Kansas State University's
(variously "Kansas State
", "K-State
" or "KSU
") athletic teams are called the Wildcats. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple, making Kansas State one of very few schools (including also Syracuse and Harvard) that have only one official color; white and silver are generally used as complementary colors. [1]
Kansas State participates in the NCAA's Division I (Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision) and is a member of the Big 12 Conference since 1996. Previously, Kansas State competed in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference from 1890 to 1912; the Missouri Valley Conference from 1913 to 1928; and the Big Eight Conference from 1928 to 1996 (known as the Big Six from 1928–47 and the Big Seven from 1947–57).
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KANSAS STATE WILDCATS TICKETS
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Athletics Department
Kansas State offers sixteen sports at a varsity level. Entering the 2009–2010 school year, Kansas State has captured 56 total conference championships through the years (not counting competition in the old Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference). Kansas State has not won any team NCAA championships, but has had 26 individual national champions.
[2] [3]
In the 2007–2008 school year, Kansas State was the only school in the nation to have a consensus All-America in both football (
Jordy Nelson) and men's basketball (
Michael Beasley). Also, in 2007 Kansas State led the
Big 12 Conference with a 64 percent graduation rate for all sports. The Wildcats were 2nd in the Big 12 with a 69 percent graduation rate in football.
[4]
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
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| 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)
|
| Max Urick
| (1993-2001)
|
| Tim Weiser
| (2001-2008), resigned from K-State to become the Big 12's deputy commissioner
|
| Bob Krause
| (2008-2009)
|
| John Currie
| (2009-Current)
|
Football
Kansas State's football team began play in 1893. The first game was on Thanksgiving Day against St. Mary's Academy; K.S.A.C. won 18–10.
[5] [6] Despite some shining moments in the 1920s and 1930s, by 1989 the school was statistically the worst program in
NCAA Division one with a record of 299–509–41, and the first program in the country to lose 500 games.
[7] It all changed in 1989, when the athletic department hired
Bill Snyder as head coach. Success and high rankings followed, culminating in a #1
national ranking during the 1998 season and a Big 12 Conference championship in
2003. Between the years of 1993 and 2003, Snyder's teams went 109–29–1 and attended eleven straight bowl games. Bill Snyder retired following the 2005 season, and
Ron Prince was named the new head coach. In his first season, Prince guided the Wildcats to the school's first winning record (7–6) in three years and a spot in the
inaugural Texas Bowl against
Rutgers University. Prince's second and third seasons both ended with 5–7 records. With three games left in the 2008 season, Prince announced he would not return for the 2009 season.
[8] Prince was replaced by former head coach Snyder, who is returning to the school for a second stint.
Kansas State is currently two losses short of 600. The only schools that currently have lost 600 games are
Northwestern and
Indiana.
[9]
The team plays its home games at
Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and the
KSU Marching Band (also known as the Pride of Wildcat Land) performs at all home games.
Basketball
The men's and women's basketball teams play their home games in
Bramlage Coliseum.
Men's basketball
Kansas State's men's basketball team began competition in 1902. The program has a long history of success. The first two major conference titles captured by the school were won in the sport, in 1917 and 1919, in the
Missouri Valley Conference. Kansas State has gone on to capture 17 conference crowns in the sport. The program has also appeared in 23
NCAA basketball tournaments. Kansas State lost to the
University of Kentucky for the national championship in 1951, reached the
Final Four four times, the Elite Eight 11 times, and the Sweet Sixteen 15 times. When
Street & Smith's Annual
listed the 100 greatest college basketball programs of all time in 2005, K-State ranked 22nd.
After a twelve-year absence, the team returned to the NCAA tournament in the
2007–08 season. That season, first-time collegiate head coach
Frank Martin led a freshman-dominated team to 21 wins and a third-place finish in the Big 12 Conference with a conference record of 10–6. At the
2008 NCAA Tournament the team defeated
USC in the first round, before falling to
Wisconsin in the second. Following the season, Kansas State freshman
Michael Beasley was named an All-American and Big 12 Conference Player of the Year.
Women'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 participated in 17 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 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 current head coach is
Deb Patterson.
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. Kansas State has qualified four times for the
Big 12 Conference tournament since its formation in 1994. The most recent appearance came in 2009. The Wildcats also earned a berth in the
Big 12 Conference tournament in
2002,
2007, and
2008. In 2008, Hill led the Wildcats all the way to the championship game against Texas, eventually falling 15–7, just one win shy of their first NCAA Tournament.
Hill's teams have also earned national rankings in three of his first four seasons. The Wildcats call
Tointon Family Stadium home.
