Manny Diaz Addresses Duke Football Team Amidst Florida State Rumors

The Duke Blue Devils are preparing for their next opponent, the NC State Wolfpack this weekend, coming off another win over Boston College. For the Blue Devils, they were able to start a new win streak and stay alive in the Atlantic Coast Conference race.

Sitting at 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference, the Blue Devils are in position to make a run here as the calendar flips to November. The job that Manny Diaz has done without Darian Mensah, who left for Miami, is pretty impressive. So you can see why his name keeps coming up in terms of big job opening possibilities. 

Well, on Sunday one of those big jobs has opened up. 

Florida State fired Mike Norvell after another disappointing start to the season. With Norvell gone, the Seminoles now have an opening, and right away Diaz was connected to the job. He's already on the list of potential candidates and with his background coaching under Bobby Bowden and being an alum, he's an intriguing candidate moving forward. 

On Monday, Diaz spoke on the job rumors for the first time and he told reporters that he met with his team on Sunday and told them that "I made it clear that I'm happy here." 

Diaz shot down that he's interested in the job, for now. As we know in this world of college athletics, almost nothing is permanent and nothing will surprise us. This is good news in terms of the early reaction to the job opening but it also could be Diaz not wanting to be a distraction for his team as they are off to a good start.

Duke has a lot to play for this season still and Diaz doesn't seem like a head coach who will let a distraction like this get in the way. That's not to say he won't show interest or even take a preliminary call on the job opening at some point. But for now, he's focused on Duke. 

I also would say don't dismiss the reports or rumors just yet. Duke went through something like this before Diaz when Mike Elko echoed similar statements saying that he and his family love Duke. Shortly after, he was at Texas A&M to take that job with the Aggies. 

For now, the focus is on this team as they travel to Raleigh for an important conference game against the Wolfpack.