By Mike Finn, WIN Editor

With 12 years of experience under his belt, Nebraska’s Mark Manning is one of the veteran coaches on the NCAA Division I level.

            But it wasn’t until his ninth season as the Cornhusker main mentor did the native of Vermillion, S.D., truly understood that he picked the perfect profession.

            “Most definitely,” responded the 45-year-old Manning, who took over the Nebraska program in 2001 after spending three years leading the Northern Iowa program.

            “That’s why you coach; to make an impact on young men’s lives and obviously we had a lot of teaching moments this year; from not only with our young guys but to our veterans who were tested. I believe the faith element of our program was really put to the test and came out with flying colors.”

            At the end of 2007-08 season, most people expected Nebraska to be strong this season and the Cornhuskers fulfilled most of those expectations when the men wearing red captured its first-ever Big 12 championship and finished fourth nationally for a second consecutive season; marking the fifth time in Manning’s tenure that Nebraska finished among the Top 8 teams in the nation.

            Partly because of that success, Manning has been named the Dan Gable National Coach of the Year by WIN.

            “Coach Manning and the Huskers had a respectable season. But, this season’s success in conjuction with doing the right thing last summer is what made him stand out from his peers. He had a team on paper that would have contended for national title when he kicked Donahoe and Jordan off the team,” said WIN publisher Bryan Van Kley. “He’s a very worthy recipient of the award. He really seems to be building things the right way in Lincoln.”

            Two months before the start of the season, Manning was forced to dismiss a pair of returning national qualifiers — 2007 NCAA champion Paul Donahoe at 125 pounds and Kenny Jordan at 133 — after the pair broke team rules with an off-the-mat incident in August.

            Manning announced their departure, and that would be the last time he spoke about it during the season.

            “A lot of people wanted us to talk about those two guys, but I told the team that we were not going to talk about those two guys,” Manning said. “We were moving away from that incident and moving on with our program, our lives and our journey. I told them not to comment about the situation and they were not to bring up those two guys because they were no longer part of our team.”

            But that also meant that Manning lost nearly one-fourth of an otherwise experienced team. During the dual meet season, Nebraska’s less-experienced 125 pounders finished 5-16 and the 133-pound class tallied an 11-10 mark and together failed to win a match at the NWCA National Duals where Nebraska finished fourth in January.

            Yet, the Cornhuskers finished 17-3-1, including the school’s first home victory over Oklahoma State since 1921-22 and the Huskers first back-to-back victories over the Cowboys.

            Manning gave much of the credit to his upperclassmen, especially the returning All-Americans: junior Jordan Burroughs (35-0 at 157), junior Stephen Dwyer (27-7 at 165), senior Brandon Browne (30-5 at 174) and senior Craig Brester (34-4 at 197), as well as 184-pound senior Vince Jones (34-9) and redshirt freshman heavyweight Tucker Lane (28-14), who all qualified for the national tournament.

            Manning also got plenty of help from his coaching staff, especially in December when Nebraska won the Las Vegas Invitational … without their head coach. Manning was taking care of more important business and became the father of his fourth son when wife, Carrie, whom he married in August of 2006, gave birth to William Mark Manning.

            “It’s a great blessing,” Manning said. “I have a great wife who takes care of our children. As a coach, you are going here and there at mach speed. You need a good lady behind you. That old adage about a great woman really rings true. With young children, there is a lot of tending to and a lot of sleepless nights.”

Nebraska’s worst performance came in the final dual, Feb. 22; a 30-10 home loss to Iowa State. But not many fans outside of Nebraska knew the situation.

            Two days earlier, Thayes Browne, the 49-year-old mother of a pair of Huskers (Brandon and Cameron, a 197-pound sophomore) died from a heart attack while watching another son at the Nebraska state high school tournament.

            “She hadn’t been stricken with anything but what happened that moment,” said Manning. “It was such an unexpected tragic event and devastating for Brandon and Cameron. A lot of people forget about Cameron being on our team.”

 Manning and the entire team attended both the prayer service and funeral.

 “Our kids have a lot of heart for each other,” Manning said. “Bran-don’s and Cam-eron’s hearts were broken, but so were other guys’ on our team.”

  Together the team found a way to regroup and capture its first conference title two weeks later when Nebraska and Iowa State tied for the title after Brester defeated ISU’s Jake Varner in the 197-pound final. Three other Huskers also won conference titles, including Brandon Browne.

            “For Brandon to do what he did, I can’t say enough about him,” Manning said. “That showed great character and the by-product of our program and kids who really believe what we are teaching.

            “The bottom line is that it defined the faith element of our program, a spiritual element that we could visit with our team. Our entire team went to their mother’s prayer service and the funeral.”

            At the NCAAs two weeks later, Nebraska’s seven qualifiers compiled a 21-12 record, including a 5-0 mark by Burroughs who captured the school’s tenth national title and fourth under Manning.

            Meanwhile, three other Huskers also earned All-American honors as Brester (second) and Jones (sixth) were joined on the medal stand by Brandon Browne, who finished fourth.

            In the end, Manning said he never worried if the season and team might fall apart.

            “I never stopped believing that our team could do it,” said Manning, whose voice cracked in looking back. “I knew the character of our team.”

            And the team believed in the man and coach who is Mark Manning.