By R.L. Bynum
Jackie Manuel’s role will change for the fourth consecutive season, this time adding UNC junior varsity basketball coach to his duties.
Four seasons ago, he was an assistant on Coach C.B. McGrath’s UNCW men’s basketball staff. After the school fired McGrath, he spent one season on Coach Courtney Banghart’s women’s basketball staff as Director of Player and Team Development.
When UNC hired Coach Hubert Davis to replace Coach Roy Williams in April 2021, Manuel kept the same title but switched from the women’s staff to the men’s staff.
He’ll still have that title this season but will take over the JV coaching duties from assistant coach Brad Frederick. There was no UNC JV team in the last two seasons.
Former UNC JV coaches who later became varsity head coaches at college programs include Williams, Davis, McGrath and Stanford coach Jerod Haase.
There have been some male students who practice with the women’s team and have later earned spots on the JV team. So, it’s possible that he will know one or two of his JV players from when they were practice players for the women’s program.
Before spending three seasons on McGrath’s UNCW staff, he was assistant strength and conditioning coach at UNC (2011–12), an assistant coach on Coach Wes Miller’s UNCG staff (2012–13) and an assistant coach at Valparaiso (2016–17).
Manuel played on the 2005 national championship team and started 86 of his 126 career Carolina games. He played four seasons in the D League and one season in Japan before retiring as a player.
Photo via goheels.com
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