Duke’s Diaz on Miami’s involvement in Mensah transfer: ‘Only say what you can prove’

CHARLOTTE — College football coaches haven’t been shy about tossing around accusations of tampering when players transfer to other schools.

But Duke coach Manny Diaz wouldn’t use that word Friday when discussing the high-profile transfer of quarterback Darian Mensah to ACC rival Miami. Mensah helped lead the Blue Devils to their first outright ACC championship since 1962 and publicly announced he’d be returning to Duke before hitting the portal on the final day of the transfer window. 

When Mensah picked national runner-up Miami, Duke sued, accusing him of violating the terms of his two-year contract. The sides settled, allowing Mensah to transfer to Miami.

“It’s an unanswerable question because ultimately what it comes down to — and this is why it was never an issue for us — is you can only say what you can prove,” Diaz said when asked by WRAL if Miami tampered with Mensah. 

“To me, it doesn’t matter and that’s why our issue was never with any other school. Duke was very consistent. The whole situation was simply about a contract that we felt had to be honored. And if it wasn’t honored, then what is the ramification of that? That’s exactly what happened. All parties were satisfied and all parties moved on.”

Tampering refers to contact between a school and a player before the athlete is in the portal. It is considered commonplace in college sports, especially with agents and other third parties. And though it’s not allowed, it is nearly impossible to police. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney accused Ole Miss of “blatant” tampering six months ago, but said he hasn’t heard from the NCAA despite providing evidence and reciepts.

“It is rampant because there hasn’t been much consequences and I don’t know there has been much fear of consequences,” Swinney said at ACC Kickoff according to the AP. He said congressional oversight may be needed and said fines, suspensions and firings should be considered as potential punishments.

Mensah, who was reportedly making $4 million at Duke, is being paid $6.5 million at Miami, according to On3. The Hurricanes were reported to be considering a number of quarterbacks, some in the portal and others who were not.

“We were in the market for a quarterback,” Cristobal said at ACC Kickoff. “We felt the team was really set in so many areas. When Darian hit the portal, we felt this is a guy we would love to pursue. Watching crossover tape with so many opponents we faced, we saw his level of talent and play. What really took us by surprise in a great way is what an incredible young man he is. His levels of leadership, care factor, time invested in his craft, football IQ, just natural human IQ, just an elite person.”

Mensah said repeatedly at the ACC Kickoff that he chose Miami because the Hurricanes offered him a better chance of winning a national championship and could enhance his NFL Draft prospects, as it had for transfer quarterbacks Cam Ward (No. 1 pick) and Carson Beck (started national title game) in recent years.

Diaz, who is entering his third season at Duke, said contract terms should be honored. Diaz said Duke includes buyout language in its contracts with players. Schools are allowed to pay athletes directly.

“People say all the time, coaches level. Sure, coaches leave but they have terms of contract that they have to pay,” Diaz said. “As long as those terms are set, there’s no judgement. It is what it is. I think that’s what you’re seeing nationally with what we went through.”

He added: “Everyone’s learning. I’m sure teams learn from what we went through. When you launch the rocket for outer space and you’re still building it as you’re going through the atmosphere, that’s kind of college football right now. It’s going to be a little bumpy.”

Without Mensah, the Blue Devils turned to San Jose State transfer Walker Eget at quarterback. Eget, who underwent knee surgery after the season, is expected to be a full participant in fall camp, Diaz said. But the coach also said not to rule out returning quarterback Dan Mahan, a redshirt freshman from Burlington, who has impressed.

It seems, at times, like the entire program has been ruled out. Despite winning the ACC title, the Blue Devils were left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff. It won’t happen again because the ACC champion will receive an automatic berth in the playoff moving forward.

Then came the Mensah saga. 

And now the ACC has adopted new tiebreakers that are aimed at keeping a team like Duke – which had three nonconference losses including to Tulane and UConn, but emerged from a five-way tie for second place — from even making the title game.

“I haven’t noticed a bunch of people shouting out that Duke is at the top of the board,” said Diaz, who is 18-9 at Duke. “We’ve kind of fallen back to the bottom half of the pile again. I think that’ll immediately establish a chip on the shoulder for our guys.”