SDS will look at new assistant coaches around the SEC, highlighting their accomplishments, achievements, history and tough tasks ahead of them. Next up, Mississippi State’s Manny Diaz.

MANNY DIAZ, MISSISSIPPI STATE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AND LINEBACKERS COACH

Coaching history:

  • 2015: Mississippi State defensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • 2014: Louisiana Tech defensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • 2011-13: Texas defensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • 2010: Mississippi State defensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • 2008-09: Middle Tennessee defensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • 2006-07: Middle Tennessee defensive coordinator, linebackers coach
  • 2004-05: North Carolina State defensive backs, special teams coach
  • 2002-03: North Carolina State linebackers coach
  • 2000-01: North Carolina State graduate assistant
  • 1998-99: Florida State graduate assistant

This isn’t Manny Diaz’s first go-round leading the Mississippi State defense. The newly hired defensive coordinator and linebackers coach served in the same role with the Bulldogs for one season in 2010 before being hired to the same position by the Texas Longhorns and former head coach Mack Brown.

Diaz served under Brown for three seasons as the Longhorns began to regress at the end of Brown’s tenure. When the legendary coach who led UT to the 2005 national title ultimately parted ways with the university, Diaz was sent packing as well, eventually landing at Louisiana Tech for a year before making his return to Starkville.

It’s difficult to measure Diaz’s success as a coordinator at MSU in 2010 considering how short his stint was. He was not responsible for recruiting most of the talent on that side of the ball, and in just one year it was tough to determine how big a role he played in the future NFL careers of seven defensive players on that year’s squad.

Although MSU ranked eighth out of 12 SEC teams in total defense, it finished third in the conference in scoring defense, allowing fewer than 20 points per contest. The Bulldogs’ 9-4 record that year had marked the best win-loss record of the Dan Mullen era before the Bulldogs won 10 games this past season.

The strength of Diaz’s 2010 defense was the front seven, which ranked fourth in the SEC against the run and allowed opponents to rush for fewer than 120 yards per game. That front seven boasted four current NFL stars in K.J. Wright, Pernell McPhee, Cameron Lawrence and Fletcher Cox.

Diaz’s best defense was his 2011 Texas defense, which ranked 11th in the nation in allowing only 306 yards per game. That defense was also exceptional against the run, ranking seventh in the entire nation upon allowing just 96 yards per game on the ground.

However, once again that was Diaz’s first year with the program, so it is tough to measure his impact considering he didn’t recruit much of the talent and many of that year’s stars were developed before his arrival.

The longtime coordinator won’t have the same benefit this time around. Mississippi State’s defense lost most of its starters last season, including 75 percent of its secondary, its star middle linebacker and two starting defensive linemen.

Diaz did play a role in attracting top inside linebacker prospect Leo Lewis to Starkville, and now he’ll have to show he can develop talent as well. To be frank, if Diaz cannot grow the team’s young talent and create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, there will be nowhere for him to hide.

Mullen clearly values the familiarity he has with Diaz, and there’s almost no way he won’t be granted a second year with the team no matter how 2015 turns out. But there is plenty of pressure on Diaz to put together at least an acceptable defense this fall to capitalize on Heisman contender Dak Prescott’s final year at Mississippi State.