Danny Manning to be TU head basketball coach

The University of Tulsa has reached an agreement in principle with University of Kansas Assistant Coach Danny Manning on becoming the school’s 29th head basketball coach, Director of Athletics Ross Parmley announced this morning.

Manning, 45, is currently coaching with the NCAA Final Four-bound Kansas Jayhawks, thus the official news conference introducing Manning as the Golden Hurricane Head Coach will be held next week following the NCAA Championship.

KU plays Ohio State in one semifinal game at 7:49 pm on Saturday, March 31. Kentucky and Louisville meet in the other semifinal contest. The Championship game will be played on Monday night, April 2.

“We are extremely excited to have Danny join The University of Tulsa as our new Head Basketball Coach. He epitomizes everything our university stands for. His impact on young people will extend far beyond the TU basketball program and reach well into our campus and community,” said Parmley. “His 15 years in the NBA combined with the last nine years under one of the best coaches in the country, have helped mold him into a great teacher and coach of basketball. He most definitely brings the excitement, the style of basketball, and character that we were looking for in our head coach.”

“I’m excited and looking forward to being the head basketball coach at The University of Tulsa. I want to thank President Upham, Ross (Parmley) and the search committee for allowing me this tremendous opportunity to coach at a University with a fine basketball tradition,” said Manning. “I’d also like to thank Coach (Bill) Self for giving me the chance to be a part of his staff for the past nine years. I have learned a tremendous amount about the game and the profession from him and all of the members of his staff.

“I look forward to meeting with our TU players, the ardent Golden Hurricane fans, the campus and Tulsa community and the media,” said Manning. “Right now my focus is on Kansas and its participation in the Final Four. We’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point and we want to keep it going for another few days.”

One of the greatest players in University of Kansas basketball history, Manning is in his ninth season on the KU men's basketball staff. In March 2007, he was named assistant coach for the Jayhawks.

During his time on staff at Kansas, Manning has been part of one NCAA national title, five NCAA Elite Eight appearances, eight Big 12 regular season conference titles, five Big 12 tournament championships and 268 career victories. As an assistant coach for the past five seasons, KU has compiled an overall 163-23 mark for an .876 winning percentage. As an assistant coach in 2008 and player in 1988, Manning was on the floor for KU's last two national championships.

This season, Manning has helped lead the Jayhawks back to the NCAA Final Four with an overall 31-6 record and a Big 12 Conference regular season championship.

In his role as assistant coach, Manning worked with KU's big men. Eight Jayhawk bigs have been selected in the NBA Draft since he has been on staff, including Wayne Simien, Julian Wright, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Cole Aldrich and twins Marcus and Markieff Morris. Manning recruited 2010 NBA first-round draft pick and Oklahoman Xavier Henry to Kansas.

From 2003 until 2007, Manning served as the Director of Student-Athlete Development/Team Manager at KU. In that position, Manning was the team travel coordinator, oversaw equipment ordering and distribution and organized and assisted in the youth holiday clinic and summer camp program. In 2004-05, Manning also took on many director of operations duties for Kansas.

“Danny Manning is one of the most accomplished, humble people you’ll ever meet. He’s done more in his life through the athletic world than just about anybody, but you would never know it in visiting with him as he never ever talks about himself. His focus on deciding to be a basketball coach was to try to share some of his knowledge and make others better. He’s certainly done that at a very high level with us here at Kansas. He’s been around basketball his whole life, played for so many coaches, been able to steal from everybody and has developed a vast knowledge that will certainly play a huge role in his success as a head coach. Although 46 years old, he’s well beyond those in basketball years as far as experience. The University of Tulsa has not only hired a great person and a great ambassador, but also a man that will lead Tulsa to great heights athletically and be competing for championships in a very short amount of time,” said Kansas Head Basketball Coach Bill Self, a former head coach at Tulsa from 1997-2000.

A Jayhawk legend, Manning is Kansas' all-time leading scorer and rebounder, racking up 2,951 points and 1,187 boards in his illustrious four-year career. Manning, the eighth all-time leading scorer in NCAA history, was named a consensus first-team All-America selection in 1987 and 1988, the consensus College Player of the Year in 1988 and a three-time Big Eight Conference Player of the Year (1986, 1987 and 1988).

Manning was named the 1988 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player en route to leading the Jayhawks to an 83-79 victory over Oklahoma for the 1988 national championship. He was also named the MVP of the NCAA Midwest Regional in 1986 and 1988. The 1986 KU squad finished 35-4 and advanced to the Final Four in Dallas.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, Manning played for seven different professional teams -- the Clippers, Hawks, Suns, Bucks, Jazz, Mavericks and Pistons. He boasts averages of 14.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game during his NBA career, spanning 883 total games. Manning was a two-time NBA All-Star (1993 and 1994), and won the league's Sixth Man Award in 1998. During his playing days, Manning was a representative for the NBA Players Association.

In 2005, Manning became part of a 20-person committee to help select the U.S. Olympic basketball team and its coaches. Additionally, Manning has been an ambassador for the Governor's Council on Fitness for the state of Kansas and a guest lecturer with university classes and other KU athletic teams.

Manning was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on November 23, 2008.  In addition to his College Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement, in June 2008 Manning was named to the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame for his early high school career at Page High School in North Carolina. He is also a member of the Lawrence (Kan.) High School Hall of Fame.

Manning earned his degree in Communication from Kansas in 1988. He and his wife, Julie, have two children -- daughter, Taylor, a sophomore at KU on the volleyball team, and son, Evan.