Wake Forest Fires Danny Manning

Wake Forest has fired head men’s basketball coach Danny Manning.

Manning, 53, is reportedly owed over $15 million as part of his buyout. The No. 1 pick in the 1988 NBA Draft out of Kansas, Manning has a career coaching record of 78-111 (.413), including a 13-18 mark last season. In six seasons at Wake, he never finished above 10th place in the ACC.

He becomes the first high-major coach to be fired this offseason after the coronavirus pandemic appeared to halt the coaching carousel.

“After a comprehensive review of the men’s basketball program, and with the support of President Hatch and University leadership, I have determined that it is time for a change in our head coaching position,” AD John Currie said in a statement. “We thank Coach Manning, Julie and Evan for their service to Wake Forest and for their commitment to our student-athletes and the Winston-Salem community over the past six years.”

Said Manning: “I am very thankful for having had the opportunity to lead the Wake Forest men’s basketball program. I am very proud of the numerous student-athletes I had the pleasure of coaching, especially the student-athletes who earned their degrees. I am particularly thankful for all of the hard work my staff has put in through the years. I am so grateful to the Wake Forest community, who have made Winston-Salem a special home for my family and I from the second we stepped on campus in 2014. I wish the program nothing but success going forward.”

The school announced Randolph Childress will serve as the acting head coach.

“We appreciate Coach Childress’ willingness to assume the responsibility of guiding our student-athletes in the interim period,” said Currie. “We will immediately begin a national search for our next head coach.”

Chaundee Brown, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, announced April 15 he was entering his name into the NBA Draft and the NCAA transfer portal.

Brown was Wake Forest’s third-leading scorer last season at 12.1 points per game and its second-best rebounder at 6.5 boards per game. He missed eight games due to injury, but had 24 points and nine rebounds in a double-overtime win against highly ranked Duke in late February.

Former Michigan coach John Beilein has been linked to Wake Forest for about two months now, while UNC-Greensboro’s Wes Miller, ETSU’s Steve Forbes, Winthrop’s Pat Kelsey, UMBC’s Ryan Odom and College of Charleston’s Earl Grant are potential names to watch to replace Manning, per 247Sports.

The news was previously reported by several outlets, including 247Sports.com.

This post was updated at 12:18 p.m. with comments from Wake Forest.