Manny Diaz is far from mad, but he’s not opposed to acting like it.

Mississippi State’s first-year defensive coordinator has a strong, visceral approach to football. Witness last week at practice, when the Bulldogs were chased by thunderstorms into the Palmeiro Center.

When cornerback Louis Watson picked off a Tyler Russell pass and returned it for a touchdown, Diaz sprinted into the end zone, picked up the ball, and kicked it into the wall as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

That kind of enthusiasm is why on Saturday, MSU’s media day, he was a little hoarse while giving interviews. When I approached him, he was talking with another reporter about the importance of paying attention to the smallest details.

Then I asked Diaz about his, um, spiritedness, and whether he now had the role of the young, emotional coach on the staff. That distinction belonged to head coach Dan Mullen last year; at the time, he was younger than all of his on-field assistants.

Then Carl Torbush left for Kansas, and the 36-year-old Diaz was hired (Mullen is now 38). Mullen has mellowed just a bit, but Diaz is taking up the slack.

“I know this,” Diaz said, “is that some of the greatest coaches I’ve learned from (say) you can’t be a great defense in a casual manner. Defense is a high-intensity exercise. … I’d love to sit there and golf clap and give them all orange slices after every play.

“But the reality is, that’s not what makes a great defense.”

So, what makes a great defense? Diaz said it’s “when you get 11 guys who are playing like 11 guys who just broke out of an insane asylum.”

Play like madmen.

If that’s all there was to it, well, Diaz wouldn’t be much of a coach. Certainly his candid interviews and demonstrative behavior have drawn notice from media and fans, but Mullen hired him for his football acumen.

You might recall the feature I wrote on Diaz a few weeks ago, where I traced his career arc. He began post-college life as a production assistant at ESPN but decided to give coaching a shot, and after stops at Florida State and N.C. State, he wound up at Middle Tennessee State in 2006 as defensive coordinator.

While there, he turned the MTSU defense into one of the best in the country, stats-wise.

Early returns

Diaz is a sharp fella, and his schemes are already working, at least in the preseason. MSU’s quarterbacks have had trouble figuring out just when and where blitzes are coming from, and Diaz will send them from all over the place.

Junior college transfer James Carmon, a defensive tackle, said that at Gulf Coast Community College he was supposed to read the offense. Here, it’s a bit simpler.

“But now, it’s getting mental to me, just get off the ball and get straight up the field, straight up the field, straight up the field, straight up the field, and straight attack.”

Get the picture?

Diaz’s “insane asylum” approach only serves to complement his X’s and O’s and adds purpose to his vision of what MSU’s defense can be. This is a unit that last season ranked 11th in the SEC in scoring defense and 10th in total defense.

His pupils haven’t fully adopted his attitude, but they’re getting there.

“I’ll be sitting there like you the first game and seeing for myself if we’re playing the way we envisioned ourselves to be,” Diaz said. “You set a vision of what you want to be, but ultimately, us talking about it doesn’t do any good.”

Action is much more important to Manny Diaz than words. After all, madmen are most interesting when acting mad.

Brad Locke (brad.locke@djournal.com) covers Mississippi State for the Daily Journal and blogs daily at NEMS360.com.