Duke has had a lot of success in the three seasons Manny Diaz has been the head coach in Durham. Coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons that included the program's first outright ACC Championship in football since 1962, the Blue Devils are off to a 6-2 start to the 2026 campaign despite a tumultuous offseason.
Diaz has constantly done more with less as Duke's football budget ranks near the bottom of Power Four teams. That hasn't gone unnoticed nationally, and it could ultimately lead to Diaz getting a second shot at one of the premier programs in college football.
Diaz's tenure at Miami ended unceremoniously, but he has rehabbed his image with a lot of success at Duke. Now, he could be a top candidate for a big-time job that just came open.
On Sunday, Florida State finally pulled the trigger and fired head coach Mike Norvell after the Seminoles' loss to Clemson dropped them to 3-5 on the season. Since going 13-1 in 2023, Norvell led Florida State to a 10-22 mark in the 32 games since:
Florida State University President Richard McCullough informed head football coach Mike Norvell this afternoon that FSU is making a change in the leadership of its football program, effective immediately.
— FSU Football (@FSUFootball) November 1, 2026
FSU Athletics Hall of Fame member Rick Stockstill has been named interim… pic.twitter.com/6gmgSYKMGl
Duke head coach Manny Diaz immediately viewed as top candidate at Florida State
ESPN listed Diaz as one of the top candidates for the FSU vacancy alongside Wake Forest's Jake Dickert, SMU's Rhett Lashlee, Georgia DC Glenn Schumann, and ex-FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher, among several others.
You don't have to squint to see the connection between Diaz and Florida State. He's an alumnus of the school and got his start as a coach on Bobby Bowden's staff in Tallahassee as a graduate assistant back in 1998.
Diaz was born in Miami and knows the state of Florida well. With how well he has done at Duke, it could be tempting for him to make a move to see what he could do with a bigger operating budget.
There's also a possibility that Diaz has been there, done that with a big job after getting fired by Miami with a 21-15 overall record. He's got stability at Duke that he would never have at a school like Florida State, and there's something to be said about that.
Still, at 52, this could be one of the final opportunities Diaz has to take a swing at one of the top jobs in the sport.
Duke signed Diaz to a contract extension over the offseason after he led the Blue Devils to the ACC Championship and a second straight nine-win season. The terms of that contract, and what Diaz would owe Duke in a buyout if he took another job, aren't publicly known because Duke is a private school and doesn't have to disclose them.
Duke has found recent success under multiple head coaches, with Diaz continuing the work done by Mike Elko, who used the Blue Devils as a springboard to the Texas A&M job. The Duke job would be coveted by many up-and-coming coaches, but being a stepping-stone job is frustrating for fans who covet stability.
But the price of success means others coveting what you have. Diaz has done a great job in Durham, and that has been noticed nationally.
Now that his alma mater has opened up, hanging on to Diaz will be difficult if Florida State makes him the focus of their coaching search.
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