Manny Diaz feels ‘terrible’ that FSU coach has the coronavirus, talks effect on UM game
College football coaches feel each other’s pain — even if they want to crush the other guy on game day.
And for Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz, that means extending his disappointment for Florida State coach Mike Norvell, who announced publicly this past weekend that he tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss the big rivalry game against the No. 12 Hurricanes (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
FSU said Norvell is asymptomatic.
“No. 1 I feel terribly for Mike missing this game,’’ Diaz said Monday afternoon. “We’ve been talking about this as an ACC conference call with all the coaches all year. It’s just what’s out there. This is why every time that test comes back negative, not just for the team but for all of us on the staff, you don’t take that for granted.
“You just don’t know.”
What Diaz does know is that FSU (0-1, 0-1) will have deputy head coach Chris Thomsen serve as interim coach Saturday while Norvell isolates. Thomsen was the Division II Abilene Christian head coach from 2005 to 2011, spent the past three years as the offensive line coach at Texas Christian, and guided the Texas Tech Red Raiders to a 2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl victory over Minnesota when he served for one game as interim coach.
Thomsen, like Norvell, is an offensive coach. Diaz was asked how he expects a different game-day coach to affect the game itself and overall planning.
“In terms of the head coach responsibilities, I think only they would know that,’’ Diaz said. “The bigger key is the play calling, because they don’t just lose their head coach, they lose their offensive play caller. So I think other than the different dynamic of that, that’s something that will be an unknown, maybe an unknown for them.
“You’ve just got to get in the game and really see. Are the tendencies different or is it all the same thing? You really don’t know until you get in there and find out.”
Diaz said “the one word” that describes Norvell’s offense is “multiplicity.’’
“They present a lot of different problems for you defensively,’’ Diaz said, “a lot of different schemes in the run game and throw game. He and [UM offensive coordinator] Rhett Lashlee are descended from the same coaching family tree, so you can still see see at their core what they want to do. A Mike Norvell offense wants to run the football and they want to impose their will upon you running it. And they want to be able to play action off of that.”
Diaz also said that FSU will have “a lot of deceptive plays.’’
“They’re going to have trick plays to try to spring some things open and try to catch you with your eyes in the wrong place. We’ve got to do a lot better job of stopping the run than we did a week ago and a much better job of eye discipline in the back end.”
Added defensive coordinator Blake Baker: “It’s something that we’ll have to try to get a bead on early, maybe what he likes from a down-and-distance standpoint or situational standpoint and it will probably will continue to evolve throughout the game. It’ll be one of those wait and see type of deals.”
Diaz said his staff has a plan if a coach should test positive for the virus.
“We do have an organizational chart of if this guy is missing, then this happens,’’ the coach said. “If that guy is missing then that happens. If I’m missing then this happens. So that does exist but those things we’ll kind of keep internal and we’ll only share if we need to share it.”
Canes hit trifecta
How impressive was UM’s 47-34 win at former No. 18 Louisville on Saturday? Impressive enough that the Atlantic Coast Conference named three Hurricanes as Players of the Week: Quarterback D’Eriq King, safety Bubba Bolden and kicker Jose Borregales.
King threw for three touchdowns and passed for 325 yards with no interceptions.
Bolden had 11 tackles and a forced fumble.
Borregales kicked a school-record-tying 57-yard field goal, as well as field goals of 48, 40 and 22 yards.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
