MORGANTOWN — Erica Manor’s credentials speak for themselves. She was the West Virginia Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year as a senior at Musselman High in 2008 and ended up helping the Applemen win their first state championship that season. Along with a first-team all-state selection in 2008, Manor earned the same recognition as a junior the year prior.
After high school, Manor played four years at Liberty, then returned to her alma mater at Musselman as an assistant under coach Shawn Martz. While there, Manor won two more state titles, and it started to scratch an itch to get into coaching.
Now, Manor will enter her first season as a varsity head coach at Morgantown.
“After college, I was still very passionate about volleyball so the obvious choice for me was to start coaching,” she said. “Being a coach is a great way to develop student-athletes and to continue to grow that passion for volleyball. I always knew I wanted to, but I didn’t know the timeline of when. The timing was perfect for this opportunity, so I’m very thankful.”
Manor’s first practice — a flex day — was Tuesday, and it was her first chance to meet and work with her new group. She spent last season as the J.V. head coach at University and worked as a varsity assistant under Don Godfrey, so she scouted against the Mohigans often.
The Hawks reached the state tournament but fell to Woodrow Wilson in the first round.
Manor will be the fourth head coach of the Mohigans in the last four seasons, hoping to add stability to a program that has been successful regardless of attrition at the top spot. MHS made it to the state tournament each of the last five years but only made it past the quarterfinals once (2016).
“Last year, we really had our way with University High early in the season, but late in the year, they started having our number,” MHS athletic director John Bowers said. “There was this tall, newer-looking coach who established herself over there, later in the season especially, and she started calling timeouts and coaching during timeouts. Not so coincidentally, that’s when they started having success against us, so that caught our eye.”
Bowers believes the ceiling for the MHS program is sky high, and when Manor applied for the job, she said all the right things and has a strong list of credentials that made her the right fit for the job.
“She was the Gatorade player of the year, a state champion, four-year letter winner, played Division-I volleyball … her resume’s very, very impressive, and it was neat to watch her as an opposing A.D. last year, so I’m really excited to have her on our side.”
