K-STATE'S DENIS CLEMENTE GROWS INTO THE BIG PICTURE
March 10, 2010

Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star has filed a tremendous story about the background and motivations of K-State's All-Big 12, All-American point guard, Denis Clemente.

I've felt extremely proud to have Denis on our team, and I love his speed. Don't miss this story.





A BIG DAY FOR FRANK MARTIN (AND K-STATE)
March 7, 2010

Athletics director John Currie announced today that Coach Martin has been signed through 2014-15. The salary will progressively increase: $1.2 million in the 2010-11 contract year, $1.3 million in 2011-12, $1.4 million in 2012-13, $1.5 million in 2013-14 and $1.6 million in 2014-15. This is the great news that K-Staters have been waiting for. I personally wasn't nervous, because I understood Coach's commitment to K-State, and felt it was just a matter of time until this was done. Click here to download a 6 MB .mp3 of the contract press conference. Click here to download a PDF of Coach's new contract from K-State Sports Information.

One other thing (swiping a paragraph from Sports Information): Frank Martin was named today the Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the Associated Press and the league's coaches. Martin has K-State off to its best start since the 1958-59 season, while the current 24 victories and 11 conference wins are the most for the Wildcats in the Big 12 era and most since the 1987-88 squad won a school-record 25 games. The team earned its first Top 5 ranking in nearly 50 years last Monday when it rose to No. 5 in each poll. It marked the fifth straight Top 10 ranking this season, including the fourth in both major polls. He has guided the school to four wins over Top 25 teams, which is the most-ever by K-State in a regular season, including just its third-ever over a No. 1 team and first since 1994 with its 71-62 victory over Texas on Jan. 18.

WHITLOCK: K-STATE FANS WERE A TREMENDOUS HELP.
February 27, 2010

Our pal Jason Whitlock has a nice commentary on the Cats' victory over Missouri today. Jason says, "K-State fans, take a bow. You kept the Wildcats' title hopes alive for at least four more days, and you pretty much ensured that Martin will be conference coach of the year and the favorite for national coach of the year."

CATS' HIGHEST RANKING IN 47 YEARS!
February 22, 2010

On March 7, 1962, K-State was ranked #3 in the AP poll. Now, almost 48 years later, we've come in at #6 in the poll released today. Our coaches and players have worked very hard for this, and for the most part, the fans have done a great job this season. The next month is going to be an amazing time.

DENIS CLEMENTE: BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
February 8, 2010

The Big 12 Conference has named senior guard Denis Clemente the Player of the Week. The conference says, "Clemente averaged 26.5 points and 4.0 assists as Kansas State recorded road victories at Nebraska (76-57) and Iowa State (79-75). The senior guard started play with a 23-point effort versus the Huskers, connecting on 7-of-14 shots from the floor. He then followed with his third career 30-point performance by scoring 30 points on 9-of-18 shooting against the Cyclones. For the week, he hit 50 percent (16-of-32) of his shots from the floor, including 64.7 percent (11-of-17) from 3-point range. He also totaled seven rebounds and averaged 36.0 minutes. Clemente is tied for fourth in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made (51) this season." Here's the official announcement.

ESPN PUTS K-STATE HOOPS AT CENTER COURT
January 30, 2010

GoPowercat.com has a great story on College Game Day at our house. This story is free content.

HOW TO SPOIL A GOOD AFTERNOON OF BASKETBALL: TWEET!
January 17, 2010

Neill Woelk of the buffzone / dailycamera.com in Boulder has quite a write-up of the officiating witnessed at our game with CU yesterday. Something about the 68 personal fouls and 94 free throws caught his attention. The Cats' 54 free throws attempted came in as third all-time. This was on the heels of the Texas A&M game, in which 53 personal fouls were called, and 70 free throws were attempted. And we thought that was ridiculous! It'll be interesting to see if the Big 12 says a word about this.

FUN QUOTES FROM THE AGGIES
January 12, 2010

K-State MBB had a fine 88-65 nationally televised win over Texas A&M tonight. Denis Clemente was on fire, ending with 24 points, and Jamar Samuels added 19. Here are some fun quotes from an Aggies message board. They didn't like the referees much, either!

