Courtesy of Illinois Athletics
Jeremy Manley
Urbana, Ill. – The Fighting Illini softball staff is pleased to announce the hiring of New Zealand pitcher Jeremy Manley as the volunteer assistant coach for the 2014-15 season.
“We are thrilled to have Coach Manley joining our staff!” said head coach Terri Sullivan. “His vast knowledge, years of professional playing experience, and clear love of the game are huge assets that will make an impact on our team’s development and pursuit of championships.”
Manley has served as a softball coach and pitching instructor in both New Zealand and Central Illinois, ranging from private individual lessons to the high school and junior college level. Manley comes to the Illini most recently after serving as the assistant varsity softball coach for the 2013 and 2014 seasons at Tri-Valley High School in Downs, Illinois, where he worked with the pitching staff to develop their pitching skills and abilities and helped his student-athletes reach their goals of playing softball beyond high school.
Manley spent the 2011 season as an assistant coach to John Bassett at Heartland Community College in nearby Normal, Illinois, where he worked with the pitching staff and assisted with the offense. He helped lead the Hawks to their fourth straight Region 24 Tournament Championship as well as a M-WAC Regular Season Championship. Under his guidance, starting pitcher Hanna Mennenga was named M-WAC Player, Pitcher and Freshman of the Year, as well as Region 24 Player of the Year and a Second-Team All-American. She went on to play Division I softball at Eastern Illinois, where she would be named Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2013. In addition to Mennenga, the Hawks had six other players named All-Conference that season, including First-Team All-American outfielder Hailey Haning.
A New Zealand native, Manley supervised and directed pitching and catching camps for the 18U Junior Black Sox, the New Zealand junior national team, and assisted the Softball New Zealand organization with pitching development throughout the country. Additionally, he served as a volunteer assistant coach to the 18U BNGSA Angels in Bloomington, Illinois.
A World Champion pitcher, Manley led the Black Sox, the New Zealand Men’s National Team, to the International Softball Federation Men’s Fastpitch World Series title in 2013, where he earned the Kevin Herlihy Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Pitcher, the only individual honor awarded at the event. The world championship followed a second-place finish at the 2009 ISF Men’s World Series. A Black Sox member since 2006, Manley was named Softball New Zealand Pitcher of the Year four times (2006, 2010, 2011, 2013) and played in tournaments in Japan, Australia, Argentina, Samoa, Canada and New Zealand. In addition to his most recent pitching honor, Manley was named International Softball Congress All-World three times, including first team selections in 2009 and 2010, and he earned Amateur Softball Association All-America selections in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Beyond his play with Black Sox, Manley won New Zealand Men’s Open Club Championships in 2006 and 2010 with Hutt City United and the Hutt Valley Dodgers, respectively. Following his second championship, he was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player and Pitcher, and the Dodgers named him Sportsman of the Year and their Most Valuable Pitcher.
Manley graduated from Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, in December 2013 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in exercise science with an emphasis on management and coaching. A full scholarship student-athlete, he was a three-time Massey University Blues Award winner, the highest sporting accolade given in the NZ tertiary system.
Pitching runs in the family, as his father, wife and father-in-law were all pitchers. Wife, Ali (nee Arnold), was a pitcher for Iowa from 2003-06, where she ranks in the top 10 in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, games played and innings pitched. Additionally, she spent time on the New Zealand White Sox, the Women’s National Team. She and Jeremy reside in Downs, Illinois.
