Maryland men’s basketball coach Mark Turgeon has announced the hiring of Danny Manning to the program’s coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Manning’s basketball resume is unprecedented. The highlights include being a member of the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, a two-time first team all-american, the No. 1 overall selection in the 1988 NBA Draft, an NCAA Champion as a player and as an assistant coach, a two-time Division I head coach and an Olympian.
“I’m thrilled to add Danny to our coaching staff,” Turgeon said. “I’ve known Danny for a long time going back to our days as teammates at Kansas and I cannot say enough about him as a coach and as a human being. He has seen it all in the game of basketball and will bring unparalleled experience to our program. Danny has history recruiting in the DMV region and has many ties locally, as well as nationally. I am excited for him to get to College Park and meet the tremendous guys in our locker room.”
Manning spent the last year as an analyst for ESPN, and was previously the head coach at both Wake Forest (2014-20) and Tulsa (2012-14). He was also an assistant coach at Kansas (2006-12), where he helped the Jayhawks capture the 2008 NCAA Championship.
“I want to thank Coach Turgeon and Damon Evans for the tremendous opportunity to join the University of Maryland men’s basketball program,” Manning said. “I’m looking forward to reuniting with Coach. We have known each other for quite some time and been through a lot of battles together over the years. I am excited to help Coach build on the success he has had at Maryland. This is a great opportunity to learn from Coach and his staff and be a part of a wonderful conference in the Big Ten.”
Manning had a legendary playing career at Kansas University, where his No. 25 jersey is retired. A two-time first team all-american, Manning led Kansas to the 1988 NCAA Championship and collected nearly every individual accolade along the way, including the Wooden Award, Naismith Player of the Year and the NCAA’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player. He played three seasons as a teammate of Turgeon from 1984-87.
Manning was selected with the first overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers and would go on to play 15 seasons in the league. He was selected to two NBA All-Star games, won the 1998 Sixth Man of the Year Award and scored more than 12,000 career points.
In addition to coaching at the collegiate level, Manning has been involved on the international level with USA Basketball. In 2017, he spent the summer as an assistant coach on John Calipari’s staff of the U19 National Team. In 2018, he assisted Self with the U18 National Team. He also previously served as a court coach during U18 National Team training camps.
One of the reasons for Manning’s success on the sidelines has been his experience playing for and coaching next to some of the legends of the sport. During his playing career, Manning played for eight head coaches now enshrined in Springfield: Larry Brown (Kansas, Los Angeles Clippers), Denny Crum (1987 Pan American Games), Don Nelson (Dallas Mavericks), Lute Olson (1984 USA R. William Jones Cup), Jerry Sloan (Utah Jazz), John Thompson (1988 Olympics), Paul Westhead (Phoenix Suns) and Lenny Wilkens (Atlanta Hawks). As a coach, he has been mentored by Hall of Famers Bill Self at Kansas and John Calipari with the USA U19 National Team.
At 6-10 and one of the top big men to ever play college basketball, Manning has earned a reputation as one of the best coaches of big men in the country. The latest example of his expertise with post players was John Collins, who in two seasons with the Demon Deacons went from ranked outside the top 100 in his high school class in 2015 to the No. 19 selection in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Manning has coached 15 NBA draft picks, including 10 first-round selections and nine current NBA players. NBA draft picks during his tenure include big men Wayne Simien, Julian Wright, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Cole Aldrich, twins Marcus and Markieff Morris, Jeff Withey and Thomas Robinson at Kansas, in addition to John Collins at Wake Forest.
