This would be a bummer for the Blue Devils.
When college coaches start doing things at a very high level, whether in college football or college basketball, many programs around the country will look to steal those head coaches. Duke already hears a lot of that with basketball head coach Jon Scheyer, with some suggesting he could eventually take an NBA job.
Scheyer shut that down this offseason and has said all the right things over the past couple of days about staying, but now Manny Diaz seems to be in a position to get a higher-profile job. It's tough to say that Diaz is in a position to get a higher-profile job because of how well Duke has played over the last two seasons under him as head coach, winning the ACC title game a year ago and starting the season 3-0, but the fact of the matter is that there are bigger programs out there than Duke when it comes to football.
Whether it's because other programs spend more, have a better pedigree or something else, there are some bigger programs out there.
That includes Florida State, despite the struggles the Seminoles have dealt with in recent years. With the possibility of Mike Norvell being fired over the next couple of weeks or months, Diaz has been floated as a potential option in Tallahassee.
“If that’s the direction the proceedings in Tallahassee ultimately head, with Norvell out and a clean slate for the two most important jobs in the athletic department, then a familiar face could be worth considering, and it’s not Jimbo Fisher.
“Manny Diaz last coached at Florida State in 1998-99 as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden after he graduated from FSU. He did not play for Bowden, but he’s an alum whom you would think would be interested in leaving Duke if the job opened in Tallahassee,” Josh Yourish wrote.
Diaz leaving for Florida State would be very unfortunate, and while some fans might question it because of how poorly Florida State has played recently, it's fair to say that it could be the right move for his career. There's no debate that Florida State is a much bigger football program than Duke, just as Duke is a much bigger basketball program than Florida State.
