Head Coach Shannon Griffith

Position: Head Football Coach/Offensive Coordinator
Alma Mater: Ball State University
Date of Hire: January 2004
Years Coaching: 17 
Overall Record: 6-34 (Four Seasons)

Shannon Griffith enters his fourth season as the head football coach for Manchester College. An effective and aggressive recruiter, Coach Griffith has brought three of the largest recruiting classes to the football program and enters the 2007 season with nearly 100 players on the roster.   

No stranger to the Manchester area, Griffith grew up in nearby Fort Wayne, playing football for Northrop High School. There he was a three-year starter at quarterback, earning All-Conference and All-State recognition. He went on to join the Ball State University football team, where he was a three-year letter winner, helping his team to a Mid-American Conference championship title in 1989 and a bid to the California Raisin Bowl.

Griffith graduated with a bachelor’s degree in general studies while minoring in business foundations and counseling psychology. In 1991, he returned to Ball State to serve as a graduate assistant coach, responsible for the tight ends and assisting the quarterback coach.

In January 1991, he took a job at Northwood University as the football team’s co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Two years later, he returned to Ball State Univeristy, where he spent eight seasons as an assistant coach. The first four seasons, he worked with the quarterbacks before moving to wide receiver’s coach from 1999-2003. The 1996 BSU team captured another MAC title. During his eight-year stretch, he served as BSU’s video coordinator, implementing the Cardinals with the same video editing systems found in the professional league. He received his master’s degree in athletic administration and physical education from Ball State in 1996.

Griffith made his way to Manchester College after spending the 2003 season as an assistant football coach and physical edication instructor for Bishop Kenny High School in Florida. He served as the team’s offensive coordinator, finishing 7-4 in the regular season and helping the team qualify for the state playoffs. 

Football was always a part of Coach Griffith’s life, growing up, His father, Bill, coached at Snider and Wayne High Schools in Fort Wayne, as well as Jeffersonville High School before retiring last season with Churubusco High School.  Bill Griffith is a former president of the Indiana Football Coaches Association and a former elected member of the IHSAA Board of Directors.

A gifted motivator, Griffith inspires his players to achieve their full academic potential, to maintain a standard of excellence, and to reach their goals as student athletes. He believes that combining athletics, academics and a sense of community involvement will better prepare student athletes to make the right choices in life. He also instills the belief that with hard play and proper execution, success will be the end result.

Griffith and his wife, Kim, have a daughter, Ashley, and son, Isaac.

Name: Jeremy Markham
Position: Wide Receivers
Alma Mater: Manchester College
Date of Hire: August 2000
Years Coaching: 13 
Jeremy Markham begins his eighth season at Manchester College. He also spent one season with the Spartans as an intern coach during the 1995 season. Along with his wide receiver coaching duties, Markham serves as athletic recruiting coordinator for the Office of Admissions.

As a student athlete at Manchester, Markham started all four years from 1991-94 as a wide receiver and was awarded All-Conference honors in 1994. He graduated in 1996 with a degree in physical education and earned his master's in secondary education at Cumberland College in Kentucky. At Cumberland, he served as a graduate assistant from 1996-98 before being named as an assistant coach.

He is a graduate of Northwood High School and resides in North Manchester with his wife, Laura, and daughter, Anna.

Name: Ron Planz
Position: Defensive Coordinator
Alma Mater: Carthage College
Date of Hire: August 2004
Years Coaching: 7
Ron Planz returns for his fourth season at Manchester College, serving as the Spartans defensive coordinator and strength and conditioning coordinator. Planz, a native of Bensenville, Ill., played four seasons at Carthage College in Wisconsin. As a player, Planz assisted the football staff in recruiting and with other teammates during off-season workouts.

He earned a B.S. in exercise science from Carthage, and a master's from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he served as an assistant coach for three seasons, working with the wide receivers, cornerbacks and defensive secondary, while serving as the team's recruiting coordinator.

Planz spent part of the 2002 season in Vienna, Austria, where he was the defensive coordinator for the Danube Dragons. He and wife, Julia, reside in North Manchester.

Name: Nate Jensen
Position: Linebackers
Alma Mater: Defiance College
Date of Hire: August 2004
Years Coaching: 3
Nate Jensen returns for his fourth season. Jensen was promoted to a full-time assistant coach last summer and will once again work with the defensive line.  Originally from Lansing, Mich., Jensen received a degree in mathematics with a minor in informational technology, while playing as a defensive end with Defiance College. He earned All-Conference honors in 2003.

Name: Matt Buenning
Position: Offensive Line
Alma Mater: Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Date of Hire: August 2007
Years Coaching: 4
A native of Green Bay, Wisc., Matt Buenning played four years for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and earned several awards as a left tackle. He earned a degree in 2004 with a major in physical education and a minor in coaching, and was offered a tryout with the San Diego Chargers upon graduation. He returned to UW-W for two seasons as an assistant coach, working with the 2005 National Runner-up team, and spent last year coaching the tight ends at the University of West Georgia. His brother Dan is a starter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the offensive line. Matt resides in North Manchester with his wife, Megan.

Name: Chris Matsos
Position: Running Backs
Alma Mater: University of Michigan
Date of Hire: August 2007
Years Coaching: 2
Chris Matsos was a four-year member of the University of Michigan Wolverines football program from 2001-2005 and graduated with a degree in English. As a wide receiver, he was part of two Big Ten championship teams and participated in four New Year’s Day Bowl games, including two Rose Bowls. He spent two years playing professional arena football. Matsos is a native of New Boston, Mich., and will work with the running backs this season. He resides in North Manchester with his wife, Christi.

Name: Eric Rausch
Position: Defensive Line
Alma Mater: DePauw University
Date of Hire: August 2007
Years Coaching: 2
Eric Rausch is a 2006 graduate of DePauw University, where he earned a degree in Earth Science. He was a four-year member and defensive lineman for the Tiger football team and was named Honorable Mention All-Conference as a senior. He served as an assistant coach at DePauw last year and will work with MC's defensive line this season. He and his wife, Becky, reside in North Manchester.