Former Effingham County Rebel, North Carolina State Wolfpack member and Washington Redskin Greg Manior was named the new head football coach of the Screven County High School Gamecocks last week. 
Having held a similar position at South Effingham High School for the past four seasons, Manior will take over the duties at SCHS as soon as details can be worked out between the two school systems.
Manior, who already has become a regular around the SCHS campus, was unanimously approved by the Screven County Board of Education at a called meeting Feb. 18.
“I am happy and delighted to be a part of the Screven County family and I am very anxious to get to work,” Manior said immediately after the hire became official.
“I think Greg Manior will be an excellent addition to the school system,” said Screven County School Superintendent Dr. Whit Myers. “He will be an excellent head coach and will bring new things to the football program. I am confident that we will have a lot of success.”
SCHS principal Brett Warren nominated Manior to be appointed to the position.
“I am excited about this hire,” Warren said. “What is important is that he is excited. He is ready to get here and get to work. He knows and I know that there is a lot of work to be done to get the program where we need it to be.”
With two stops as a head football coach -- one at Savannah High and his current assignment at South Effingham -- Manior was quick to say, “I want to be somewhere where football is No. 1 … where everyone knows it and supports it. Because of the past here, there will be more pressure to win here, but this is the kind of job a quality coach should want.
“Leaving South Effingham will be tough; I am accustomed to the faculty and staff there,” Manior said. “It is time to move on and there is no place better than Screven County. I do plan to move to Sylvania or somewhere in the county and my kids will go to school here.”
Wife Janine was the 2008 Effingham County Teacher of the Year and currently teaches at South Effingham Elementary School and hopes to land a job here teaching at the elementary level or as a media specialist. They have two children, Daria (13) and Dexter (9).
Manior becomes the first African-American head football coach at SCHS.
In his application sent to Screven County schools Jan. 13, Manior wrote, “It will be my goal to serve the student athletes of Screven County High School and not only to provide the leadership they need on the field but to produce productive citizens off the field.”
On Thursday, he echoed a similar sentiment when asked what he brings to the table for SCHS.
“I bring integrity to the table. I relish the fact that I am a role model. I do not shy away,” Manior said.
Manior’s classroom certifications run nearly a complete gamut of the educational system. Included on his list of certifications are T-5 in middle grades social studies and language, safety and driver’s education (his current field at South Effingham High School), special education -- behavior disorders and health and physical education. He will complete his T-6 in Teaching and Learning this May.
“I am also really impressed with him as an educator and a person,” Myers said. “I think that he will help build relationships with the community, educational programs and in a lot of other places. He will help us do a better job of raising kids.”
Local fans will no doubt be quick to ask about the offense and defense that will come to town on Manior’s shoulders.
“My base offense is a Wing-T, but not necessarily from its true alignment. It is more of a hybrid,” Manior said. “I run a shot wing and about five or six other derivations to try to spread the defense out, but it does not change the blocking schemes.”
Defensively, fans will see a definite change. Manior favors a 3-5 or a 3-3 stack.
As for stopping the spread offenses of the likes of Laney, Jefferson County and Swainsboro, “There are several things that must be done,” Manior said. “We must put pressure on the quarterback, really get after him and make him uncomfortable. Then we have to put our athletes on their athletes and get them in the right position. Pressure is the key.”
A 1988 graduate of Effingham County High School and a member of that school’s sports hall of fame), Manior toiled on the college gridiron for the North Carolina State Wolfpack of Coach Dick Sheridan. While at the Raleigh school, he was named honorable mention All-ACC in 1990 as a fullback. In 1994, he was signed as a free agent by the Washington Redskins and spent a year on their practice squad before injuries ended his professional career.
Entering the high school coaching realm at his alma mater to work with his former coach Bob Griffith in the fall of 1994, Manior served as offensive backfield coach as well as being head boys track coach. His first head coaching job came with a two-year stint at Savannah High before he joined the staff at South Effingham as offensive coordinator in 2001. He held that position until becoming the head coach there in 2006. While at South Effingham, Manior also was head girls and boys track coach 2001-2006. He currently is the head South Effingham golf coach.
When can he start at SCHS?
“I don’t know. I hope soon, I need to be here as soon as possible,” Manior said. “It will be up to the board of education as to when I can start and meet the kids. I feel that the Effingham County Board of Education will be very cooperative in this.”
Manior, since the beginning of the week, has come over to Sylvania in the afternoons after teaching morning classes at South Effingham. He already has a red Screven County jacket and has attended some of the early SCHS spring sports after school.