Omar Mance - Chief of Staff - Men's Basketball Support Staff

Phoenix, AZ June 13, 2024 : Jerry Colangelo, President Brian Mueller and and Chief of Staff Omar Mance look on as GCU takes part in summer workouts. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

Omar Mance

Title:
Chief of Staff
Years at GCU:
1st season
Email:
omar.mance@gcu.edu
Alma Mater:
Rice (2003)

Road to GCU
YEAR	SCHOOL	POSITION
1998-99	LSU	Student-Athlete
1999-03	Rice	Student-Athlete
2003-05	MLK Jr. HS (Ga.)	Asst. Coach
2005-07	Joseph Sears School (Ill.)	Athletic Director
2006-07	Rice	Dir. of Ops
2007-08	Rice	Asst. Coach
2008-10	North Shore Country Day (Ill.)	Head Coach
2010-13	Army	Asst. Coach
2013-16	Liberty	Asst. Coach
2016-17	Vanderbilt	Dir. Recruiting
2017-18	Rice	Asst. Coach
2018-23	Trevecca Nazarene	Head Coach
2023-24	Wisconsin Herd	Player Dev. Asst.
2024-pres	GCU	Asst. Coach

Omar Mance is in his first season on the Grand Canyon men's basketball staff in 2024-25, serving as the Chief of Staff.

In Mance's role as Chief of Staff, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the program and staff including scheduling, travel, managers, equipment, video and more.

Mance brings 21 years of basketball coaching staff experience to GCU and reunites with Lopes head coach Bryce Drew after spending a year on his Vanderbilt staff in 2016-17.

"GCU is an amazing university, and I'm incredibly blessed to be a part of great leadership, athletic administration, high-major facilities and incredible fans in the Havocs," Mance said at the time of his hiring. "To be a part of one of the top programs in the nation with a Godly staff and team is a blessing for our family to serve."

Mance comes to GCU after his 21-year coaching career's first professional coaching experience as a player development assistant for the Wisconsin Herd, the G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks.

"We're very close," Mance said of his relationship with Drew. "Our family has been cheering him on from afar. We know how hard he works and how he wanted to build something special and make history. We've been excited to see the success. Now, we get to work together again and continue what they started but also take it to the next level."

Mance, a native of Stone Mountain, Georgia, starred as a player at Rice before embarking on a coaching career that began as an assistant coach to his father, Eric, the late Georgia high school coaching legend who accrued 547 career victories. They teamed in Lithonia, Georgia, to guide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. High School to a 2004 state runner-up finish.

Mance served two years as a high school athletic director before taking his first college basketball job with Rice, his alma mater, as its recruiting coordinator in 2007-08. After another two-year high school coaching stop, he became an assistant coach for Army from 2010 to 2013.

That led to a three-season stint as Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay's assistant coach before joining Drew's staff at Vanderbilt for 2016-17. That Commodores team won 19 games and earned an NCAA tournament No. 9 seed with center Luke Kornet, who is playing in the NBA Finals for the Boston Celtics.

"He just has a joy for life," Drew said then of Mance. "He has a joy for people, and he just loves basketball. He brought a smile to our staff's face every day when he came into the office, and players love him."

Mance returned to his alma mater, Rice, as an assistant coach for 2017-18 before becoming the head coach of Trevecca Nazarene, a Division II program near Nashville that also produced GCU men's basketball athletic trainer Chris Elliott. Mance led the Trojans program for five seasons.

"Head coaching experience is something I can bring back to this program and to Coach Drew and his staff," Mance said. "This past season, working in the NBA in the Milwaukee Bucks organization, is something I know that's really exciting for the guys on our team – that professional experience with the draft process and coaching at the G League level."

Mance was the 1998 Metro Atlanta Player of the Year and Lithonia High School's valedictorian as the son of two dedicated educators, as his mother, Teresa, taught special education for 35 years. He signed with LSU, where he played one season before transferring to Rice and becoming a two-time team MVP. In 2003, Mance averaged 15.2 points to earn All-WAC second-team honors for a 19-10 team, won the Bob Quin Award as Rice's top male student-athlete and graduated in Mathematics.

He now returns to the college scene to continue the lifelong work of his family's mentorship and discipleship mentality.

"I'm really impressed with the university and the mission of the university," Mance said of GCU. "Bryce Drew, knowing him and the person and the man he is characterwise, makes it enjoyable to work together. His staff is just so impressive. More importantly, the players and the program. This is one of the best programs in the country, period, regardless of size. It's a program that does it the right way and is one of the hottest programs rising in the nation.

"To be part of that at a Christian university and to do it the right way and mentor young men is something we've always talked about for a number of years since Coach Drew got it. I'm excited to serve the program."

Mance and his wife, Rebecca, reside in Phoenix with their 9-year-old son, Zion.