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| from www.coachmanning.com |
Q1... Danny,
you’re kind of a big deal. You led KU to the 1988 NCAA Basketball Championship,
you played on the 1988 USA Olympic team, you were a two-time NBA All-Star, and
you helped coach KU back to the 2008 Championship. You have two, young adult
children, do they consider you a basketball legend? Do you have to remind them
that you’ve accomplished a thing or two in life?
Our children
know I played the game of basketball. Basketball is something that I did for a
profession. It is not who I was or am. It is more important to be a husband,
brother, friend and so on....
Q2... I
understand that you put off taking a head coaching position for several years
because you didn’t want to relocate your family. Can you tell us more about
that? What led to that decision? How difficult was it for you, personally, to
delay the prestige and compensation of a head coaching job for the sake of the
family?
When I
retired from the NBA, we wanted to make sure our kids had as much stability as
possible in their teen years. We felt being in same place, not moving city to
city during high school was the avenue best for them. This would provide them
great stability.
Q3... You have
kids of your own in college now and you’re not there to keep an eye on them.
Would you share any advice you gave them about this chapter of their lives? How
have you guided them about handling new levels of independence and
responsibility?
We always
told our kids to be responsible, hardworking, loving people. Now that they are
in college we can't watch every move or every step they take. Hopefully what we
taught them growing up will help them make sound decisions in life now.
Q4... Like you,
your dad was a pro ball player and a coach. As a dad, though, what advice did
he give you that has served you well in life?
The advice my
father gave me in regards to sports and basketball was to make the game easier
for your teammates and find ways to help team be successful other than the
glorious ways that everyone gets to see.
Q5... We see
many college coaches who get involved in the lives of their student/athletes.
What wisdom or skills for life do you hope to impart to your players at
Tulsa?
We want to
prepare our young men here at Tulsa for life. We are able to teach them quite a
few great work ethic characteristics thru the game of basketball. Sooner or
later the air will go out of the ball and you will not be able to run, jump, or
move as fast as you were able to at a competitive level. This happens to every
athlete at some point in their career. We want to make sure they are prepared
to be a husband, brother, etc for life. We want them to understand basketball
is something you do, did, not what you are, was.
Did you pay
attention to Q&A #2. Read it again. Head basketball coaches at good schools get paychecks with lots of zeros in them. You rarely see a coach jump from one
school to another except for mo’ money. An even rarer sight is Danny Manning. He
put off the fame and fortune of a head coaching job FOR YEARS so he could
provide something priceless for his kids – a stable home. I get goosebumps just
typing that last sentence.
Dads, we all
have our heroes. We all have players that make us waddle out of the La-Z-Boy
and give a cheer. We need that in our lives. If you want to be legendary in
your own home, if you want to give your kids something money can’t buy, give
them stability. Give them confidence that home is the safest place on earth.
The old song went “I Wanna Be Like Mike”. As for me, and my house, I want to be
like Danny.
Clark H Smith
