CU Buffs add college hoops legend to coaching staff

Tad Boyle and the Colorado Buffaloes roam back to the Big 12 this fall and when they do so they’ll have a conference legend on their staff, adding Danny Manning on Tuesday.

Manning, the former National Player of the Year, who led the Kansas Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA title was the Most Outstanding Player for a team known as “Danny and the Miracles.” Under Larry Brown in Lawrence, the big man was a Consensus National Player of the Year in 1988, a two-time All-American and three-time Big Eight Conference Player of the Year. Manning’s prolific career earned his No 25 a spot in the rafters at Phog Allen Fieldhouse as the Jayhawks all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

The College Basketball Hall of Famer went No. 1 in the NBA Draft and earned two All-Star selections in his injury-plagued 15-year career.

But it goes back to Kansas, that’s where Boyle was the captain of Brown’s Jayhawks as Manning stepped onto campus as a freshman. The two paths crossed again as assistant coaches for USA Basketball’s 2017 U19 World Cup team.

“Coach Manning and I go back a long way in terms of our relationship as players back in 1985 when we were teammates at Kansas,” Boyle said in a news release. “Obviously we know each other from those days, but having a guy like Danny on staff with his accomplishments as a player – 15 years in the NBA, the No. 1 draft pick in 1988 – as well as his numerous coaching stops at the Division I level where he’s been extremely successful. I’m excited to add him to the staff. 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 spent the last two seasons as the associate head coach at Louisville. He has nine years of experience as a head coach, with two seasons at Tulsa, six at Wake Forest and an interim stint at Maryland. Before becoming a head coach, Manning was a longtime member of Bill Self’s staff, winning the 2008 title and going to the 2012 championship game while on that sideline.

“I’m very excited to join coach Boyle’s staff,” Manning said in a statement. “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; learn from them, the things they’ve been doing to be successful and just try and add little nuggets that I can along the way in terms of my experience as a player and a coach.”

The Buffs have a lot of rebuilding to do this offseason after losing KJ Simpson, Tristan da Silva and Cody Williams to the NBA Draft as well as other key members of their NCAA Tournament team to the transfer portal. Manning, takes over for assistant coach Rick Ray, who himself left for Vanderbilt.