Manning to be promoted at season’s end

By J-W Staff Reports     Mar 20, 2007

Former Kansas University All-American Danny Manning will be promoted to a full assistant to replace Tim Jankovich at the end of the season.

Jankovich was named the new head coach at Illinois State Monday.

“When I first accepted the position at the University of Kansas, one of the first things I wanted to do was to convince Danny Manning to be part of our staff,” KU coach Bill Self said. “Upon his retirement from the NBA, we visited with him on becoming a recruiting coach. At that time, he felt it was not timely for him to be away from home and his family.

“He has sacrificed by doing many jobs within the office and has primarily been a great role model for all of our student-athletes and our program. It’s not often you can have one of the greatest college players in NCAA college basketball history on you staff and be just as interested in helping our student-athletes as he was in scoring baskets.

“Although it’s always tough for a good coach and friend to leave, it’s certainly been a blessing to have a guy on staff that is ready to step into that role. Although Danny’s responsibilities will not change until after the season, this is something we knew would take place once one of our three recruiting coaches moved on.”

Manning is arguably the greatest player in Kansas history, and is the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, amassing 2,951 points and 1,187 boards in four seasons as a Jayhawk. In 1988, his senior season, he led KU to its fourth National Championship. He went on to be the No. 1 pick in the 1988 NBA Draft, and played for seven teams over 15 seasons in the league, including being voted into the NBA All-Star game in both 1993 and 1994.

“I’m very excited to be promoted to an assistant coach with the University of Kansas men’s basketball program,” Manning said. “This is the place I want to be and I’m looking forward to expanding my role as a teacher on and off the court to the student-athletes here at KU.

“The last four years have been a great learning experience for me. Being a part of and helping to run the day-to-day operations of the office – from the handling of gear to academics to making road trip arrangements – I’ve gained much-need experience and knowledge.

“Being around Coach Self, Norm [Roberts], Tim [Jankovich], Kurtis [Townsend] and Joe [Dooley] have been very enlightening with their knowledge of coaching, recruiting and overall knowledge of the business. I will continue to lean on these outstanding individuals as I find my way around the coaching profession. Lew Perkins and his administrative staff have also been very accommodating with an open door policy to come in and share any thoughts, concerns and questions.

“I would like to thank all the coaches and friends in the profession who have reached out to me and offered advice. I’d also like to thank the Jayhawk nation for their continued support. My family and I love being a part of the community of Lawrence and the University of Kansas.

“I feel prepared for the challenge ahead and I look forward to being an assistant coach at the University of Kansas.”

Manning and his wife, Julie, are both KU graduates. They have a son, Evan, and a daughter, Taylor.

For more on this story, read tomorrow’s Journal-World.

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