Walker Hires McManus As Offensive Coordinator
New Mexico State football head coach DeWayne Walker announced Jerry McManus as the Aggies? new offensive coordinator, Thursday. Recently, McManus served as associate head coach and running backs coach at Kent State from 2005-2010.
?Coach McManus comes to New Mexico State with a lot of experience,? Walker said. ?Both Jerry (McManus) and Doug (Martin) come from the family of Steve Logan when they were at East Carolina. We will continue to run the same scheme and we feel coach McManus will come in and continue what coach Martin started and continue to build our offense and help our football team.?
?I?m excited about being the new offensive coordinator at New Mexico State and filling the shoes of Doug Martin, who I worked with for 13 years, seven at East Carolina and six at Kent State,? McManus said. ?I?m also excited about working with coach Walker and his program and the direction it?s going. I think it?s a great situation for me both professionally and personally and I look forward to helping the Aggies win football games.?
McManus served as interim head coach at Kent State for the final game of the 2010 season. He guided running back Jacquise Terry to 542 yards rushing in 2010 and 649 yards rushing in 2009 as a part of the running back corps, as Terry was named a first team Academic All-American. As special teams coach, McManus helped punter Matt Rinehart to Mid-American Conference first team selections in 2009 and 2010.
In 2007, McManus celebrated his 30th anniversary in the coaching profession by mentoring first team All-MAC honoree Eugene Jarvis. Jarvis led the MAC and was fifth nationally with a 139.1 rushing yards-per-game average en route to garnering honorable mention All-America accolades from SI.com and CollegeFootballNews.com. Jarvis’ 1,669 yards shattered the previous school record by 324 yards, while his 1,975 all-purpose yards were second in the Kent State annals. Jarvis went on to earn second team All-MAC accolades again in 2008, despite missing the better part of four games with an injury.
Prior to his tenure as running backs coach and punt team coordinator at East Carolina (1996-04), McManus spent nine years at his alma mater, Wake Forest University (1987-95). He also spent time on the coaching staffs at the University of Connecticut (1985-86), Tulane University (1983-84), the University of Pittsburgh (1982) and Virginia Tech (1978-79, ’81).
While at East Carolina, McManus coached three different running backs to back-to-back-to-back 1,000 yards seasons (2001-03) and played a key role in the development of All-American running back Leonard Henry, who spent time with the Miami Dolphins. Henry was a first team All-Conference USA selection after finishing sixth nationally in rushing in 2001. Both Art Brown and Marbin Townes earned all-C-USA second team honors after their 1,000-yard campaigns. In addition, he coached a pair of first team all-C-USA punters, including All-American Andrew Bayes.
During his tenure at Wake Forest, McManus coached receivers, quarterbacks and linebackers. A quarterback himself during his playing days with the Demon Deacons, McManus tutored four of the top eight passers in school history. He also helped the team to a victory in the 1992 Independence Bowl, one of four bowl games that he’s coached in.
In his final two seasons at Wake Forest he served as the program’s recruiting coordinator.
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech, working with the defensive backs. He also coached in the defensive secondary at Pittsburgh, Tulane and Connecticut.
McManus has coached five players who have gone on to play in the NFL, among them Henry and wide receiver Ricky Proehl, Wake Forest’s all-time leading receiver.
A native of Dania, Fla., McManus received his bachelor’s degree in communications from Wake Forest in 1978. As a player he threw for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns, including two (three TDs total) in a 1975 upset of nationally-ranked N.C. State.
Source: NMSU Athletics
