NORTH MANCHESTER – Manchester University Director of Athletics Rick Espeset announced that Vann Hunt will lead the Spartan football program.

Hunt, who began his tenure as head coach last week, was most recently acting head coach and defensive coordinator at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

“My family and I are excited to begin a new chapter at Manchester University. As a DIII athlete myself, the student athlete experience is very important to me. Being able to help mentor student-athletes to become both high achievers in the classroom and fierce competitors on the field is always my main goal,” Hunt said.

 “I’m fired up to get to North Manchester and get to work with the team,” he said. “We are going to keep grinding and competing with great effort and intensity, making sure to bring the juice at all times!”

 “From the second I began to interact with the staff at Manchester I quickly saw it was a community that was deeply invested in impacting the lives of its students and creating great outcomes,” he said, adding that he is grateful to Espeset, Vice President for Student Life, Advising Director Mara Youngbauer and everyone else involved in the process “for showing me how unique of a place it is and trusting me to lead the program forward.”

 Espeset said Hunt is a great fit for the program, distinguishing himself in a deep and talented pool of candidates showing “great energy, investment in the student-athlete experience and building a positive team culture.”

“We could not be more thrilled to welcome Coach Hunt to the Manchester University community,” Espeset said. “From early in the process Vann clearly articulated his vision for our football program and our student-athletes.”

Hunt joined Allegheny in early 2017, where he also served as special teams and recruiting coordinator.

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, he was a four-year football athlete at Wabash College in the North Coast Athletic Conference, including earning All-NCAC running back honors in 2011. He helped lead the Little Giants to two NCAA Division III national playoff appearances, as well as the 2011 NCAC championship.

After graduating from Wabash in 2013 with a degree in rhetoric and minor in religion, Hunt joined the football coaching staff at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois, taking on a number of key roles while earning his Master of Business Administration in 2015 from Olivet.

Hunt spent the 2016 season as assistant football coach at Bluefield College in Virginia.