Coaches put aside friendship
GAINESVILLE — A mostly forgettable game during a challenging first season as a head coach also was the start of a fruitful and deep-rooted relationship for Dan Mullen.
While his Mississippi State Bulldogs coasted to a 27-6 win at Middle Tennessee during the 2009 season, Mullen discovered a kindred spirit in Manny Diaz, who was the Blue Raiders’ defensive coordinator.
Little did either coach realize on that October night before an announced crowd of 23,882 fans in Murfreesboro, each would be working side by side a season later in the SEC cauldron — and again in 2015.
On Saturday night, Mullen and Diaz will stand on opposite sidelines for the first time as head coaches, when the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes square off in Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. The matchup between one of college football’s top play-callers (Mullen) and best defensive minds (Diaz) also is a reunion of two men who helped each other reach this point in their careers.
“As a person, I’ve got a lot of respect for Dan Mullen,” Diaz said. “We get along very well. I consider him a friend. I feel like
we’ve always viewed the game similarly. He’s kind of a very creative guy, a little bit of an outside-thebox thinker — and we tried to always be the same way defensively.”
To hear Mullen, it is clear he and Diaz still are on the same page, even if each of them will be looking for an edge during this high-profile Week O matchup.
Mullen’s initial impressions of Diaz from a decade ago echo his former assistant’s.
“One, I thought he had some energy on the sidelines. You know I like guys who have energy,” Mullen recalled this week. “I thought he had a good scheme. And he wasn’t afraid to think outside the box and try different things.
“I remember after we played him, I put his name in my folder as people to consider if the position came open.”
Diaz’s impact in Starkville and on Mullen’s fledgling program was immediate. Mississippi State’s defense allowed seven fewer points a game, while the Bulldogs finished 9-4 — a four-win turnaround from the previous season.
Diaz soon was in high demand and hired away by national power Texas to replace defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, Florida’s new head coach. When the Gators fired Muschamp, new coach Jim McElwain then turned to Mississippi State to hire Geoff Collins and pave the way for Diaz’s return to Mullen’s staff.
But Diaz’s stay once again was short-lived. The son of longtime Miami Mayor Manny Diaz could not pass up the chance to become the Hurricanes defensive coordinator under new coach Mark Richt.
Richt’s sudden retirement following last season opened the door for Diaz, who had accepted the head coaching job at Temple before backing out.
At the time of Diaz’s hiring last December at Temple, Mullen praised his former assistant’s intelligence, his eye for detail and his ability to assimilate the things he liked during previous stops.
Diaz now is sure to employ elements of Mullen’s blueprint.
“I imagine he took probably a lot of what we do with him in how he runs his program,” Mullen said. “Obviously he’s going to have differences because he’s gonna run it in his style, but I bet there’s gonna be a lot of crossover.”
After all, Mullen and Diaz see the game through a similar lens when it comes to developing players, game-planning, playing to the strengths of the team and individual players. But their intertwined philosophies go beyond X’s and O’s.
“Are we developing young men on and off the field? Are we maximizing their ability to become the best that they can be and using the game of football to do it?” Mullen said. “I mean, we were together, we talk a lot about that, about the game and about just the program as a whole of what it is, more than always just the scheme.”
Mullen, 47 and entering his 11th season as a head coach, has a clear edge in experience. But the 45-year-old Diaz is bringing energy and excitement to a proud Miami program looking to close the gap.
South Florida recruits have taken note. The 2020 classes for the Gators and Hurricanes currently sit just outside the top 10, but Miami’s 2021 class is ranked No. 1.
“I think Miami has the right guy to do what they need to do to be successful,” said SEC analyst Chris Doering, a Gainesville native and former UF star receiver. “That’s the oldest blueprint ever, the TriCounty area, putting a fence around it because there’s so much talent down there. They don’t have to nationally recruit.”
Going forward, Diaz and Mullen are set to cross paths many times, be it on the recruiting trail or in 2024-25 when the school meet in a home-and-home series. Saturday night will be a new beginning for two men destined to cross paths a decade ago.
“I don’t think there is any sort of advantage, because we know him and he knows us,” Diaz said. “Just get on the grass, and it’s going to come down to all the standards of who can block and who can get off blocks, who can cover and who can throw and catch.”