Duke gives Manny Diaz a successful return to the head-coaching ranks behind a dominant defense

Updated Aug. 30, 2024 11:54 p.m. ET

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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke's defensive effort made it easy for Manny Diaz to enjoy his return to the sideline as a head coach.

The Blue Devils beat Elon 26-3 on Friday night to give Diaz a win in his debut, a performance fittingly fueled by a dominant defensive effort and pass rush. That was a perfect scenario considering Diaz is a longtime defensive coach, who was Penn State's coordinator in the two years since he was fired as Miami's head coach.

“Honestly it just felt very natural,” Diaz said. "It was good to be back. On gameday, we're problem solvers, right? And when you're the head coach, you're kind of the chief problem solver.

“So you just sit there and listen to both sides of the ball and see what's working or what we can be doing better. ... It was an enjoyable experience. And our guys and our staff make it easy for me to have an enjoyable experience.”

Diaz — who took over after Mike Elko left for Texas A&M — went 21-15 at Miami from 2019-21, including 16 Atlantic Coast Conference wins that was second only to league power Clemson during that span. But he was fired as Miami made the move to hire current coach Mario Cristobal, marking an awkward ending to his tenure.

Still, the opportunity to go straight to Penn State gave him a chance to regroup — “I mean, the body wasn't even cold at the funeral,” he said when he was hired in December — with an eye on eventually becoming a head coach again.

Diaz and his new staff worked quickly to build trust and connect with the inherited roster, then bolster that unit by getting older through the transfer portal. Friday night was the first time to see the results.

The offense had to grind its way through this one, with touted Texas transfer quarterback Maalik Murphy throwing for two scores but completing just 3 of 14 passes of at least 15 yards with multiple close calls on big gainers. But the defense was crisp from the start, tallying three sacks in the first two possessions and five by halftime.

By the end of the night, Duke's eight-sack haul was surpassed by only one game since the school started tracking sacks in 2000: a nine-sack effort in the 2019 finale against Miami, coached by Diaz. And the 16 tackles for loss were the most for the program in any game since 2007.

“I mean, it was a sight to see,” Diaz said of that backfield work.

And it's a good start with room to grow for a team that looked ready to go from the opening kickoff.

“We had a couple of scrimmages, and it felt just like a scrimmage,” said receiver Eli Pancol, who had a touchdown catch and a 58-yard catch-and-run in his first game since missing last season due to injury. "They got us game-ready from the start.

“The coaches were the same every single day. They bring the same energy, the same intensity so it was real easy to go out there and perform like we do every single day.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25

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