Louisville basketball is upping assistants' pay. Here's what Danny Manning will make

Brett Dawson, Louisville Courier Journal
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As Kenny Payne builds his first Louisville basketball coaching staff, the university is stepping up its spending.

Assistant coach Danny Manning, hired last week, will be paid a $600,000 base salary in his first season, according to his signed offer letter, acquired by the Courier-Journal via open records request.

Nolan Smith, the first assistant coach hired to Payne’ staff, will make a $400,000 base salary. Both men are being paid more than any Louisville assistant earned in base salary last season under then-head coach Chris Mack.

Like Smith, Manning’s U of L contract has not been finalized. Manning’s bonuses “will be agreed upon and finalized” in his employment contract, according to his offer letter.

Manning, like Smith, will receive a $500 monthly stipend for a car, according to the offer letter, along with a family membership to the University of Louisville Golf Club and up to $15,000 in moving expenses, plus 30 days of temporary housing.

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Mike Pegues was the highest-paid assistant coach on Louisville's staff last season, earning $340,000 in base salary. He received an additional $340,000 as a bonus for taking over as interim head coach after Louisville and Mack reached a separation agreement Jan. 26. Assistant coach Ross McMains had a base salary of $270,000 and assistant coach Khail Fennel $210,000.

By comparison, Orlando Antigua is the highest-paid assistant on the Kentucky men’s basketball staff. He’s set to earn $875,000 in the upcoming year. UK assistant Ronald “Chin” Coleman will make $500,000. Under his contract last season, Wildcats assistant Jai Lucas was paid $300,000. His new deal has not yet been made available.

Danny Manning, who has served as a collegiate head or assistant coach for 15 years and is one of the premier players in college basketball history, has joined the University of Louisville men's basketball staff as associate head coach under the Cardinals' first-year head coach Kenny Payne.
Danny Manning, who has served as a collegiate head or assistant coach for 15 years and is one of the premier players in college basketball history, has joined the University of Louisville men's basketball staff as associate head coach under the Cardinals' first-year head coach Kenny Payne.

Manning, 55, scored 2,951 career points as a player at Kansas, the most in Jayhawks history. As a senior, he led KU to the 1988 NCAA title. He began his coaching career on Bill Self’s Kansas staff, first as director of student-athlete development then as an assistant coach.

He left to become the head coach at Tulsa and after two years left for Wake Forest. He was fired in 2020 after coaching the Demon Deacons to a 78-111 record in six seasons.

In April 2021, Manning joined Mark Turgeon's staff at Maryland. When Turgeon stepped down in December, Manning took over as the Terrapins' interim head coach. Maryland went 10-14 while he was in the head coaching role.

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Payne has one assistant coaching position left to fill. The first-year Cardinals coach has been noncommittal on how long he might take to round out his staff, stressing that it’s more important to get the right candidate than to complete the process quickly.

“I do not have a timeline, and I guess by now you probably realize I’m very secretive,” Payne said last week at Manning’s introductory news conference. “I want to surprise you guys. I don’t want you to know which way I’m walking in the door.”

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball raises assistant coach pay under Kenny Payne