photo by: Nick Krug

Wake Forest head coach Danny Manning yells at his defense during the first half, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015 at Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii.

Over the weekend, Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman announced that the school had signed men’s basketball coach Danny Manning to a six-year contract extension that will take him through the 2024-25 season.

The news, while terrific for Manning, the former KU assistant and one of the all-time great players in Kansas history, also brings with it some interesting timing.

Considering that KU coach Bill Self, earlier this fall, told ESPN’s Myron Medcalf that he definitely would like to coach through the end of his contract, which has five years left on it and will take him to age 59, but never planned on coaching much past his late 50s, you can’t help but wonder if Manning, by then, might be ready to return to Lawrence to succeed Self if he were to leave.

A lot has to happen between now and then for Manning to follow that path, of course, including Manning actually wanting the job if it comes open. But there’s no doubt that continued success at Wake Forest during the next several years would only solidify Manning’s candidacy as Self’s replacement, should he be interested in a return to KU.

Manning, now in his fourth season at Wake Forest after a successful stint at Tulsa, led the Demon Deacons to the 2017 NCAA Tournament. Under his leadership, Wake Forest also has recruited a top 10 class for 2018 and has signed four Top 100 players in the past two recruiting classes.

According to the news release announcing the extension, “Manning has shown the ability to develop young talent as evidenced by sophomore John Collins, a first team All-ACC pick last year, who was a first-round selection of the Atlanta Hawks in the 2017 NBA Draft. Rising senior forward Dinos Mitouglou signed with Panathinaikos over the summer, one of the top European club teams.”

“Danny is attracting highly-rated and quality young men to our program and he has proven his ability to develop that talent,” said Wellman. “Our program will continue to improve and we will realize the lofty goals that we have for the program?.”