NCAAF teams
Ivan Maisel, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Manny Diaz rehabs career at Louisiana Tech

1. The joke went that Louisiana Tech assembled a staff in search of career rehab. Skip Holtz, fired at South Florida, took over in 2013 and a year ago hired defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, fired at Texas. Well, look what happened. The Bulldogs went 9-4 and finished second in Conference USA in scoring defense (24.7 points per game) and total defense (362.5 ypg). And look what else happened: Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen rehired Diaz, who ran Mullen's defense in 2010. Career rehab may have been a joke. It turned out to be true.

2. A young head coach like Chad Morris, the new guy at SMU, probably shouldn't hire a high school from Wyoming to coach the Mustangs' defensive line. But then Bill Young isn't just any high school coach. Young will begin his 48th season as a football coach when he begins at SMU. He has coached defense in four of the Power 5 conferences and the NFL. Young coached Yukon (Wyo.) High last season after he lost his job with the University of Wyoming a year ago. Morris can use a wizened head like Young. That's a smart hire.

3. The FBS membership will pass legislation at the NCAA Convention later this month that will allow schools to pay student-athletes the “full cost of attendance,” or $200-$300 a month for incidental expenses. Now that the principle of providing more to scholarship recipients is kosher, other, similar benefits won't be far behind. Cleveland.com reported recently that Ohio State plans to sponsor legislation allowing schools to pay travel expenses for the families of student-athletes to attend bowl games. FBS members must figure out how to get the student-athletes a bigger slice of the suddenly larger economic pie without turning them into employees. That may be a distinction without a difference.

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