Fansided

10 college basketball coaches on the hottest seats entering 2018-2019

By Brad Berreman

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins during the game against the South Carolina State Bulldogs at Pauley Pavilion on November 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 17: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins during the game against the South Carolina State Bulldogs at Pauley Pavilion on November 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
8 of 10
Next
Mandatory Credit: Lance King/Getty Images
Mandatory Credit: Lance King/Getty Images /

3. Danny Manning, Wake Forest

Manning led the Demon Deacons to 19 wins and the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17, but things fell back down last year to 11-20 and 4-14 in ACC play. There will be 10 new players on the roster this year, including five freshman and two grad transfers, and Manning has been highlighting the versatility he feels he’ll have at his disposal. The question is if better results will follow, and if Wake Forest can be a factor at all in the ACC.

Wake Forest men’s basketball has been stagnant and mired in mediocrity since before Manning was hired. But progress has not really been made during his tenure, as he has a 54-73 record (.425 winning percentage) with a winning percentage below 28 percent in ACC play.

An almost completely overturned roster, led by a promising quintet of freshman, may buy Manning what will could labeled a building year in 2018-19.

Manning was a big-name hire, and he had solid success in two years as head coach at Tulsa (38-29 record) after a long run as an assistant at Kansas (his alma mater, of course). But he doesn’t seem capable of getting Wake Forest back into the upper tier of the ACC, and if year five doesn’t yield some sort of postseason berth (NIT or NCAA Tournament) Manning could be looking for a new job.