Colorado coach Tad Boyle is adding basketball great Danny Manning to his coaching staff in a reunion of former Kansas teammates.
Boyle and Manning spent a season together with the Jayhawks in 1984-85. Manning would later go on to lead Kansas to the 1988 NCAA championship, an improbable run that earned the team the nickname “Danny and the Miracles."
The addition of Manning comes as the Buffaloes prepare to rejoin the Big 12 Conference. Manning and Boyle will now routinely face their alma mater.
Manning, who turns 58 on May 17, begins his time in Boulder on June 1. He will work with a team that's coming off a 26-win season and an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Buffaloes saw several players enter the NBA draft, including freshman Cody Williams, who could be a lottery pick.
Manning spent the past two seasons as associate head coach at Louisville. He's also served as the head coach at Tulsa and Wake Forest. In addition, he was the interim head coach at Maryland in 2021-22.
“I’m very excited to join coach Boyle’s staff,” Manning said in a statement Tuesday. “This staff has been together for quite some time and has had quite a bit of success, so I want to come in and be a sponge."
While at Kansas, Manning became the program's all-time leader in points (2,951) and rebounds (1,187). He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
As a senior in 1984-85, Boyle shared the court with Manning, who was a freshman at the time. They crossed paths again as assistant coaches for USA Basketball's under-19 World Cup team in 2017.
“I’m excited to add him to the staff,” Boyle said. "He’s not only a great coach, but he’s a great human being and he’s going to do nothing but help Colorado basketball.”
Manning was the top pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1988. He spent 15 seasons in the NBA with seven different teams. He was the sixth man of the year with Phoenix in 1998.
He broke into the coaching ranks under Kansas coach Bill Self, starting as the director of student-athlete development/team manager in 2003 and rising to an assistant coach role in 2007. He was part of the staff when the Jayhawks won the 2008 national title.
Manning went 38-29 in two seasons at Tulsa, where he was named Conference USA's coach of the year in 2013-14. At Wake Forest, he went 78-111 over six seasons and then 10-14 as the interim coach at Maryland after Mark Turgeon stepped down.
“Danny brings the ability to connect with young people, being able to mentor them and let them know what they need to do to get better," Boyle said. “But also what they need to do to achieve their ultimate goal, which is to be a professional basketball player.”
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
