Mark Turgeon is out, and Danny Manning is in.
Maryland men’s basketball announced Friday that Turgeon has stepped down as head coach after 10-plus seasons at the helm, and Manning will take over the program for the remainder of the season.
The 54-year-old Manning was hired by Maryland in the offseason to fill the vacated spot left by DeAndre Haynes, who joined Shaka Smart’s staff at Marquette as an assistant.
“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,” Turgeon said when Manning was hired in late April. “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.”
Here’s what you need to know about the interim coach:
He’s a former head coach at Wake Forest and Tulsa.
After spending nine seasons on staff at Kansas under coach Bill Self, Manning took over as head coach at Tulsa. He posted a 38-29 overall record and a 21-11 mark in Conference USA play during his two seasons with the Golden Hurricane, including an NCAA tournament berth.
Manning was named the 2013-14 Conference USA Coach of the Year after leading Tulsa to the conference championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament, the program’s first appearance since 2003. Manning was also a finalist for two national Coach of the Year awards — the Jim Phelan Award, given to the nation’s top coach, and the Ben Jobe Award, given to the nation’s top minority coach.
In 2014, Manning was hired as the head coach at Wake Forest, replacing four-year coach Jeff Bzdelik. He struggled in his first two seasons, compiling a 14-39 overall record and a 7-29 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play. But the Demon Deacons rebounded in 2016-17, going 19-14 (9-9 ACC) to earn a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Kansas State in the First Four.
That season, Wake Forest ranked in the top 10 nationally in offensive efficiency, averaged 82.8 points per game and hit a school-record 268 3-pointers in making its first postseason appearance in seven seasons. Manning received the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, given annually to a coach who had success on the court and shows moral integrity off of it.
That would be Manning’s only successful season at Wake Forest, as he finished his final three years 13th or worse in the 14-team ACC before being dismissed April 25, 2020. He went 78-111 in his six years with the Demon Deacons, including a 30-80 mark in conference play.
Manning guided 14 Wake Forest players to play professionally, including Atlanta Hawks star John Collins, the 19th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft. The Demon Deacons had six players earn All-ACC honors during his tenure, with Collins being named the 2017 ACC Most Improved Player while Doral Moore and Olivier Sarr finished second in voting for the award in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
He was a star player in college and a 15-year NBA veteran.
Manning is Kansas’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder, finishing his four-year career with 2,951 points and 1,187 rebounds. The 10th all-time leading scorer in NCAA history, Manning — a college teammate of Turgeon’s — was 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 Player of the Year.
The Greensboro, North Carolina, native was named the 1988 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and led the Jayhawks to an 83-79 victory over Oklahoma for the national championship. He won a bronze medal as a member of the 1988 USA Olympic Team in Seoul, South Korea, and was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
After a standout college career, Manning was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1988 NBA draft and played 15 seasons, being named to two All-Star teams and voted the 1997-98 Sixth Man of the Year.
Manning played for seven teams — the Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons — and averaged 14.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. During his playing days, Manning was also a representative for the NBA Players Association.
His children are athletes, too.
Danny and his wife, Julie, have two children ? a daughter, Taylor, and a son, Evan. Both played sports for Kansas, with Taylor competing in volleyball and Evan playing basketball.
Last season, Evan was a graduate assistant for the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, which went undefeated in the regular season, secured the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the national championship game before losing to Baylor.
