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Kansas State Wildcats
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceKansas State University's athletic teams are called the Wildcats, and their official color is royal purple; white and silver are generally used as complementary colors. Kansas State participates in the NCAA's Division I (Division I-Bowl Subdivision in football) and in the Big 12 Conference.
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Administration
Athletics at Kansas State University are administered by the University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. The department is headed by the Athletic Director. Athletic Directors of note over the years at Kansas State University include:| Z.G. Clevenger | (1916-1920); first Athletic Director, member of College Football Hall of Fame |
| Mike Ahearn | (1920-1947); considered "Father of Kansas State Athletics" |
| H.B. "Bebe" Lee | (1956-1969); member of National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame |
| Ernie Barrett | (1969-1975); known as "Mr. K-State" |
| DeLoss Dodds | (1978-1981) |
| Steve Miller | (1988-1992) |
| Tim Weiser | (2001-2008); Resigned from K-State to become the Big 12's deputy commissioner |
Basketball
The basketball teams currently play in Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.Men's Basketball
See Kansas State Wildcats men's basketballWomen's Basketball
Kansas State's women's basketball team began intercollegiate competition in 1968. The team is among the top 15 all-time winningest programs in the NCAA.
The women's team has won the conference (Big 8 or Big 12) in 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1986-87, 2003-04 and 2007-08 seasons. The women's team has participated in 14 total NCAA basketball tournaments and AIAW tournaments (pre-NCAA). K-State has finished ranked in the Top Ten of the AP Poll on three occasions (1984, 2003, 2004), and in the top twenty nine total times. Following the 2005-2006 season, Kansas State was crowned champion of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. The team returned to the WNIT Final Four following the 2006-2007 season.
The women's team current head coach is Deb Patterson. Patterson has coached Kansas State for the past 11 years and holds a 238-136 (.636) winning record. She is Kansas State's all-time coaching leader passing up Judy Akers, who won 206 games.
AIAW Tournament Results
The Wildcats have appeared in 5 AIAW tournmanments.
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 1973 | Fifth in Tournament |
| 1975 | Sixth in Tournament |
| 1977 | Quaterfinalist |
| 1979 | Fourth in South Sectional |
| 1980 | Third in East Sectional |
NCAA Tournament Results
The Wildcats have appeared in 9 NCAA Tournaments.
| Year | Result |
|---|---|
| 1982 | Elite Eight |
| 1983 | Sweet Sixteen |
| 1984 | Sweet Sixteen |
| 1987 | First Round |
| 1997 | First Round |
| 2002 | Sweet Sixteen |
| 2003 | Second Round |
| 2004 | Second Round |
| 2005 | Second Round |
Notable Former Wildcat Players and Coaches
- Judy Akers (2003 Hall of Fame Inductee)
- Claire Coggins
- Olga Firsova
- Lynn Hickey (2004 Hall of Fame Inductee)
- Laurie Koehn
- Megan Mahoney
- Nicole Ohlde
- Shanele Stires
- Priscilla Gary-Sweeney (1998 Hall of Fame Inductee)
- Kendra Wecker
Football
The team currently plays in Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas.The football team began play in 1893. The program had some shining moments in the 1920s and 1930s, including a Big Six Conference championship in 1934. Nevertheless, Kansas State was historically one of the worst programs in the NCAA until 1989, when the athletic department hired Bill Snyder as head coach.
Bill Snyder era
Snyder took over a program that had won only 299 games and lost 510 games in 93 years of play, but presided over one of the most successful rebuilding projects in the history of college athletics.In 1991, Snyder's Wildcats finished 7-4 and narrowly missed receiving the school's second bowl bid ever. The team also finished with a winning record in conference play for only the third time since winning the conference title in 1934.
In Snyder's fifth season in 1993, Kansas State posted the first victory in a bowl game in school history. Success and high rankings continued over the next decade, including six top-ten finishes in the AP Poll and a perfect (11-0) regular season in 1998 (before stumbling in the Big 12 Championship Game). As the team improved, recruiting also improved, and Snyder was able to bring in athletes such as quarterback Michael Bishop, the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1998, and running back Darren Sproles, who in 2003 led the nation in rushing and holds the current Big 12 all-purpose yards record for a career. The run of success culminated in a Big 12 Conference championship in 2003 with a 35-7 victory over the #1 ranked University of Oklahoma. (The 69 years since the last conference title in 1934 was the longest span between football titles in Division I.)
