Seeing coaches on the sideline on Saturdays, it can be easy to lose sight of what they had to do get their start in the coaching profession, and the sacrifices that they had to make.
The Sun-Sentinel did a great piece on the journey of Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz yesterday that's well worth a few minutes of your time.
In the article, Diaz shares how he once had career aspirations of actually becoming a sports writer, and not a coach. He studied journalism, was the sports editor for Florida State's campus newspaper, and appeared on a student TV show as well and when he graduated he took a job at ESPN working in production where he did some work for their Sunday NFL show.
Instead of taking a promotion at ESPN, he convinced his pregnant wife, Stephanie, to "roll the dice" and get into coaching, where he had his sights set on getting back to Florida State. Diaz got a meeting with defensive coordinator Chuck Amato and a few days later Amato told Diaz he could start as a part-time employee stuffing envelopes in recruiting and doing other menial, yet important tasks for the program. While he worked another job in the mornings, he and Stephanie lived in the athletic dorms for a few years.
Diaz eventually moved on with Amato to NC State as a graduate assistant and got a promotion to full-time working with the linebackers coach a few years later. That was the beginning for Diaz, and eight years after that initial conversation with Amato it led to the defensive coordinator jobs at Middle Tennessee State, then Mississippi State, then on to Texas, and then Louisiana Tech, before a trip back to to Mississippi State before landing with Mark Richt calling the defense at Miami.
It's been a wild journey that started with a roll of the dice and an expecting wife willing to take the chance. Now he's helped bring the Miami defense back to the type of play it was once used to, and a national darling in the now infamous Turnover Chain.
There are a lot of great untold stories out there of how coaches got their start, and this piece on Diaz sheds some light on a great journey. Head here to read the full piece from the Sun-Sentinel.