John Manos enters his third season as the men's and women's golf head coach in 2023-24.
Manos came to the Forest from Rosemont College, where he enjoyed a successful stint as the school's men's golf head coach from 2015-21. He became just the second golf head coach in Drew history, following Maura Ballard, who guided the Rangers from their inception in 2016 until her retirement from coaching in August 2021.
In his second year at Drew, Manos led both Ranger squads to another outstanding season. Both teams finished as the runner-up at the Landmark Conference Championships, where six golfers earned All-Landmark Conference status by virtue of their top-12 finish. The men also broke nearly every school record on both the team and individual levels, including lowest 18-hole average as well as the lowest scores for both 18 holes and 36 holes. Additionally, one of his men's golfers - Elliot Parker C'26 - became the first All-American in the history of Drew golf after finishing the season ranked 16th in Division III by golfstat.com. On the women's side, Manos coached Kayla Diaz C'24 to another stellar campaign, as she won nine of her 12 events on the season and broke her own school records for both 18 and 36 holes while tying her own record for 18-hole average.
In his debut season at the Forest, Manos was honored as the Landmark Conference Coach of the Year for both the men and the women after guiding both teams to the Landmark Conference crown. His teams also produced the conference’s player of the year on both sides, while the women also garnered rookie of the year honors.
In 2022, the Rangers sat in third place at the conference championship heading into the second day of the men’s event, but rallied for a combined score of 640 to secure Drew’s first Landmark Conference Championship. With the title, the team qualified for the NCAA Championships, finishing in the top 40. On the women’s side, the Rangers boasted a school-record 663 over 36 holes to claim its third Landmark Conference title. The team then competed at the NCAA Championships in Texas, placing 26th in the team standings, while Diaz tied for 17th in the individual standings.
At Rosemont, Manos helped the Ravens establish themselves as one of the premier programs in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC). His squads captured the CSAC title in each of the last three years that a conference championship was held (2018, 2019, 2021), and all three teams also made an appearance at the NCAA Division III Championships. In 2019 and 2021, he was honored as the CSAC Men's Golf Coach of the Year.
Also during his time at Rosemont, the men's golf team was awarded the Mark Laesch Award in 2016-17 as the most improved team in all of Division III. Throughout his time with the Ravens, Manos mentored 20 All-CSAC selections, three Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-Mid-Atlantic Region honorees, one NCAA All-American, and five GCAA All-America Scholars.
In addition to his coaching experience, Manos served as the Director of Course Rating for the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) from 2014-21. He helped expand the GAP Member Play Day Program from 12 to 30 annual events and generated over $100,000 in new revenue by creating the GAP Architect Event Series.
No stranger to Division III or the Garden State, Manos was a three-time golf team MVP at Centenary (N.J.) University from 2009-11. He graduated summa cum laude from Centenary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Marketing. Manos also earned a Master of Science degree in Sports Management from Columbia University.