In his 17 years as head coach at K-State, Snyder won 136 games – as many as his predecessors had won from 1935 to 1988 – and led Kansas State to eleven consecutive bowl games (1993-2003), including six wins. Snyder's legacy at K-State also includes winning or sharing four Big 12 North titles.
In 1998 Snyder was recognized as the National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and the Walter Camp Football Foundation, and was awarded the Bear Bryant Award and the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award. Coach Snyder was also selected Big Eight Conference Coach of the Year by the Associated Press three times (1990, 1991 and 1993), joining Bob Devaney as the only two men in Big Eight history to be named Coach of the Year three times in a four-year period. Snyder was named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year twice, in 1998 (Associated Press, coaches) and 2002 (coaches).
The winning attitude under former coach Snyder was represented by a stylized wildcat, called the "Powercat" (shown at top), that was added to the football team's uniforms in 1989. The emblem became so popular that by the late 1990s it had essentially replaced "Willie the Wildcat," a character designed by art department students in the late 1950s.
Snyder retired following the 2005 season, and on December 5, 2005, Ron Prince was named the new head coach. Prince was formerly an assistant coach and offensive line coach at the University of Virginia.
Ron Prince era
2006 season
In 2006, Prince's first year at the helm of the Wildcats, he led Kansas State to a 7-6 record and the team's first winning season since 2003. The signature win of the regular season was a 45-42 upset victory over #4-ranked University of Texas on November 11, 2006. Kansas State finished the season with a 37-10 loss to the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University in the inaugural Texas Bowl on December 28, 2006.2007 season
The Wildcats compiled a 5-7 record in the 2007 season. Coach Prince got the team off to a quick start, with a 3-1 record and a #24 ranking in the AP Poll after four weeks – the first ranking for Kansas State since the 2004 season. This start included another victory against a top 10-ranked Texas team, this time by 20 points. However, in the next five games, the team alternated wins and losses. In the fifth game of the season, the Wildcat team was upset 30-24 by its cross-state opponents, the University of Kansas, and fell from the Top 25. The following week, Kansas State defeated the University of Colorado 47-20 and reentered the poll at number 25. K-State fell from the Top 25 permanently the next week after a 41-39 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, despite quarterback Josh Freeman having a career day, throwing for 404 yards and three touchdown passes to Jordy Nelson. A win against the Baylor Bears and four losses followed to close out the season.
Bowl games
Kansas State has participated in 13 bowl games, with an overall record of 6-7. Kansas State had a streak of 11 straight bowl appearances that lasted from the 1993 season to the 2003 season.Not included in this tally of bowl games is Kansas State's first "post-season" game, played in 1931 against Wichita State as a fundraiser during the Great Depression. Kansas State won that game 20-6. Also not included is the 1992 Coca-Cola Classic game played in Tokyo, Japan against Nebraska as it is considered a regular season game.
