Danny Manning still recalls those first impressions of Tad Boyle.

Manning practically was on his way to stardom already when he arrived at Kansas in the fall of 1984. Boyle, on the other hand, never quite found stardom as a player, but heading into the 1984-85 season he was a widely respected senior leader for the Jayhawks.

Boyle eventually found his niche as a coach, while Manning embarked on a career highlighted by the 1988 national championship at KU, becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 1988 draft, and a lengthy NBA career.

The former Jayhawks are reunited once again in Boulder. Earlier this year, Boyle hired Manning to take over an assistant coach role vacated by Rick Ray following last season. A veteran coach with 18 seasons on the sideline, Manning says he’s feeling rejuvenated by the new challenge.

“He was always a coach on the floor,” Manning recalled about Boyle. “We gave him the nickname ‘Cap,’ the younger players, because of his leadership. Because of the way he saw the game. It’s easy to follow someone when you know their spirit is good. It’s a little easier to put your ego to the side when you know somebody has a good spirit in them as opposed to maybe one that’s not coming from as pure of a place. When you have a good spirit about you, you can say things to your teammates, maybe in a more aggressive manner — which happens in competitive play — those types of things are a lot of the things I picked up from Tad.

“He can get on you. He will challenge you. He’ll hold you accountable. But the same flip side, you can say something to him too. He’s very accommodating and wanting to understand and listen to everyone out on the court.”