Russ Manney

Coaching Bio

Coach Manney did two stints as head coach of the Hornets, one from 1985-1997 and the second from 2001-2002. Coach Manney is 1969 graduate of Shamokin Area High School where he lettered in three sports: football, wrestling, and track. Coach Manney matriculated to Mansfield University where he majored in Elementary Education and played varsity football for three seasons.

Coach Manney graduated from MU in 1973 and began his coaching career at Wellsboro as an assistant coach under Head Coach Ted Yeager where he coached the offensive and defensive lines. During this five year stint he also developed Wellsboro's first strength and conditioning program.

In 1978 Coach Manney became the Offensive Line Coach at Mansfield University and Coordinator of the Strength and Conditioning program. At the end of his first year at MU he was promoted to Offensive Coordinator. While at MU he was fortunate to have recruited and developed eight PSAC All-Conference linemen and one All-American Guard, Mark Traister a graduate of Williamsport HS.

At the end of his six year stint at MU he was hired in 1984 as head coach of the Hornets. During the first eleven years of his head coaching career, Coach Manney led his team to the District 4 playoff four times: 1986, 1989, 1993, & 1995. His team also qualified for the Eastern Conference playoff in 1994 and due to a scheduling mistake missed the Eastern Conference playoffs by .001 of a point in 1996 after finishing the season with a 6-3 record.

Coach Manney was selected as the head coach for the District 4 All-Star game twice and is the only coach to have won both the North (1992) and South (2003) games as head coach. He also served in the District 4 All-Star game as an assistant three times. In the summer of 1995 he traveled to London, England as a guest Coach/Clinician for the American Football Travel International. The following year (1996) he was selected to coach in the Pennsylvania BIG 33 Football Classic (The Super Bowl of High School Football) where he coached the offensive line and coordinated the special teams. There has never been a Super Bowl that has not had a BIG 33 Alumni participate.

For ten years Coach Manney served as a District Director for the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association where he coordinated the development of a state-wide high school combine. In 1987 Coach Manney founded the District 4 Football Coaches Association and served as the association’s first president. During the same year he began the District 4 High School Combine for District 4 football players and college recruits which he still coordinates and is held annually at Montoursville High School in late May. The 2012 camp will be mark the twenty-eighth years.

Coach Manney is a member of both the Tioga County Sports Hall of Fame and the Wellsboro High School Sports Hall of Fame. In 1999 Coach Manney was honored by his high school and inducted into the Bernie Romanoski Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame for his high school athletic achievements and his coaching success on the gridiron. During his tenure at Wellsboro, Coach Manney also coached wrestling, track, and became Wellsboro's first Strength and Conditioning Coach where he acquired funds, purchased up-to-date equipment, and coordinated the building which temporarily housed the present-day strength equipment while the current state-of-the-art strength and conditioning room was in development.

Coach Manney retired from the Wellsboro Area School District (35 years) in 2008 and resides in the suburbs of Wellsboro - Draper, Pennsylvania with his wife of 50 years, Carline Manney a 2009 retiree of the Wellsboro School District (36 years). They have three children: Russ III a PSU graduate and football letterman (1996-2000), Jennifer a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (2003), and Jolene a graduate of Lock Haven University (2004).

Russ III, (DC) resides in Downers Grove, Illinois with his wife, Kristy and three children: Mia, Max, Maddy. He is the owner of IRC Chiropractic & Physical Therapy. Jennifer Morral is employed at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania where she resides with her husband Jamie and their daughter, Nixon. Jolene O'Leary followed her parent's career choice and is a teacher in the Woodland Hills School District. She resides in Murrysville, Pennsylvania with her husband Mike and their three children: Chloe, Mickey, and Bella.