| Date | Result | Bowl | Opponent | Score | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12-11-1982 | L | Independence Bowl | Wisconsin | 14 - 3 | Jim Dickey |
| 12-29-1993 | W | Copper Bowl | Wyoming | 52 - 7 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-25-1994 | L | Aloha Bowl | Boston College | 12 - 7 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-29-1995 | W | Holiday Bowl | Colorado State | 54 - 21 | Bill Snyder |
| 1-1-1997 | L | Cotton Bowl | BYU | 19 - 15 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-31-1997 | W | Fiesta Bowl | Syracuse | 35 - 18 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-29-1998 | L | Alamo Bowl | Purdue | 37 - 34 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-29-1999 | W | Holiday Bowl | Washington | 24 - 20 | Bill Snyder |
| 1-1-2001 | W | Cotton Bowl | Tennessee | 35 - 21 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-29-2001 | L | Insight.com Bowl | Syracuse | 26 - 3 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-27-2002 | W | Holiday Bowl | Arizona State | 34 - 27 | Bill Snyder |
| 1-2-2004 | L | Fiesta Bowl | Ohio State | 35 - 28 | Bill Snyder |
| 12-28-2006 | L | Texas Bowl | Rutgers | 37 - 10 | Ron Prince |
Baseball
Kansas State's baseball team began play in 1897. The Wildcats earned what is believed to be the school's first varsity championship in 1907 under coach Mike Ahearn. The Wildcats went on to win a Missouri Valley Conference championship in 1928 and Big Six Conference championships in 1930 and 1933.Other milestones in the team's history include Earl Woods, the father of golfer Tiger Woods, becoming the first African-American baseball player in the Big Seven Conference in 1952, as well as all-time coaching wins leader Mike Clark winning the Big Eight Coach of the Year award in 1990. The Wildcats have not traditionally been competitive on the national scale, as the Wildcats have never participated in an NCAA Tournament. K-State has only qualified twice for the Big 12 Conference tournament in the conference's 11 years. Recently, fifth-year head coach Brad Hill has led the Wildcats to three consecutive years of 30-plus wins, including a trip to the Big 12 tournament in 2007. Hill's teams have also earned national rankings in three of his first four seasons. This upcoming season will see the Wildcats return seven position-player starters, its entire starting pitching rotation, and third team All-American closer Daniel Edwards.
Track and field
Kansas State began competing in track and field in 1904.Through the end of the 2005-2006 season, K-State athletes have won individual NCAA national championships 38 times. The program also produced 104 women's outdoor All-Americans, 63 men's outdoor All-Americans, 64 women's indoor All-Americans, and 81 men's indoor All-Americans. Fourteen Kansas State athletes have attended 12 Olympic Games and have won seven medals.
Legendary coach Ward Haylett, who is enshrined in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, left a strong imprint on the Kansas State program. He was head coach at the school from 1928-1963.
Volleyball
The team currently plays in Ahearn Field House in Manhattan, Kansas.Kansas State's women's volleyball team began intercollegiate competition in 1974. The team is among the all-time winningest programs in the NCAA.
As of the close of the 2007 season, the team has participated in 11 NCAA tournaments, including ten consecutive tournaments from 1996 to 2005. K-State also participated in the AIAW tournament in 1977. K-State has finished ranked in the top twenty of the AVCA poll five times, and in the top 25 on ten occasions. The team most recently participated in the NCAA tournament in 2007, advancing to the second round.
The current head coach is Suzie Fritz. In just six seasons at the helm of the Kansas State volleyball program, Suzie Fritz has quickly established herself as not only one of the most successful coaches in KSU history, but also the nation. Fritz has led the Wildcats to five NCAA Tournament appearances as head coach, nine dating back to her days as an assistant coach, the school’s first-ever conference title in 2003 and two Sweet 16 appearances. She currently holds the highest winning percentage among all of K-State’s volleyball coaches after compiling a 124-62 (.667) mark in six years. In nine seasons total on staff, Fritz has seen seven All-Americans, 12 All-Region performers and 29 all-conference players come play as Wildcats.
Racial integration at Kansas State
Kansas State historically has been welcoming to all races. Records show as far back as the 1940's and 1950's (a time regarded by many for its lack of civil rights in the United States), the leadership of K-State Sports took a strong stance in support of racial integration.Football
In 1949, African-American Harold Robinson played football for Kansas State with an athletic scholarship. Robinson broke the decades-long "color barrier" in the Big Seven Conference playing for head coach Ralph Graham. Robinson later compared Graham to Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who hired Jackie Robinson to integrate baseball in 1947.Baseball
In the 1950s, the conference "color barrier" was broken in baseball by another Kansas State program. An indicator of the acceptance of this position is reflected in an article published in The Tulsa World about Earl Woods that occurred in the early 1950s during a baseball game:- Former teammate Larry Hartshorn recalled an instance when the Wildcats were scheduled to play a spring game against a team from Mississippi. During warm-ups, the Mississippi coach took notice of Earl, and according to Hartshorn, the coach said his team would play the game only if the black player stayed on the bus.
- Instead, K-State coach Ray Wauthier put everybody on the bus. "We just left," Hartshorn said.
Notable alumni
See also
References
External links
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Last updated on Saturday March 08, 2008 at 17:33:36 PST (GMT -0800)
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