Ryan Manalac - Football Coach - Bucknell University Athletics

Photo by: Jen Dobias

Ryan Manalac

Title:
Defensive Coordinator (LB)
Email:
rm057@bucknell.edu
Phone:
570-577-3077

MEET COACH MANALAC
RECRUITING AREAS: Eastern Ohio, Southern Florida, Oregon, Mississippi

Ryan Manalac was named the Bucknell football team's defensive coordinator on February 15, 2019. Manalac will also work with the Bison linebackers.

Manalac most recently was Ohio Dominican University's defensive coordinator following stints at Valparaiso University under Bucknell head coach Dave Cecchini and at Michigan State University under two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year Mark Dantonio.

Manalac spent the 2018 and 2017 campaigns running Ohio Dominican's defense. Over that stretch, the Panthers went a combined 16-5, winning the 2017 Great Midwest Athletic Conference title with an unbeaten 7-0 mark in conference action. That season, Ohio Dominican ceded just 13.6 points per game to conference opponents, which led to six defensive players garnering All-G-MAC First Team laurels.

One of Manalac's charges was Ross Thompson, the 2018 G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year and a Harlon Hill Trophy and Cliff Harris Award candidate. In 2018, the linebacker set a school record with 110 tackles, including 9.5 for a loss. Thompson also matched the school record in career tackles (294) while totaling the fourth-most career tackles for a loss (28) in the Panther annals.

In 2016, Manalac served as a linebackers/special teams coach on Cecchini's staff at Valparaiso. That season, he helped Valparaiso's scoring defense improve by 10 points per game from 2015. He also molded first-year starting linebacker Drew Snouffer into an All-Pioneer Football League performer; Snouffer racked up 102 tackles, an average of 9.3 per game that was good for fourth in the conference.

Before his time at Valparaiso, Manalac spent five seasons on Dantonio's staff at Michigan State, where he helped in all three phases of the game as well as in recruiting. During his time in East Lansing, Manalac helped the Spartans earn a berth in the College Football Playoff, win four bowl games, capture two Big Ten Conference titles and achieve four top-10 finishes in the national poll.

In 2014, Michigan State finished with a No. 5 national ranking and an 11-2 record. In the A&T Cotton Bowl, the Spartan defense shut out high-scoring Baylor in the fourth quarter, contributing to a 21-0 run that sealed a 42-41 come-from-behind victory. That season, Michigan State boasted the nation's best rushing defense, yielding a meager 88.5 yards per game. The Spartans also finished third in turnovers gained (34) and eighth in total defense (315.8).

The Spartans wrapped up the 2012 campaign slotted fourth in the FBS in total defense (274.4) and eighth in rushing defense (98.6). The year before, they led the Big Ten in rushing defense (100.5) and total defense (277.4) en route to capturing the Big Ten Legends Division crown.

After walking onto the football team at the University of Cincinnati, Manalac earned a scholarship and four letters. A linebacker, he totaled 195 tackles, including a team-best 82 as a senior in 2008. That season, the Bearcats won a Big East Conference title and played in the Orange Bowl. For his academic and athletic excellence, Manalac earned Cincinnati's C-Club Strothman Award.

Following his time at Cincinnati, Manalac signed with the NFL's Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent. He was promoted to the organization's 53-man roster from its practice squad in January 2010.

A native of Pickerington, Ohio, Manalac graduated from Cincinnati in 2008 with a degree in business administration. He later earned his master's degree in kinesiology from Michigan State in 2012.

Manalac and his wife, Carly, have a daughter: Bailey.