There was plenty of blame to pass around after Saturday’s 40-21 loss to BYU and deservedly, defensive coordiantor Manny Diaz received most of it. Today that blame materialized with the firing of Diaz, as reported by Orangebloods.com.
http://t.co/TuILYGfSJV has learned Mack Brown fired Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator, one day after Texas gave up 550 yds rushing to BYU.
— Chip Brown (@ChipBrownOB) September 8, 2013
Head Coach Mack Brown announced in the post-game press conference last night that he would need to review tape before making any decisions about Diaz’s future, and undoubtedly Brown had issues with what he saw after watching it. The defense was gouged for 550 rushing yards, which set a school-record, including BYU QB Taysom Hill’s 259 yards on the ground. Missed tackles and poor defensive schemes against the zone-read made for a long night in Provo.
Diaz will be replaced by former Texas defensive coordinator Greg Robinson (2004) who was hired just in July as a football analyst. There was specualtion as to whether or not Robinson was brought in to hawkeye Diaz’s work, after the poor defensive performance in the 2012 season.
Mack Brown then issued a statement on Sunday about the Manny Diaz situation:
And Robinson’s statement on assuming the defensive coordinator position:
Greg Robinson begins his 2nd tenure as defensive coordinator with the Longhorns with a tough job. His last formal coaching stint was as the defensive coordinator Michigan in the 2009 – 2010 seasons under Rich Rodriguez. Robinson was let go in 2010 after producing a defense that was one of the worst in college football that season (110th in the nation).
As co-defensive coordinator in 2004 Robinson helped lead Texas to an 11-1 season which was capped off by a win over 12th ranked Michigan in the Rose Bowl.  In 2011 Athlon Sports named Greg Robinson’s tenure at Syracuse the 5th worst in college football since 1960.