With the departure of former football coach Dave Doeren and some of his staff to North Carolina State, there are a number of coaching vacancies that need to be filled.

New football coach Rod Carey filled one of those spots Wednesday, when Roy Manning agreed to become the Huskies’ new running backs coach.

“We’re really happy to have Roy Manning come in as our running backs coach,” Carey said in a news conference. “He brings a great background as a player and as a coach. He is an excellent teacher of the game who is going to bring a lot to the program. He fits right in at NIU with the values of our program. He comes from a great family; both of his parents are educators and we’re really happy to welcome Roy, his parents and his sisters to the Huskie Family.”

Manning is a former linebacker that played at Michigan and spent three seasons in the NFL with five different teams.

He began his coaching career in 2010 at Cincinnati as a defensive assistant. In 2011, Manning served as a graduate assistant at Michigan, where he worked with the offensive line. He returned to Cincinnati as an assistant coach that worked with the running backs.

Manning looks forward to coming to NIU due to its recent success. When Manning was a graduate assistant at Michigan in 2011, the team went 11-2 and earned a victory in the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl.

“To join a program like Northern Illinois that’s already established itself as a championship team is obviously important,” Manning said in a news conference. “This team has won the MAC the last two years, so I’m excited to come on board and bring my energy and knowledge to the running backs room and to the offense. From seeing NIU games on TV, I can tell that this coaching staff has a lot of passion for what they do, and I’m a guy that brings that type of attitude every day. The opportunity to come to a Top 25 program is a great fit for me and I couldn’t be more excited to get started.”

In his most recent season at Cincinnati as running backs coach, the Bearcats led the Big East and were ranked 30th in the nation in rushing offense. Running back George Winn recorded the second-best rushing season in school history, averaging 102.6 yards per game.

Manning is the third newest addition to Carey’s staff, joining wide receivers coach Thad Ward and defensive line coach Brett Diersen.