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 & 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 2008 season, the team has participated in 12
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 six times, and in the top 25 on eleven occasions. The team most recently participated in the NCAA tournament in
2008.
The current head coach is Suzie Fritz. Fritz has led the Wildcats to several NCAA Tournament appearances and the school's first conference title in volleyball in 2003. As of the close of the 2008 season, Fritz also holds the second-highest winning percentage among all K-State's volleyball coaches after compiling a record of 148–70 (.679). In eight seasons as head coach, through the end of the 2008 season, Fritz has coached six All-Americans.
[10]
Rivalries
Kansas State Wildcats vs. Kansas Jayhawks (Sunflower Showdown)
Since the early 1900s when Kansas State and Kansas began competing in baseball, basketball, and football, the two teams schools and fans have developed a passionate rivalry.
Men's Basketball
The rivalry on the hardwood peaked in the 1950s when both teams were national title contenders. A facilities race also began in the 1950s, starting with the construction of Kansas State's
Ahearn Fieldhouse, which was one of the largest basketball facilities in the country with a capacity of 14,000 when opened in 1951. Kansas soon answered with
Allen Fieldhouse, which would seat 16,300. The rivalry continued strong through the 1980s, but faded as Kansas began a 24-game win streak against the Wildcats in Manhattan in 1984. On January 30, 2008 #22
Kansas State upset #2
Kansas 84–75, winning against Kansas in
Bramlage Coliseum for the first time with the aid of freshmen
Michael Beasley and
Bill Walker. Kansas State currently trails in the all-time series, 90–177.
Football
Historically, neither football program has had sustained success. The rivalry intensified for a period in the early 90's as both teams entered the national rankings. In 1991 Head Coach
Bill Snyder gained his first win against the
Jayhawks and over the next 12 years Kansas would only beat the Wildcats once, in 1992, until KU finally won again in a home game in 2004. The rivalry intensified again in the 2000's as Kansas returned to relevance under
Mark Mangino and the Wildcats struggled under
Ron Prince. Kansas State currently trails in the all-time series, 37–63–5.
Kansas State Wildcats vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Football
After the creation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, and through early 2000s, the Wildcats and
Cornhuskers consistently competed for the Big 12 North championship. Until the 1990s, however, the series was severely one-sided, with Kansas State losing 29 consecutive games to Nebraska until November 14, 1998 when the #1-ranked Wildcats beat #11 Nebraska 40–30. Kansas State subsequently beat Nebraska in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Volleyball
Nebraska is the Wildcats' biggest volleyball rival. Both teams have been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 almost weekly for the past decade, and every Kansas State home game against Nebraska is promoted with t-shirts that read "Keep The Red Out."
Racial integration at Kansas State
Kansas State historically has been welcoming to all races. Records show as far back as the 1940s and 1950's (a time regarded by many for its lack of
civil rights in the
United States), the leadership of K-State athletics 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. In doing so, Robinson broke the decades-long "color barrier" in
Big Seven Conference athletics. Robinson's coach was
Ralph Graham, and Robinson later compared Graham to
Branch Rickey, the general manager of the
Brooklyn Dodgers who hired
Jackie Robinson to integrate baseball in 1947.
[11]
Baseball
In the spring of 1951, the conference color barrier in baseball was broken by Kansas State's
Earl Woods (the father of
golf great
Tiger Woods). An indicator of the controversial nature of this position is reflected in an article published in
The Tulsa World
about an incident 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.
[12]
Basketball
Finally, in the winter of 1951–1952, Kansas State's Gene Wilson broke the conference color barrier in basketball, along with LaVannes Squires at the
University of Kansas.
[13]
Conference membership history
- 1890–1912: Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association
- 1913–1927: Missouri Valley Conference
- 1928–1947: Big 6 Conference
- 1948–1957: Big 7 Conference
- 1958–1995: Big 8 Conference
- 1996–Present: Big 12 Conference
Notable alumni
- List of Kansas State University people
See also
- Sunflower Showdown
- Bramlage Coliseum
- Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium
- Tointon Family Stadium
References
- Kansas State Traditions
- NCAA Men's Championships
- NCAA Women's Championships
- All-American fact
- Wildcats to Powercats: K-State Football Facts and Trivia
- ''Kansas State University: A Pictorial History, 1863-1963'' (Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University), 1962.
- Futility U
- Prince fired after 2008
- College football losses fact
- Susie Fritz biography
- Athlete Who Broke Big 12 Race Barrier Dies
- Tiger was raised by a Wildcat
- Flawed history amended