Manolo Concepción joined the MSU staff in March 2019, and became interim head coach on August 12 of that same year.
No stranger to Missouri Valley Conference volleyball, Concepción spent the six seasons prior to joining the Bears as the head coach at Evansville, where he mentored four all-MVC selections, six MVC Scholar-Athletes, and individuals who ranked among the Valley’s top two in digs, aces and kills during various seasons. Concepción also spear-headed a renovation project that resulted in UE becoming the first MVC school to install a Taraflex floor, and founded the Evansville United Volleyball Academy, which grew into the area’s largest and most successful club.
Concepción also served as an assistant at Evansville in 2008, helping the Purple Aces to an MVC Tournament appearance. That success propelled the Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, native to the head job at Western Carolina, where he spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons and recruited the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, Libero of the Year, and numerous all-conference players.
Between his head coaching stints and WCU and UE, Concepción returned to his native Puerto Rico, where he founded and served as president of Sport Consultants Network, the top consulting agency of its kind on the island that helped more than three dozen athletes earn scholarships to NCAA and NJCAA institutions. He was also an assistant coach for professional men’s (Guaynabo Mets) and women’s (Corozal Pink) volleyball clubs in 2012 and 2013, during which time he trained three Olympians, before returning to the United States to begin his head coaching stint at Evansville.
Concepción has additional college coaching experience as the head coach at Colby Community College (2005-07), where he sent multiple players to the NCAA level, and as an assistant at University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, where he learned under Israel Garcia Lucca, who was the P.R. Men’s National Team coach at the time.
Prior to beginning his coaching career, Concepción played for three major Puerto Rican clubs - Torrimar, Vaqueros, and Arsel - and was a member of the Puerto Rico Youth National Team as an outside and right side hitter. He was drafted to play professionally for San Sebastian Caribes.
Concepción played one season of college volleyball at Concordia College in New York, and eventually earned a degree in organizational management and leadership from Ashford University in San Diego, Calif., in 2008 before earning his M.B.A. from Ashford in 2011.
He holds coaching certification from the International Volleyball Federation, three certifications from the Puerto Rico Volleyball Federation, and worked at the USA Volleyball A2 National Training Program in 2017 and 2018.
