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Duke should be thanking its lucky stars to have a head coach as attentive as Manny Diaz. On late Friday afternoon, Diaz and the Blue Devils took center stage during ACC Media Days. The defending conference champions were the last team to speak. Diaz had plenty to say about so many interesting topics, but what he said about the biggest lesson he learned from last football season cut through.
It was all about how he got his team to respond after the 17-point home loss to Virginia on Nov. 15.
"I think the biggest thing you just learn is, especially with last year with all the ups and downs, is to really try to be present and understand where your team is at that moment, and what they need," Diaz said. "What we needed they day after the Durham-Virginia loss. What they needed to hear to be able to move on."
Diaz made it a point to say that trying new things and communicating effectively served him majorly.
"I think that's the biggest challenge is if you just do everything cut and paste, 'Well, I tried this last year, so I'll try it again,'" Diaz continued. "I think that's what's great about the sport and the challenges is it's constant. It's constantly evolving and changing. If you don't have your ear kind of in the locker room, your messages fall flat."
He finished by saying he had to be careful with the messages he sent to his team from that point on.
"I would say a great coach, a great teacher, a great pastor at church, should make everyone think, 'Oh, my gosh. He was talking to me. He said the message that I needed to hear,'" Diaz finished. "But of course, 13 people said the same thing. I think that's the biggest challenge, and our guys want it. What I love about coaching Duke guys is that it's like oxygen to them. So they really want you to bring the message. So it's great as a coach, it's a great challenge."
Duke dropped to 5-5 overall and 4-1 in ACC play with that 34-17 home defeat to Virginia. Rather than wallow in their sorrows, Duke beat rivals North Carolina and Wake Forest back-to-back to clinch a shot at redemption vs. UVA in the ACC Championship Game. A 27-20 overtime win over Virginia not only kept the Hoos out of the playoffs, but it crowned Duke as ACC champs heading to the Sun Bowl.
Duke finished the year on a 4-0 run, helping the Blue Devils set the tone for how to handle adversity.
Manny Diaz could apply this to handling Darian Mensah's Miami departure
While Duke could conceivably pull off an unexpected ACC repeat, so much of this offseason for the Blue Devils has been made about the departure of two contributors from last fall. Quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receiver Cooper Barkate left Duke for presumably greener pastures in Coral Gables to play for the Miami Hurricanes. The exodus was every bit controversial based on when it did occur.
Diaz did have to bit his tongue over discussing it, but tight end Jeremiah Hasley had some thoughts on the matter. Walker Eget may be coming over from San Jose State with a great deal of promise, but Mensah is being propped up as a top-five quarterback in the sport heading into this season. Clearly, this is not sitting well with Duke fans or players. They know Mensah bailed on Duke in the 11th hour.
So to really get a handle of things, if Diaz can rally his team to win an improbable ACC Championship, what is to say that he cannot have the Blue Devils firing on all cylinders with Eget now under center instead of Mensah? Keep in mind that teams win championships. Individual players do not. To date, Miami has never won an ACC crown before. Duke just claimed its first one of the 21st century last fall.
ALSO READ: 5 big wins for Duke that could set up another special season for Manny Diaz this fall
Frankly, what Duke did a year ago is not going to go unnoticed into this season. Every offseason rep this team put forth mattered. Of course, the Blue Devils must scale the same mountain as all of their ACC contemporaries. The good news is they not only have the blueprint to get it done, but are motivated to prove all of their doubters wrong. They have the ideal head coach to lead them in Diaz.
Do not be surprised to see this year's Duke team be even harder to beat after what all has transpired.
Today's best reads
- Manny Diaz had to bite his tongue when discussing Miami’s tampering of Darian Mensah
- Mario Cristobal's revisionist Darian Mensah history isn't sitting well with Duke fans
- Darian Mensah discussing his Miami transfer along with Cooper Barkate must sicken Duke fans
- Manny Diaz reveals an underrated reason why Duke may actually pull off the ACC repeat
- Jeremiah Hasley isn't buying Darian Mensah's version of what happened at Duke
This article was originally published on balldurham.com as Duke's Manny Diaz knows better than to waste a failure after last season's turnaround.
