Manny Diaz had every reason to think his stock would rise after last season, but CBS Sports still left him sitting in the middle of the ACC coaching pack.
Duke’s coach guided the Blue Devils to their first conference title in decades, yet he checked in at No. 7 in CBS Sports’ ACC coaching rankings. That is only a modest climb from No. 9 in 2025, even after the kind of season that should have forced a louder conversation around his place in the league.
The ranking comes after Diaz already had to hear the snickering aimed at Duke during ACC Kickoff last month. The conference had adjusted its tiebreaker rules, changes that let Duke reach - and then win - the ACC Championship Game despite five regular-season losses. Some around the event labeled the adjustments the “Duke tiebreaker rule.”
CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson pointed to Diaz’s national rise, writing, “Diaz surged 14 spots in the national rankings after leading Duke to its first ACC Championship since 1989,” and added, “The movement among his ACC peers is less dramatic, but it's notable that he has jumped just ahead of coaches like Dave Doeren and Pat Narduzzi, who have been at their current posts for more than a decade. As Diaz prepares for his third year in Durham, he has ample resources and a program foundation to build more ACC title contenders in the future.”
Virginia’s Tony Elliott landed at No. 10 after climbing from No. 16, a jump tied to his team’s run to the ACC championship game before losing to Duke.
Still, the eyebrow-raiser is Brent Key at No. 6, one spot ahead of Diaz. With Haynes King and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, Georgia Tech was viewed as a team that should have been in position to make a College Football Playoff push last season and get to the ACC Championship Game.
The larger complaint is hard to miss: championship hardware does not seem to be carrying enough weight in this ACC coaching vote. The panel also put Mario Cristobal ahead of Dabo Swinney, even though Cristobal has never won an ACC championship and Clemson won one in 2024.
In Other News...
Duke's Pursuit Of A Top Target Just Got More Urgent
Dukes recruiting board for the future just got a little more interesting, and a little more crowded, as the Blue Devils continue tracking elite prospects across multiple classes. AJ Williams has already moved up from 2028 to 2027, a reminder that the recruiting calendar is never as fixed as it looks, and that timing can shift quickly when high-end talent starts making early decisions about their paths.
One of Dukes other priority targets is now at the center of that same kind of uncertainty. Yann Kamagate, one of the top names on the Blue Devils radar, is weighing whether his development and eligibility timeline could push him toward an earlier class, a choice tied to both NBA rules and his own career plans. For Duke, the possibility of that kind of move only adds urgency, because the longer the decision lingers, the more complicated the race for an elite player becomes. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Camp Puts Manny Diaz Under Pressure To Sort Key Jobs
Duke football has opened its 2026 training camp with more than just the regular-season opener against Tulane on the horizon. Manny Diaz and his staff are using these practices to sort through a roster full of unresolved jobs, from the quarterback battle to receiver depth and the secondary, with several players still needing to prove they can handle Power Conference responsibilities before the meaningful work begins.
Walker Eget and redshirt freshman Dan Mahan are competing to lead the offense, while transfers Jared Richardson and Javen Nicholas are trying to carve out roles at wide receiver. On the back end, Landan Callahan and Kimari Robinson are in the mix at corner alongside transfers Dylan Flowers and Kyon Loud, giving Duke a camp defined by competition and uncertainty as the staff tries to identify its starters and most reliable contributors. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Just Set The Standard In The ACC Again
The ACCs new Graduate Scholar-Athlete list is another reminder that Duke keeps setting the pace in the league, not just on the field but in the classroom as well. The conference unveiled its inaugural class for the 2025-26 academic year, recognizing more than 260 student-athletes who paired graduate study with ACC competition, and Duke finished at the top of the list with 41 honorees.
For a program that has long sold itself on high standards across the board, that kind of showing fits the brand. The honor is reserved for student-athletes who completed graduate degree programs and met ACC participation requirements during at least one season as graduate students, which makes Dukes total less about a one-off and more about the depth of its academic culture. [Read more 🡒]