The North Greenville men's volleyball program has experienced its first coaching change in program history as assistant coach Matthew McManaway has been named the new head coach of the program after the retirement of Dr. Fred Battenfield.

"Matt McManaway is the perfect person to take over NGU men's volleyball because he's been a big part of it since its beginning. He was the foundational player for the program, and has sharpened his coaching skills the last four years with me. By design he's handled most of the on court coaching the last few years.  He's got a fantastic mind for the game and the players really respect him.  I'm leaving the program in very capable hands and coming off an incredible season, we're only going to get better in the years to come." - Dr. Fred Battenfield

McManaway helped the program get on its feet as he was part of NGU's first ever men's volleyball signing class. Matthew led the inaugural season for the Crusaders with 2.60 kills per set and was one of two Crusaders to be named All-Conference that season. After a solid sophomore season, McManaway returned to All-Conference honors in 2017, being named 2nd team and leading the program with 2.86 kills per set and nearly averaging a block per set. He returned to the All-Conference 2nd team for his senior year, setting a program record with 101 total blocks and once again averaging nearly a block per set.

Today, McManaway still holds season and career records in solo blocks, block assists, and total blocks while being 2nd in multiple offensive categories including kills, kills per set, and service aces.

After graduating, McManaway has remained with the program as an assistant coach. Since joining the coaching staff in 2019, North Greenville has finished with a winning record in all four seasons. The program's biggest achievement to date was in 2022 when NGU not only won the Conference Carolinas Tournament for the first time ever, but also gave the Conference Carolinas its first ever NCAA National Tournament victory with a 3-0 win over the Princeton Tigers.

""I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity given to coach for a great university and a great program. I've been able to see it grow from the beginning and I'm excited to see what the future holds for us! I know that I have big shoes to fill, I want to thank coach Battenfield for allowing me to serve as his assistant for the last 4 years and learn from him in this position. I would also like to thank my friends and family and my fiancé caitlin who have helped me get to this point with their love, support and most importantly their prayers. I want to thank the Atheltic administration for giving me the opportunity of a life time, as well as Dr. Fant and Rich Grimm for supporting the mens team and leading this university. I would lastly like to thank God for this opportunity, his plans are always better than anything we can think or plan for and this was his doing when he sent me to play volleyball at NGU. I'm excited to get started as the next head coach and look forward to the years to come!" - Matthew McManaway.

Matthew came to North Greenville from Mt. Vernon, Ohio where he attended Mt. Vernon High School. He currently resides in Greenville.