Arizona promotes Evan Manning to assistant coach and hires Director of Ops

Arizona announced the promotion of Director of Basketball operations Evan Manning to assistant coach and the hiring of former graduate assistant Austin Torres as his successor on Thursday. Manning has been the Arizona Director of Operations for the last two years.

Torres returns to Arizona after spending one season on the staff at Scottsdale, Notre Dame Prep, as an assistant coach. Torres was an Arizona team manager for two years as an undergraduate and another two years as a graduate assistant. The Director of Operations assists with the daily operations of the program.

Manning is the son of Kansas legend Danny Manning. Manning was a walk-on at Kansas during his own career as a player. Before being hired at Arizona, Manning was on the staffs at Kansas, Wake Forest under his father, Gonzaga and Army.

According to the Arizona press release, "Manning will assist with on-court coaching, player development and scouting reports." Manning was elevated to assistant coach after Rem Bakamus was hired by Texas Tech earlier during the 2025 offseason.

T.J. Benson, Brandon Chappell, Jack Murphy and Ken Nakagawa are the other Arizona assistant coaches. Benson is also the Arizona recruiting coordinator and Murphy is the associate head coach. Chappell was hired in May after the retirement of Steve Robinson following the 2024-25 season.

Murphy is the longest-tenured Arizona assistant coach, having been with the Wildcats since 2020 in his second stint in Tucson. The hiring of Chappell and promotion of Manning are in line with the NCAA increasing full-time assistant coaches from three to five beginning with the 2023-24 season.

Benson was promoted to assistant coach before the 2024-25 season. Nakagawa was also promoted to assistant coach before the 2024-25 season after previously being the Director of Advanced Scouting for the Arizona basketball program. The 2025-26 Arizona basketball staff is now complete