Two days after Duke’s 47-2 rout of Boston College, Manny Diaz spent a good chunk of his media session talking about a team that isn’t even on the Blue Devils’ schedule.
That team was Florida State, his alma mater, and the reason was obvious: Mike Norvell was fired, and Diaz immediately got tossed into the online speculation machine as a possible replacement. It makes sense on paper.
Diaz grew up in Miami, graduated from FSU and began his coaching career there as a graduate assistant. He knows the place.
He also knows the ACC, having coached at NC State, served as head coach at Miami and now leading Duke.
For now, though, Diaz made it clear where he stands. He said he met with his team on Sunday to address the rumors, and he insisted he’s happy in Durham.
He said he’s “really, really happy” at Duke. “I love being here, love going to work here every day.”
He brushed off the internet chatter, noting that last year the same thing had him headed to Penn State. He also said he loves Duke’s culture and its commitment to excellence in all things, and added that he’s coached at so many places he barely remembers Florida State.
That kind of thing has been said before around Duke. Mike Elko and Chris Pollard have both offered similar sentiments, and David Cutcliffe did too when Tennessee came calling. Duke has plenty of high-profile programs with coaches who fit the school and stay put, including Jon Scheyer, Diaz, Kara Lawson, Corey Muscaro and Kieran Hall.
Still, this is a transactional sport, and pretending money isn’t part of the equation would be dishonest. Even so, Diaz and Duke look like a strong match, and he’s clearly building something in Durham. The safe assumption is that he keeps doing exactly that.
The more immediate focus is NC State, a team that has been one of the strangest stories in a season already full of them. The Wolfpack opened in week 0 in Charlottesville, in a game that had originally been scheduled for Brazil, and the results have swung wildly ever since.
Virginia beat them 34-8. Then NC State crushed Richmond 73-0.
Then came the loss at Vanderbilt, the one that turned into a national punch line because they somehow couldn’t manage a safety. After that, they beat App State and knocked off Louisville, a team that had been viewed as a possible CFP contender early in the year.
Then came blowout losses to Wake Forest and Stanford, and suddenly the program was looking for a new coach.
There’s at least a little recent Duke history that makes the next part familiar. When Duke moved from Carl Franks to Ted Roof in midseason back in 2003, it got a quick jolt of energy and better play.
For a little while, anyway.
Whether NC State is getting that same kind of bump from interim head coach Todd Goebbel is still unclear, but the Wolfpack did beat Cal 31-10 last week.
In Other News...
Duke Just Sent A Clear Message About Nate Sheppards Rise
Dukes weekend was busy across the board, but the clearest statement came away from Cameron Indoor, where the football program formally kicked off a Heisman Trophy campaign for sophomore running back Nate Sheppard. It is the kind of move that only happens when a school believes a player has moved from promising contributor to national talking point, and Sheppard has certainly given Duke reason to make the push after leading the Power Four in multiple statistical categories.
The timing matters, too, because Dukes other teams were in the middle of a mixed stretch. The mens basketball team rolled past Coastal Carolina behind Patrick Ngongbas career-high 28 points and a double-double from Cayden Boozer, while the mens soccer team fell 2-1 to Clemson in the ACC Championship and the womens soccer team finished its regular season with a scoreless draw against Virginia. Against that backdrop, the football programs message was hard to miss: Sheppard has become one of the Blue Devils biggest national selling points, and the campaign only adds to the spotlight on what he might do next. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Scheyer Sent A Clear Message To Duke Freshman In Blowout Win
Jon Scheyer has made it clear all season that Dukes freshmen are going to be coached hard, and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje got a reminder of that in a blowout win. After a turnover and a missed dunk attempt turned into an opponents transition basket, Scheyer called him over for a timeout and sent him to the bench, a small moment that fit the standard the Blue Devils have been talking about since the season began.
Even with that brief correction, Scheyer has been encouraged by Boumtje Boumtjes early progress. The freshman has already shown he can help in meaningful minutes, especially on the defensive end, and Scheyer has pointed to his coachability as a reason for optimism. For Duke, the bigger picture is less about one mistake in a lopsided game and more about how quickly a young player is absorbing the demands that come with wearing the jersey. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes Dominant Night Put One Blue Devils Debate Front And Center
Patrick Ngongba II gave Duke exactly the kind of interior lift the Blue Devils have been looking for, pouring in 28 points and pulling down 9 rebounds in a 113-52 win over Coastal Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke controlled the game from the start, shot 61% from the field and overwhelmed the Chanticleers on the glass, turning what could have been a routine nonconference night into a showcase for its size and efficiency.
The margin was never in doubt, but the performance did sharpen a bigger conversation around this team: how much more Duke can get from Ngongba II if he keeps producing like this. Coastal Carolina had little answer, with Trey Perry leading the visitors with 14 points as the Chanticleers battled shooting issues and turnovers, while Duke kept piling on and leaving plenty for the staff and fan base to consider moving forward. [Read more 🡒]