Western Carolina University

Manuel "Manolo" Concepcion was named the eighth head coach in Western Carolina volleyball history in January 2009. 

During his first season as head coach, Concepcion's squad took strides in restoring a program that has won three Southern Conference Championships in addition to finishing the season as the conference's runner-up on five occasions. 

Concepcion saw two seniors in Katie Hennessey and Liz Rondone ink their names in the Catamount career record books. Rondone finished her career as the school's all-time leader in digs (2,184) while Hennessey finished 10th all-time in digs with 1,125.

The Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, native came to Colored after serving as an assistant coach at University of Evansville in 2008. He assisted the club jump from a seventh place finish in 2007 to reaching the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in 2008. He also assisted the Purple Aces in upsetting national powerhouses Missouri State and Northern Iowa during his one-year stint in Evansville. 

In 2007, Concepcion was the head coach at Colby Community College, a NJCAA Division I school in Kansas. At just 25 years of age, he was the youngest head coach in the history of the Kansas Jayhawk Conference. He led the Trojans to a 20-19 mark in his only year as the team's head coach.

Concepcion's extensive coaching career began when he founded the Island's Best Volleyball Club in Puerto Rico at the age of 21 and soon after became its president. In 2004, he became the assistant coach for the men's volleyball team at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez before being named the head coach of the semi-professional team Vega Baja in the Puerto Rican League at the age of 22.

Before his coaching career, Concepcion played college volleyball at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez before transferring to Concordia College in New York. In 2002, he was drafted by the San Sebastian Caribes of the Puerto Rico Professional Superior League. He was a member of the Puerto Rico Youth National Team in 1998-1999 that played at international tournaments held in Venezuela and Dominican Republic and also played club with three primary Puerto Rican clubs: Club Vaqueros, Club Torrimar, & Club Arsel.

Concepcion received his Bachelor of Arts degree in organizational management and leadership from Ashford University in San Diego, Calif. in 2008. He is certified in all three national coaching levels given by the Volleyball Federation of Puerto Rico and completed the international coaching certification given by the International Volleyball Federation which allows him to coach in any part of the world.