@jaybate 1.0
I love Danny Manning the player; in my opinion, only Wilt was a better player than Danny at KU and Danny has the title Wilt could not get.
The questions is: Does the proverbial Peter's principle apply to him? Has Danny in fact reached his level of incompetence after being very successful at the lower level?
We all know that he was very successful player in the NBA, and his knees, rather than his talent is what kept him from being a true superstar. At KU he worked with the bigs, although I have never read anything that indicates he was the only coach working with the bigs; his reputation is more related to - he played as a big in the League, he must be coaching the bigs at KU - rather than factual evidence to that effect. Apparently Coach Roberts is working with the bigs now and if we can measure success by the bigs progress, particularly Embiid this year and Whitey the year before, he is doing a heck of a job.
This begs the question, is Danny better as an assistant/position coach than he is a head coach? If you look at the NBA and college, the bulk of successful coaches played guard or SF in college or the NBA. Many bigs including Kareem and yes, Wilt, tried their hand at coaching and the only somewhat successful HC I can think of is Jeff Ruland that had some good years and others not so good. A few bigs, like Ewing, have stuck around as assistant coaches but have not been able to make the jump to the top position.
The majority of coaches played guard or small forward in college/NBA and perhaps, being the director/general on the floor translates better to being a head coach, where being a more specialized position player, i.e. "big" does not. A couple of players transferred out of Tulsa when he was hired, so obviously his reputation was of little or no consequence.
I truly wish Danny success and hopefully he can turn the Tulsa program around. There is a lot of competition in Oklahoma with 2 powerhouse programs, OU and OSU, and another major competitor in Oral Roberts. Compare this with other states like Missouri with almost twice the population and only one major university and other than Saint Louis, just a few inconsequential mid-majors. I know that recruiting is not restricted to in-state players, but you have to attract the better local and regional players before you can go after top national players.
Unlike football, with its complement of 80+ players, a basketball program can be turned around in less time. It is still a little early to judge how Danny's tenure at Tulsa will eventually work out, but progress needs to be shown in the nears future to indicate that long term success is indeed feasible. In today's environment of immediate gratification, patience is a virtue that is in short supply, both with program administrators and fans alike.
