Inside The Panthers

Pitt Opponent Officially Hires New HC

A face familiar to the Pitt Panthers is back in the ACC as a head coach.

Stephen Thompson

Pitt Opponent Officially Hires New HC
Pitt Opponent Officially Hires New HC /
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PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers will have to welcome a new head coach to the ACC this coming year. 

And that new head coach will be a name familiar to Pitt, as the Duke Blue Devils announced this week that they are hiring former Miami head coach and Penn State defensive coordinator, Manny Diaz. 

As a 2022 Broyles Award finalist, Diaz led the Nittany Lions defense to a tie for seventh nationally in takeaways and ninth in scoring defense. They rank third nationally in scoring defense this year and are expected to send at least two defensive players to the first round of this year's NFL Draft, if not more.

He has previous head coaching experience in the ACC from when he led the Hurricanes to a 21-15 record from 2019 to 2021. Diaz has coordinated defenses for Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, Texas and Louisiana Tech and served as a graduate assistant at NC State and Florida State.

Diaz owns a 3-0 record against Pitt as head coach. His Hurricanes dealt crushing blows to Pitt's 2019 and 2021 teams, beating the Panthers by one score in Pittsburgh both times. 

Under the ACC's new scheduling model, the Panthers and Blue Devils, who have faced each other in all but one season since joining the conference in 2014, will play just twice from now until 2030 - with Pitt hosting the first game in 2027 and Duke hosting the second in 2029.

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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