When Duke spent a pretty penny to land QB Darian Mensah out of the Transfer Portal from Tulane following the 2024 season, many believed it was a signal that the Blue Devils had made a significant investment in their football roster.
Now, it looks more like an outlier. Duke was willing to spend significantly to land a superstar QB, but Manny Diaz is still leading a program near the bottom of the Power Four in roster spending.
According to a recent article by The Athletic, Duke's estimated roster cost for this season ranked 67th out of 68 Power Four teams, ahead of only Boston College. The estimation is that Duke spent between $12 and $15 million putting together the 2026 roster. The opponent they beat last week, Illinois, while lower on the Big Ten spending pool, is estimated to have spent between $19 and $23 million.
The ACC average is between $21 and $25 million. The biggest spender in the ACC is, unsurprisingly, Miami, which spent between $44 and $50 million. There's a significant gap between Miami and the No. 2 spender in the conference, Clemson, at an estimated $29-32 million.
Manny Diaz has Duke competitive in the ACC despite being at the bottom of the spending pool
Diaz really deserves more credit for the work he's done in two-plus years in Durham. He doesn't have the same NIL war chest as so many of his peers in the ACC, and yet he still beats them, anyway. Duke won the ACC Championship last season despite the difference in resources.
And even after losing Mensah to Miami, you can make the argument after two weeks that this version of the Blue Devils is even better. They're certainly more well-rounded. They may not have as talented a player at QB as they did last season, but Nate Sheppard has taken the next step in his evolution, the offensive line has been dominant, and the defense looks to have taken a huge stride forward.
Being a serious competitor to Miami, which spent three times what Duke did on its roster, might not be realistic this year, but how well Diaz has done with the Blue Devils isn't going unnoticed.
Not by the Duke administration, and probably not by competing programs that are paying close attention and might wonder if he can do this with Duke with that amount of money, what could he do if that budget were doubled?
Diaz is a good fit in Durham. But the allure of coaching a program that will invest more money into his rosters will have its appeal. Duke has a plan to try to increase its roster spend next season and beyond, but it'll soon have to fend off serious pursuits of Diaz in the coaching carousel.
After back-to-back nine-win seasons and with potentially his best team yet in 2026, it's impossible not to be impressed with what he's been able to accomplish.
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