It’s no secret by now that Florida A&M head coach Willie Simmons has an offer to join the Duke University staff under Manny Diaz.
But why Duke? Why running backs coach? Why now?
Willie Simmons and Manny Diaz actually coached together over a decade ago at Middle Tennessee State from 2007 to 2009. Diaz was the defensive coordinator and Simmons was the running backs coach.
Fast forward a decade, Diaz’s son Collin wanted to get into coaching, so his father called up Simmons, who was now the head coach at Florida A&M.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Willie. I think he’s a great coach,” Manny Diaz told the Tallahassee Democrat in 2019 while coaching at Miami. “When Willie took the job, and my son Colin wanted to get into coaching, it was actually my wife’s idea, to give her the credit. It just seemed like a natural thing, a natural fit for him to be able to go and help him out to get his feet wet.”
“I jumped at the opportunity to have him around,” Simmons said.
Diaz earned his stripes as a student assistant with FAMU.
“He has a great work ethic. He’s always here and you never have to worry about him not showing up. He does whatever he’s asked without a complaint. He really seems to have a great rapport with the players. That’s what jumped out about Manny when we met, just how personable he is.”
Now, five years later, Diaz is the head coach at Duke University. Simmons has proven himself at the FCS level, winning 39 games in the last four seasons and leading his team to both the FCS playoffs AND a Celebration Bowl win. He’s also shown an ability to get talented players into Tallahassee, and that is a skill in itself that makes him very attractive to a school like Duke University.
Will he continue to build FAMU into an HBCU dynasty at the FCS level or will he look to move into a supporting role with the possibility of becoming a head coach at the FBS level in short order? We’ll have to wait and see.