These have certainly been better days for Jayhawk legend Danny Manning. He was fired as head coach in April by Wake Forest after three straight losing seasons and compiling a dismal 78–111 (.413) record in six years, including a more woeful 30-80 (.273) record in ACC play. This was not the plan Manning, AD Ron Wellman, who hired him, and all Wake fans envisioned when he began his tenure in Winston Salem in 2014 after leading Tulsa to its first NCAA Tournament that year since 2003. Manning guided the Golden Hurricane to a 21-13 record, including a 13-3 mark in Conference USA (tied for regular-season title), and then capturing the C-USA postseason tournament.
But the ACC proved to be too mighty for Manning to handle, and he suffered with many transfers and players who opted to pursue professional careers. He had only one winning season at Wake in 2016-17, posting a 19-14 record and an NCAA Tournament berth with future NBA lottery pick John Collins, where the Demon Deacons lost in the First Four to K-State.
Manning, who reportedly received a 15M buyout from Wake, will likely land on his feet again and receive another head-coaching job, although it might be at low-major school. He developed a reputation as KU assistant coach as arguably the best-big man coach in the college game, helping send countless Jayhawks into the NBA, including the Morris twins, Darrell Arthur, Cole Aldrich and Jeff Withey.
This fact, along with winning at Tulsa, might be enough for some college to take a chance on Manning again or for an NBA team to hire him as an assistant.
In this three-part series, here’s a look back on better fortunes for Manning, as I write about my high school classmate's induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and his college and NBA career.
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Danny Manning once said the four players in basketball history he’d most like to play with were Elgin Baylor, Earl Monroe, Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson.
Those four are among the all-time hoops greats and enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
When Manning was just a freshman at the University of Kansas in 1985, KU coach Larry Brown destined his prodigy for immortality and an indelible place reserved with the legends like Russell and Baylor in Springfield.
“This kid has a chance to be thought of in light of the best when his career is over,” Brown said. “He is the most complete young player I’ve ever seen. He is unlike any player I’ve ever been around.
“He’ll be the best.”
Thirty-five years later, Manning is not considered “the best” or one of the all-time NBA greats. Three ACL injuries in the pros robbed him of stardom, yet he still had an impressive 15-year career, finishing with 12,367 points, 4,615 rebounds, 2,063 assists, 1,000 steals and 753 blocks. Manning was a two-time All-Star (1993 and ‘94) and won the NBA Sixth Man Award with the Phoenix Suns in 1998 before retiring in 2003 with the Detroit Pistons.
On the collegiate level, though, Manning had few peers. The Sporting News ranked Manning the 12th best college player of all time in 2002 in Mike DeCourcy’s book, Legends of College Basketball,while in Dick Vitale’s 2008 book, Fabulous 50 Players and Moments in College Basketball, the celebrated announcer pegged Manning as the fifth-best player during his 30 years of covering college basketball for ESPN.
The 12th all-time leading scorer in NCAA history (2,951 points), Manning was a two-time All-American and the consensus National Player of the Year in 1988. He led KU to the Final Four in 1986 and national title in '88 while named Most Outstanding Player. Manning was later named the Big Eight Player of the Decade.
So how fitting and deserving that this Jayhawk legend be honored at Sprint Center in Kansas City in 2008 with his induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Twenty years after leading KU to one of its greatest moments in school history in Kemper Arena with a commanding 31 point, 18-rebound performance against Oklahoma in the national title game, Manning was back home in Kansas City to receive college basketball’s greatest individual honor.
KU coach Bill Self had the privilege of introducing Manning for induction that memorable evening.
Self called “Coach Danny Manning one of the greatest ambassadors the University of Kansas has ever known.”
He recalled Manning burning his Oklahoma State Cowboys for 35 points as a freshman in 1985 with Self playing the back of the two-three zone, and how he used to “towel him off and fetch water for him” as a KU graduate assistant in 1985-86.
“Everybody talks about Danny and the Miracles and him going for 31 and 18 in the national championship game and how he put that team on his back,” Self said. “That totally embarrasses Danny. Danny is so proud of his teammates, so proud of the contributions of everybody. He’s very humble, deflects praise.”
Dazzling highlights of Manning’s college career soon showed on the big screen before Self announced: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Kansas’ finest, Danny Manning.”
The crowd gave a roaring ovation as Self put a Hall of Fame medal around Manning’s neck. Manning walked over to emcees Dan Shulman and Seth Davis and took a seat on the stage.
Shulman praised Manning immediately.
“Danny, I think when this Hall of Fame came into being and people thought of the kind of place this Hall of Fame was meant for,” Shulman said, “you were the first guy people thought of, because if you had not had injuries, we all know how differently things could have been on the pro level.
“But on the collegiate level, you were the first guy (on everybody’s minds).”
Manning was humbled by the love.
“I had a lot of wonderful people in my life pushing me, my parents and my high school coach, my family,” he said. “I got some teammates sitting up there and I’m glad they’re here. I’m just very fortunate and very blessed to be in this situation.”
Two months before his induction, the selfless Manning first told me he could not accomplish this great honor alone.
“I’m honored, privileged, humbled,” Manning said. “I had a chance to play for a great coach (Brown). We had wonderful staffs. I played in front of the best fans in the country. I had the best teammates anyone could ask for. I received a lot of attention, but my teammates were the guys that put me in position to do what I what I could do. They were very unselfish in their thoughts and their actions. I just want them to know that I appreciate all their efforts and all the battles that we’ve gone through.
“This is something that hopefully we can all cherish together.”
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