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Wake Forest Demon Deacons: How’s Danny Manning Doing?

By John Woodcock

Mar 7, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Danny Manning reacts during the second half against the Boston College Eagles during the ACC Conference Tournament at Barclays Center. Wake Forest won 92-78. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 7, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Danny Manning reacts during the second half against the Boston College Eagles during the ACC Conference Tournament at Barclays Center. Wake Forest won 92-78. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 14, 2017; Dayton, OH, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward John Collins (20) dunks the ball over Kansas State Wildcats forward D.J. Johnson (4) in the second half in the first four of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Dayton Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /

The Wild-Card

The other problem that could be lurking for Wake Forest is that Manning might not be done climbing the ladder. Tubby Smith and Bill Self both jumped from the jobs that they took out of Tulsa to an even bigger job. Wake Forest folks like to see themselves as a destination job, but in the current ACC it is not as desirable as it once was. Manning, if immediately successful, might go to a big name job if one should happen to open. I don’t want to see that happen, and I’d like to think that Manning’s Guilford County ties mean something. However one never knows.

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Historically, hiring the Tulsa head coach has been either a real good idea or meh. There really isn’t a middle ground. Wake fans are tired of meh. They really want to see Danny Manning be a home run hire in the mold of Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, and Bill Self.

We are also beyond the point where you could determine the value of a Tulsa coach. Years two and three were where the successes were weeded out from the failures. We are beyond year three, but just reaching the NCAA tournament is not exactly what Wake fans signed up (granted, it looks great compared to the alternative).

This current Wake team will be the big test for Manning. The team was good enough to make a tourney, and it could potentially bring everybody back to make the next step.

That would be good, but there is no guarantee that John Collins will stick around to see that through. That puts a lot of pressure on the remaining talent and the need for freshmen ready to contribute to make up the distance.

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