On Tuesday afternoon, Miami Hurricanes Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz was named as a top 15 semifinalist for the Broyles Award.

Given annually to College Football’s Top Assistant Coach, the Broyles Award is one of the highest honors available in the coaching profession.

Diaz was previously announced as one of 56 individuals up for the award in the earlier semi-semifinalist list.

Here’s more from the Broyles Award website:

From the list of 15, five finalists will be selected and invited to travel to Little Rock, Ark. where the 2017 Broyles Award winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 5th at the Marriott Hotel.

Here are the 15 semi-finalists for this prestigious award, also from the Broyles Award website:

Alabama – Brian Daboll, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Auburn – Kevin Steele, Defensive Coordinator

Clemson – Tony Elliot, Co–Offensive Coordinator, Running Backs

Georgia – Mel Tucker, Defensive Coordinator

Iowa State – Jon Heacock, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties

Miami – Manny Diaz, Defensive Coordinator

Mississippi State – Todd Grantham, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers

Notre Dame – Mike Elko, Defensive Coordinator

Oklahoma – Bill Bedenbaugh, Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line

TCU – Chad Glasgow, Defensive Coordinator

UCF – Troy Walters, Offensive Coordinator

USC – Tee Martin, Offensive Coordinator/WR

Washington – Pete Kwiatkowski, Defensive Coordinator

Washington State – Alex Grinch, Defensive Coordinator / Secondary

Wisconsin – Jim Leonhard, Defensive Coordinator

Diaz has led Miami’s defense to a major resurgence, and that unit is a major reason why the Canes are undefeated and in the chase for a spot in the College Football Playoff. If you want to see some numbers that Diaz’s defense has achieved this year, it’s a good thing I love you:

Again, congratulations to Manny Diaz for this worthy recognition.

If we’re being honest and objective, Diaz should be a top 5 finalist for this award, if not the outright frontrunner. We’ll see if that comes to pass, but believe me, Canes fans see and value the job he’s done for our team.

Keep it going, Manny!

Go Canes