At Saturday’s basketball game Mississippi State introduced two football coaches, and new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz made it clear he wants the Bulldog defense to be one of the most feared units in the SEC.
“We wanna get back to where, we’re known for a lot of things, but one thing is being a hard-hitting, fundamentally sound, attacking style of defense,” the new defensive coordinator said.
Diaz comes to the Bulldogs after serving four years as defensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee State University, where he went head-to-head against Dan Mullen’s offense last season.
Chris Wilson, the new defensive line coach, will hold a co-defensive coordinator role, but Diaz will be the one calling the defensive plays for MSU next year.
Mullen, who was left without a defensive coordinator when Carl Torbush left to join Turner Gill’s staff in Kansas, said he wanted to wait until bowl season ended to make a hire. Torbush left on December 13th, which left Mullen with almost a month to do research on potential candidates.
“Even though he [Diaz] was near the front of the list, I wanted to make sure we got the right person,” Mullen said. “I didn’t want to rush people that were preparing for their bowl games.”
Coming to Starkville was an easy decision for Diaz, who said that this was a program he wanted to be a part of.
“He [Mullen] has put together an outstanding staff of people, and not just great coaches but great people who all believe in his vision and are all pulling in one direction,” Diaz said.
The new coordinator said coming to Starkville was a no brainer.
“It was an easy sell. [With] the players here and the recruiting here that is going on at this juncture, it was not a hard decision.”
According to Mullen, Diaz was an easy sell as well. He interviewed over 20 coaches for the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach openings, but said Diaz was always at the top of his list.
“I try to keep a file of people I’d be interested [in], and he was at the front of that file after our game last year,” Mullen said. “We’re really happy to have him here.”
Last year’s game in Murfreesboro is not the only thing Mullen and Diaz have in common. Both coaches are young (Mullen is 37, while Diaz is 35), high-energy guys who are among the most innovative coaches in the nation when it comes to X’s and O’s. When Mullen complimented Diaz on his job at MTSU, Diaz said he ‘turned it right around’ and complimented Dan on the job he has done in his first year with the Bulldogs.
Mullen acknowledged the similarities between Diaz and himself in Saturday’s halftime press conference.
“He is a very innovative defensive mind and innovative thinker. That reminded me a lot of myself as an offensive coach,” Mullen said.
The Bulldog coaching staff has the chance to completely start over on defense, which is something Diaz said he is looking forward too.
“I can’t wait for us [Mullen, Diaz, and Wilson] all to just get in there,” Diaz said. “It’s a rare opportunity, where you can say ‘Let’s erase this board. If you had to dream it up again today, what do you want to be?'”
Diaz inherits a defensive group that is returning seven starters from last year’s squad that finished 11th in the SEC in total defense. He said with the input from Mullen, Wilson and himself he hopes the players will have an edge over the competition with so many bright minds coming together to gameplan.
“We just want our kids to have every advantage possible when they take the field,” Diaz said. “I look at this as absolutely a blessing for me, at this point in my career, and hopefully it will filter down to the kids, because those are the ones that have to play.”