Greg Manusky (muh-nuh-skee) returns to the NFL as inside linebackers coach for his 32nd year in the league and first as a coach for the Vikings in 2022. He previously served as the defensive quality control assistant for the University of Kentucky the past two seasons. The former linebacker, who played two seasons for the Vikings from 1991-93, brings 31 combined seasons of NFL experience, 19 coaching and 12 playing, to Head Coach Kevin O'Connell's staff.
During the 2021 season, Manusky helped coach the Wildcats to a 9-3 record, the fourth-best in the SEC. The Kentucky defense held its opponents to 340.8 yards of total offense. In 2020, LB Jamin Davis totaled a career-high 102 total tackles, also third-best in the SEC, and added 1.5 sacks and three interceptions - returning one for a touchdown. Davis was then picked in the first round (No. 19 overall) in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Washington Commanders.
Manusky was the defensive coordinator for the Commanders in 2019, where he coached alongside Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, who served as the offensive coordinator for the Commanders. He entered the coaching ranks full-time with the Commanders in 2001 as the team's linebackers coach. During his 19 seasons as an NFL coach, 12 different players have earned Pro Bowl selections, six of which have notched All-Pro honors.
In 2018, Manusky's unit was tied for 10th in the league in total turnovers. The team's 18 forced fumbles were tied with the Buffalo Bills for the fourth-most in the NFL and their 15 interceptions were tied for the ninth-best mark in the league. The unit was also one of the best at pressuring opposing quarterbacks and finished the season seventh in the NFL in sacks. The team was led by LB Ryan Kerrigan who finished the season with 13 sacks, which was tied for the seventh in the league. The 13 sacks was the second-most in a single season in Kerrigan's career and earned him his third-consecutive Pro Bowl selection. Kerrigan was named a Pro Bowler in all three seasons that Manusky was on the Commanders defensive staff.
In his first season as Washington's defensive coordinator in 2017, Manusky's defense produced the team's strongest season against the pass in nearly a decade. The unit ranked third in the NFL in completion percentage allowed (57.6 percent), the team's best ranking since leading the NFL in the category in 2005 (54.4), while finishing ninth in passing yards allowed per game (213.8, the team's lowest since 2009) and 10th in opponent passer rating (81.0, lowest since 2008). The group also posted 42 sacks, the franchise's most since 2000, led by Kerrigan, who earned his third Pro Bowl selection after leading Washington with 13 sacks.
The list of key contributors to the unit's performance under Manusky in 2017 spanned all positions and experience levels. Unrestricted free agent addition, LB Zach Brown, led the NFL in tackles through 15 weeks before missing the final three games of the season. Fellow free agent signing S D.J. Swearinger earned immediate captaincy status before ever playing a snap for Washington and recorded a career-high four interceptions, tying for the team lead with CB Kendall Fuller, who emerged as one of the league's top slot corners in his second NFL season. Second-year DT Matt Ioannidis made a similar second-year jump, posting 4.5 sacks, while first-round pick DT Jonathan Allen was impressive despite being limited by injury to only five contests.
As outside linebackers coach in 2016, Manusky helped guide Kerrigan to his second career Pro Bowl selection. Kerrigan posted 11 sacks, becoming only the fifth player in team history to record multiple 10-sack seasons. Manusky's contributions were also key to LB Trent Murphy's breakout campaign in 2016, a year in which the third-year pro recorded 9.0 sacks after totaling 6.0 across his first two NFL seasons in 2014-15. Manusky's duo became the first pair to record at least 9.0 sacks each in a single season for the Commanders since Andre Carter and Brian Orakpo in 2009.
Prior to his second coaching stint in Washington, Manusky served nine seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts (2012-15), San Diego Chargers (2011) and San Francisco 49ers (2007-10). The Colts won at least eight games in all four of Manusky's seasons in Indianapolis, earning three postseason berths, including an AFC Championship appearance in 2014. The Colts recorded 10 interception returns for touchdowns during Manusky's four-year tenure, tied for second-most in the AFC and tied for fifth-most in the NFL in that time frame.
In 2014, Manusky guided a defense that helped record the team's third straight 11-5 regular season record and second consecutive AFC South Division Championship. From Weeks 4-7, the Colts only allowed one third down conversion in four straight games, marking the longest streak by an NFL team since 1970. S Mike Adams, CB Vontae Davis and LB D'Qwell Jackson earned their first career Pro Bowl selections that season.
Manusky spent the 2011 campaign as the defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers. Under his direction, the defense allowed an average of 224.4 net passing yards per game, and S Eric Weddle tied for the NFL lead with seven interceptions and earned a trip to the 2012 Pro Bowl. Prior to joining the Chargers, Manusky spent four seasons (2007-10) as defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers. His 2009 unit did not allow a touchdown in five separate games while forcing an NFL-best 21 fumbles, allowing just 3.6 yards per rush and recording 44 sacks.
Manusky's first tenure with the Chargers lasted five seasons (2002-06), during which time he served as the linebackers coach. In the 2006 campaign, San Diego linebackers accounted for 42.5 of the team's 61 regular season sacks. That season, LB Shawne Merriman tied the Chargers' franchise record with 17 sacks, becoming the first Charger to lead the league in sacks.
Manusky started his coaching career in 2000, working as a volunteer linebackers and special teams coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during training camp. He then joined the Commanders staff in 2001 as the team's linebackers coach, helping guide LB LaVar Arrington to his first career Pro Bowl selection.
Manusky was a linebacker and special teams standout during his 12-year NFL playing career in Washington, Minnesota and Kansas City, recording a stretch in which he participated in 113 consecutive games. Manusky earned All-Madden Team honors in 1991 and retired from the NFL in 2000.
A native of Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Manusky attended Dallas (PA) H.S. before moving on to Colgate University, where he was a four-year letterman and an All-Colonial League selection. As a senior in 1987, Manusky was named the Colonial League's Defensive Player of the Year. He graduated with degrees in education and geology.
Manusky and his wife, Laurie, have two sons, Colton and Jake, and two daughters, Logan and Chandler.
