Arizona hires former Kansas Jayhawks guard as director of basketball operations

Former Kansas basketball guard Evan Manning has accepted a job as director of basketball operations at the University of Arizona, Manning confirmed to The Star on Saturday night.

Manning confirmed a weekend Twitter post of Jason Scheer of WildcatAuthority.com indicating the 30-year-old Manning, the son of former KU great Danny Manning, had been hired by Wildcat head coach Tommy Lloyd.

Manning — he played in 42 games at KU from 2013 to 2016 — was an assistant basketball coach at Army during the 2022-23 season. Before that he worked as a graduate assistant at Gonzaga for two seasons.

Prior to Gonzaga, 2016 KU graduate Manning spent three seasons at Wake Forest. He started as a program assistant before taking over as director of player development from 2018 to 2020.

At KU, Manning played on four Big 12 championship teams. A 2015-16 Academic All-Big 12 selection, he scored 26 career points. Seven of his nine career field goals were 3s.

During his four seasons, the Jayhawks also won two Big 12 tournament championships and made four NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by a run to the Elite Eight in 2016.

He worked one season as an administrative intern for the athletic department. Manning earned a bachelor’s degree in sport management from KU in 2016, with a minor in business. He earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership at Gonzaga in 2021.

Army went 17-16 a year ago, 10-8 in the Patriot League.