. But when the next opportunity arrives, he'll be "a little wiser."

Until then, Diaz is preparing for the Rose Bowl and Penn State's 2023 season, intent on building an "elite-level defense" with the Nittany Lions. Unless something changes quickly, Diaz will return to Penn State for another season.

"The great thing I have is, I’ve got a great job," Diaz said Friday at Penn State's bowl media day. "And it would take an amazingly great job to leave a great job."

A year after being hired as Penn State's defensive coordinator, Diaz assessed his first season as a success with plenty of room for growth. Diaz led a defense that produced two All-Americans (cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr. and Kalen King) and 10 All-Big Ten honorees.

Penn State ranked among the top 10 nationally in eight defensive categories, including pass breakups (first), pass-efficiency defense (second) and tackles for loss (seventh). Over their last four regular-season games, the Lions allowed an average of 10 points per game. Diaz was a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, presented to the nation's top assistant.

Afterward, Diaz's name was connected to several head-coaching jobs, notably in Florida. Diaz noted that he's quite familiar with how the offseason works.

"If you're doing a good job, they’re saying you’re leaving for somewhere else. If you’re not doing a good job, they say they want you to leave to go somewhere else," Diaz said. "It’s just the nature of the business. So you manage to keep real what’s real and press on."

Still, Diaz made clear that he wants to be a head coach again. He spent three seasons as the head coach at Miami before being fired last December. Not long after, Penn State coach James Franklin called to discuss this opening for a defensive coordinator.

Though happy at Penn State, Diaz said he has some "unfinished business" as a head coach. But he also has a job at Penn State that isn't prompting him to "lunge" at the first offer.

"In terms of ambition, yeah, I’d like to be a head coach again," Diaz said. "I enjoy it. I think there’s some unfinished business with the way things happened a year ago. But I think the second time around, I think you’re a little wiser in the opportunity and you don’t necessarily let the opportunity choose you.

"I think you choose the opportunity a little bit differently. And so when you don’t have a platform that you feel comfortable where you’re at, you may feel more desperate to just lunge for something. So that’s where I’m very blessed that I’ve got a place where I know we can play great defense for a long time."

Diaz said the Lions demonstrated that this season, notably after their 41-17 loss at Michigan. The Wolverines rushed for 418 yards and did not punt in the game.

Following that game, however, just one team scored more than 20 points against Penn State. And Ohio State did so with 14 points via turnovers, including an interception return for a touchdown. The Lions were one of two teams to hold Ohio State under 100 yards rushing this season.

"He's had an incredible impact," linebacker Curtis Jacobs said during the season. "The emphasis on turnovers, the emphasis on [tackles for loss], the havoc plays. He'll tell us straight up if it was good enough or not. That's been really important for us, and it's been really encouraging for our guys to really have a new standard for this defense."

Safety Ji'Ayir Brown called Diaz a "great philosopher" who commands a meeting room like few other coaches.

"When Manny gives his perspective on football, life, men, belief, courage, it’s a perspective that you just can’t deny is true," Brown said.

Diaz credited the players for owning the narrative of the Michigan game — "We stink, bury Penn State, whatever," he said — and improving from it. He said their ability to be honest about how and why they played as they did made the defense stronger.

"We became a much more confident team," Diaz said. "And that's why I say the credit goes to the players because they said, 'You know what? Despite what people say about us in this narrative, we can just improve.'"

Diaz said that narrative must continue into the Rose Bowl against No. 8 Utah, which he called "as tough a football team as anybody we've played on our schedule, counting Michigan." But that determination reminds Diaz of why he joined Franklin's staff a year ago.

"There was something going on culturally here that contributed to us having the ability to play elite-level defense," Diaz said. "And we flirted with that at times this year, and there’s a taste in our mouth that we want more of."

Penn State meets Utah in the Rose Bowl, which kicks off at 5:10 p.m. EST Jan. 2 on ESPN.

PENN STATE FANS: Looking for Rose Bowl tickets? SI Tickets is your one-stop shop for tickets to a variety of Penn State sporting events, from football to basketball, hockey to volleyball. Need tickets to the Penn State game? Check out SI Tickets.

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