110 YEARS OF KANSAS BASKETBALL
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY
Above: Danny Manning started playing for the Jayhawks when his father was assistant coach.
Below: Larry Brown resurrected the Hawks, leading them to a national championship five years after moving to Lawrence.
He wasn't seriously interested. Besides, whoever got the job had to fix an Athletics Department that was in shambles. Three directors had gone in and out of the position in the past year. The basketball team was struggling under coach Ted Owens and drawing smaller crowds than ever. Kansas had made it to the NCAA tournament only once in the past four years. The Jayhawks finished with a losing record in 1982 and were about to start another losing season.
Chuck Woodling, who covered the basketball team for the Lawrence Journal- World from 1969 to 2005, saw the decline.
"It was a low point." Woodling said. "People were disappointed and thought the KU tradition was fading."
Still, Johnson decided to go for an interview. His occasional trips to the Fieldhouse allowed him to see how badly the basketball program needed a change.
Johnson got the job and accepted it.
"I thought being an alum, I could help with some of the problems," he said.
Johnson went to work quickly. When Owens and the Jayhawks finished seventh in the Big 8 with a 13-16 overall record, Johnson fired Owens in the spring of 1983.
"We would have one good year out of four," Johnson said. "It was like a roller coaster."
With Owens gone, Johnson needed to find a coach to help him bring the basketball team back to prominence.
An unfamiliar voice greeted Johnson on the telephone in his office. At the time, he was busy preparing for a trip to Albuquerque, the site of the NCAA Championship and where he planned to interview 10 college coaches for the job at Kansas.
The voice on the phone was that of Martin "Spider" Reed. Reed was a KU graduate and acquaintance of Johnson who had been living in Denver. While there, he had developed a relationship with Larry Brown and thought that Brown, who was then coaching the New Jersey Nets, might be interested in taking the Kansas job.
This was intriguing. Johnson had never considered Brown before Reed mentioned his name. Johnson got Brown's phone number from Reed and gave him a call. No one answered.
Oh well. There would be plenty of good candidates to interview in Albuquerque, N.M., Johnson figured. He forgot about Brown.
Until the very next day, that is. Johnson got another unusual phone call. This time, it was from CBS analyst Billy Packer. Packer told him that Brown would be a perfect fit for the job and gave him another phone number where he could reach the Nets coach.
Johnson called and this time Brown answered. They would meet at a hotel in Kansas City the next Monday to talk about the job.
Although Johnson knew Brown was interested, he still went to Albuquerque to complete the scheduled interviews. His first one was with North Carolina coach Dean Smith. Johnson said he offered him the job, but Smith said he couldn't leave a school where they were getting ready to name a gym after him.
Johnson left Albuquerque that weekend liking a few of the candidates, but he was still interested in interviewing Brown on Monday. He had good reason. As soon as he spoke a few words to Brown, Johnson was blown away.
"He was the most mild-mannered person I'd ever met," Johnson said. "He was not the guy I'd seen on the court. When he was on the basketball court, he was totally in charge."
Johnson left the interview not knowing whether he should hire Brown or Eddie Sutton, who was coaching Arkansas at the time. A few days later, he called Sutton to find out how interested he was in the job. He could tell Sutton was reluctant.
Another employee in the Athletics Department, Lonnie Rose, had Brown on hold as Johnson talked to Sutton. Soon, Johnson realized Sutton wouldn't be worth the trouble if he took too long to decide. He grabbed the phone from Rose and hired Brown on the spot.
Once on the job, Brown made a decision as smart as Johnson's decision to hire him. He made a truck driver named Ed Manning an assistant coach. The hire wouldn't have been anything special if not for Ed's son, Danny.
Danny Manning was one of the top high school basketball players in the country. By hiring Ed, Brown developed an immediate connection to Manning and got the Manning family to move from Greensboro, N.C., to Lawrence. Not surprisingly, Manning, a McDonald's All-American, signed with the Jayhawks.
STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 48
1984-1985: In the final season Ted Owens coached the Jayhawks, the Hawks went 4-10 in the Big 8, seventh place overall. The Jayhawks were 13-16 for the season.
1985-1986: The Larry Brown hire paid off. In just his third season, Brown took the Jayhawks to the Final Four. They endured a painful loss in the national championship game that motivated the players who were still around to make sure they wouldn't repeat it again if given another opportunity for a championship.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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