Danny Manning grew up watching Wake Forest play games at the Greensboro Coliseum, memories that linger in his mind all these years later. He never thought one day hed coach the Demon Deacons. Manning, the former Kansas star who spent the past two seasons coaching Tulsa, was hired Friday as Wake Forests basketball coach. Hell be introduced at a news conference next week on campus in Winston-Salem, N.C., a short drive from where Manning grew up. "I spent a lot of my formative childhood years in North Carolina," Manning told The Associated Press on Friday at AT&T Stadium, the site of this weekends Final Four. "I spent the majority of my life in Kansas," Manning said, "but this was a chance to be a part of a university that I share the same values and history with." His hiring ends Wake Forests two-week search for a replacement for Jeff Bzdelik, who resigned under intense public pressure following four mostly unremarkable seasons. Manning, who was 38-29 with two post-season berths in two seasons at Tulsa, interviewed this week and toured the campus in Winston-Salem on Wednesday before taking the job two days later. His hiring is considered somewhat risky because of his lack of head coaching experience, but theres no question he brings instant name recognition to a program that dropped to near the bottom of the expanded Atlantic Coast Conference. "There have been very few players who have had as much success on the court as Danny," Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman said in a statement. "He has played for and worked under a number of legendary coaches and he has been successful in his coaching career. We fully expect that Dannys coaching career will reflect the excellence of his playing career." Manning attended Greensboro Page High School before his family moved to Lawrence, Kan., for his senior year, and when it was time to choose a college, he picked Kansas over North Carolina. After his "Danny and the Miracles" team won the national title in Kansas City, not far from the Jayhawks campus, Manning was drafted first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1988. He made two All-Star teams during a career marred by injuries before joining coach Bill Selfs staff at Kansas in 2003. Responsible primarily for working with post players, Manning was promoted to assistant coach in 2006 and two years ago earned his first head coaching job at Tulsa. Self called Manning "one of the most accomplished, humble people youll ever meet." The 47-year-old Manning took the Golden Hurricane to the CBI in his first year and followed that by guiding them to the Conference USA tournament title and their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003. They earned a No. 13 seed and lost to UCLA in their tournament opener. Tulsa forward Rashad Smith said he found out about Mannings move through teammates and media reports, though he said the coach texted him shortly thereafter. Guard James Woodard said it was "kind of shocking. "You know in the back of your mind, the run we had this year, there would be a lot of opportunities out there," Woodard said. "Im happy for him." Wake Forest never came close to making the NCAA tournament under Bzdelik, who stepped down March 20. Bzdelik went 51-76 with a 17-51 record in ACC play, and won only two league road games. Eight players transferred out during his tenure, and the Demon Deacons have been one of the youngest programs in the country -- with only one fourth-year senior in each of the past two years. Barring any more transfers, Manning will inherit a team with eight players who are either juniors or redshirt juniors -- including promising big man Devin Thomas and tempo-setting guard Codi Miller-McIntyre. As details of Mannings hiring trickled across Twitter, Miller-McIntyre tweeted: "Finally its over! Time to get back to work." Manning called the Demon Deacons a "sleeping giant," one that he believes will be able to contend with Tobacco Road rivals Duke and North Carolina in the near future. "A few years back, they were ranked No. 1 in the country," Manning told AP. "Theyve had great players. Youre about Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, just to name a few, because theyve had quite a few. "Im looking forward to going there and being part of that great tradition." John Smoltz Jersey . -- New York Yankees centre fielder Jacoby Ellsbury was sent for an MRI Thursday of his ailing right calf, which was negative. Deion Sanders Jersey . Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris, city natives, handled the catering for teammates that begged them for the tasty postgame feast. http://www.baseballbravesproshop.com/customized/. Stepanek gave the Czech Republic its second straight Davis Cup title Sunday, sweeping past Dusan Lajovic in straight sets in the fifth and decisive match to secure a 3-2 win over Serbia in the final. Bob Uecker Jersey . According the CSNBayArea.com, the 31-year-old suffered an ACL injury in his right knee on Friday when he collided with Anaheims Emerson Etem during a pre-season game. Babe Ruth Jersey .J. -- The New Jersey Devils are so bad in shootouts, coach Pete DeBoer doesnt mind seeing his team take chances in the five-minute overtime.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, At 8:54 in the third period of Thursdays game between Pittsburgh and Detroit, James Neal was assessed an interference penalty on Luke Glendening for moving his stick towards the board after Glendening had lost it earlier. Glendening was not trying to retrieve it and Neals actions did not interfere with the play. According to rule 53.2 it would appear that the interference call is not justified. Is there something I am missing? Mathieu BenoitSaint John, NB Mathieu: Your question was selected from one of ten pertaining to the interference penalty called against James Neal for shooting Luke Glendenings stick to the side boards with the Penguins on the power play. A very tricky rule application was created after Glendening lost his stick at the top of the Wings end zone face-off circle following an attempted poke-check on James Neal. Glendening lost his one handed grip through the check motion which caused the stick to travel 15 feet to the bottom of the circle close to the goal line where teammate Kyle Quincey was positioned. Quincey then shot/slid Glendenings stick to a carefully placed location out into the high slot near where Glendening was attempting to defend without his stick. Herein lies the first potential rule violation on this play! Rule 10.3 states that a player who has lost or broken his stick may only receive a stick at his own players bench or be handed one from a teammate on the ice. A player will be penalized if he throws, tosses, slides or shoots a stick to a teammate on the ice. Fortunately for the Red Wings, Luke Glendening was fronting Matt Niskanen who had the puck near the point. As such, Glendening was unable to pick up the attempted helper from Quincey. If Luke Glendening had picked up his stick at that moment, Kyle Quincey shouldd receive a minor penalty placing the Wings two men short for a minute and forty seconds! James Neal, from the high slot position just behind Glendening, felt his skate contact the stick that had been illegally passed by Quincey.dddddddddddd I am quite certain that James Neal was unaware of the potential penalty to Quincey if Luke Glendening had picked up the twig. Instead, Neal jockeyed around Glendening with a cute series of deliberate skate drag maneuvers that moved the stick safely out of the reach of the Red Wing defender and effectively nullified the potential penalty to Quincey. Even though Glendening moved away from the immediate area of the stick to defend the opposite side point, it was incumbent upon James Neal to simply step away from the stick and leave it in the position it now rested. Once Neal shot Luke Glendenings stick 30 plus feet to the sidewall he violated rule 56.2 by effectively preventing Glendening from regaining possession of it. The inability Neal created for Glendening to retrieve his stick was further compounded by the fact that the Red Wings were already a man down by virtue of the penalty being served by Brendan Smith. The eventual outcome of this play highlights the need for players to clearly understand the rules. Just 20 seconds into a Penguins power play once Luke Glendening lost his hockey stick, things quickly transitioned from a potential penalty to Kyle Quincey that would have placed the Wings two men short; to additional freedom of end zone puck movement the Penguins enjoyed once Glendening lost his stick; to the creation of a four-on-four when James Neal was penalized for interference. I offer the following advice to players: If you encounter a stick lying on the ice that isnt broken, think twice before relocating it. It the stick is clearly broken, make sure any action taken to remove or discard the broken portion doesnt interfere with the movements of the puck or an opposing player! 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