photo by: AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Maryland head interim head coach Danny Manning questions a call during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Michigan State at the Big Ten Conference tournament, Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Indianapolis.

Kansas legend Danny Manning will be back in the Big 12 Conference next season.

Manning has been hired as an assistant coach at Colorado, where his former KU teammate Tad Boyle is the head coach. The school announced the news Tuesday morning.

“I’m very excited to join coach Boyle’s staff,” Manning said in a press release. “This staff has been together for quite some time and has had quite a bit of success, so I want to come in and be a sponge; learn from them, the things they’ve been doing to be successful and just try and add little nuggets that I can along the way in terms of my experience as a player and a coach.

“I’d like to thank (athletic director) Rick George and the administration for giving me this opportunity. I’m looking forward to being part of the Buffalo culture and can’t wait to get to Boulder.”

The Buffaloes will be joining the Big 12 next year as one of four new arrivals in the league.

Manning most recently served for two years as an assistant coach to Kenny Payne at Louisville; Payne was fired in March.

At the conclusion of a 15-year NBA career, Manning spent nearly a decade on Bill Self’s staff at KU, first as director of student-athlete development and then as an assistant coach for five seasons, before taking the head coaching job at one of Self’s former schools, Tulsa.

He would later lead the program at Wake Forest and for an interim stint at Maryland before going to Louisville.

“He’s going to help us on a lot of different levels,” Boyle said in the release. “Danny brings the ability to connect with young people, being able to mentor them and let them know what they heed to do to get better but also what they need to do to achieve their ultimate goal, which is to be a professional basketball player, which a lot of our players aspire to be. His ability to recruit and connect with families is there as well.”

Manning is one of the most decorated players in KU men’s basketball history, perhaps best known for leading the once-unheralded team known as “Danny and the Miracles” to the 1988 national title, in a year when he received the Wooden Award for the nation’s best player. He is KU’s all-time leading scorer by a margin of 854 points and all-time leading rebounder by a margin of one.

His Colorado team will face the Jayhawks as part of the conference schedule next season.