Everyone has same Miami football joke after Manny Diaz’s ACC title win

When Miami fired Manny Diaz in 2021, many college football fans thought they had seen the last of the defensive guru as a head coach. Four years later, Diaz has led Duke to its first ACC Championship Game victory since 1962, and fans are having a field day.

Diaz and Duke found themselves in the ACC title picture despite their meager 7-5 record due to owning a myriad of tiebreakers. Nobody expected the Blue Devils to beat No. 17 Virginia, who had just beaten them by 17 three weeks before, yet Diaz walked away with a 27-20 overtime victory.

Fans could not help but point out the irony of Diaz returning to the ACC and winning a conference title with Duke since his Miami firing before the Hurricanes could achieve the feat.

Manny Diaz got fired from Miami

He’s been to two schools since he got fired at Miami in 2021

He still found a way to win the conference before Miami did

Very impressive job by Coach Diaz pic.twitter.com/rBM43Hfph4

— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) December 7, 2025

“Manny Diaz won an ACC championship with Duke before Miami…,” one fan joked.

“Manny Diaz was fired at Miami for going 7-5,” another fan noted. “He took Duke to the ACC Championship as 7-5 and just won it.”

“MANNY DIAZ GOT FIRED FROM MIAMI AND WON THE ACC BEFORE MIAMI COULD EVEN MAKE IT THERE,” someone reacted on X, formerly Twitter.

The Hurricanes hired Diaz, a Miami native, in 2019 as the successor to Mark Richt, who had recently retired. The job was Diaz’s first as a head coach after over a decade of success as a defensive coordinator, including the final three of Richt’s tenure in Coral Gables.

Diaz led Miami to winning seasons in two of his three years but was fired for his failure to reach ACC title contention. The irony in his reaching that goal with Duke, a less-funded football program with significantly lowered expectations, just four years later simply will not get overlooked.

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