Coaching Rumors: Manny Diaz to Florida International?

The coaching carousel continues. Embattled Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Manny Diaz is now on short list of possible head coach candidates, according to a Bruce Feldman tweet, to replace fired head man Mario Cristobal.

Heard from FIU source school has interest in MissSt DC Geoff Collins & Texas DC Manny Diaz, whose dad was Mayor of Miami.

— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) December 8, 2012

The rumored list of potential new FIU head coaches is short. In addition to Manny Diaz and Geoff Collins, Tm Kephart, writing for the local CBS affiliate in Miami, is reporting that Florida State offensive coordinator James Coley and University of North Texas offensive coordinator Mike Canales appear to also be targets for the now vacant position.

Cristobal went 24-47 during his six year head coach stint at Florida International. FIU plays in the Sun Belt Conference, same as Canales UNT.

Located in sunny Miami, Diaz has deep ties there and is not surprising his name has popped up. The news today is on the heels of a recent rumor he may also be in line for a possible move back to Florida State.

Where there's smoke there's typically fire. While UT coach Mack Brown has stated that there are no staff changes pending, that doesn't necessarily mean that an under-the-radar effort isn't under way to find a soft landing for the Longhorns defensive coordinator.

Given the 2012 Texas defense will rank as one of, if not the, worst squads in program history, I'm not sure how a coach survives that.