• "I have a feeling we're about to get run out of the gym again. First football in Manhattan, now basketball? Ouch."
• "If K-State shoots like this every game they will win a national title... Of course this happens to us."
• "This really sucks to be owned by K-State so much in multiple sports the last 2 years."
• "These refs went to the Hellen Keller school of officiating."
• "I don't think we're trying to foul them... I think we're out of our game because we're not allowed to touch them at all. On the other hand, KSU is getting called with the same ticky-tack crap and they don't suck, so I don't know what to tell you."
• "I hate Big 12 officiating. Both teams in the double bonus the rest of the way. Big 12 games never get into any rhythm. Too many whistles."
• "This fouling is ridiculous. It's getting called on both ends and makes the games awful to watch."
• "Not a 'woe is me aggie fan the refs are bad,' but on both ends of the ball, just terrible. As I'm typing another ticky tack foul against K-State. Terrible."
• "I'm sitting here yelling at the TV... and it's about the fact that they called a foul against K-State! This is just ridiculous, on both ends."

THE MIKE LEACH MESS
December 31, 2009

I'm watching the Mike Leach firing with great interest, and also wondering if we (the public) will ever be confident that we know the full and true facts.

I believe that many problems facing our nation come from our historical quest for fairness. It's a noble-sounding concept, but it also carries a high price. Fairness in our justice system has cost people's lives, as criminals have been released, only to steal or kill again. Fair international trade has seen other countries take ridiculous advantage of us. However well-intended our national values are, we have to be alert to finding the breaking point between fairness and outright stupidity.

The customer service model has crept into our education system, from kindergarten through graduate school. Educators wrestle every day with "student development" vs. "customer service." Along with that is the increased willingness of students and parents to file a lawsuit whenever they don't get exactly what they want.

Did Mike Leach go too far by isolating a player who, by most reports, was not respected or liked by his teammates? He could have found a more appropriate response than solitary confinement. Leach has a law degree. He ought to have sense enough to know that while most of his motivation for isolating the player may have been lazy performance in practice, the player and family would link the isolation to the concussion, thereby making Leach look like an insensitive monster.

On the other hand, I believe that we've got to keep parents and administrators out of head coaching decisions as much as possible. What's happening at the college level began with little league and soccer. We've seen it here, too, for example when Jackie Stanley's dad pulled her from K-State for insufficient playing time (behind Shalee Lehning, I might add) as a first-semester freshman.

We should let coaches do their job. What they're asking their athletes to do is not far removed from soldiers going into war. It's hard, it's often painful and it calls for giving every bit of effort humanly possible. Some people aren't up to that, and different people respond in different ways. Coaches know their players, their abilities and their attitudes. We have to trust our coaches' judgment, because they have behind-the-scenes information we don't have.

In conclusion, here's what I think. For one thing, insufficient time was allowed in the Mike Leach investigation to get the full picture of information needed for a sound decision. Is it OK to punish players? I think so, and I've seen it personally on our own campus, as players have gotten some special assignments involving bleachers. I just think coaches need to take that extra moment to consider whether the punishment is teaching something, if it leaves the athlete with dignity intact, if the media and the public would consider it reasonable under the circumstances, etc. Head coaches at big-time universities are often making huge salaries, and they just need to remember that their high pay doesn't confer immunity from public opinion. A helpful guideline would be, what would Bill Snyder do?

HERE'S ONE FOR THE RECORD BOOKS!
December 16, 2009

The Cats' MBB program is #1 in the RealTime RPI today!

KANSAS STATE READY TO BE A PLAYER IN THE BIG 12
December 14, 2009

Andy Katz of ESPN has named the Cats as the ESPN Team of the Week!

KRUGER'S UNIQUE STAFF CARRIES DEEP K-STATE ROOTS
December 9, 2009

The Cats are playing UNLV this week, and they're coached by two of my all-time favorite MBB players, Lon Kruger and Steve Henson. Here's a fine article in the Las Vegas Sun on the connections Lon's staff have with K-State. I really appreciated Lon's and Greg's contributions to the Men's Basketball History DVD that came out last year. By the way, Coach Neil Crane, mentioned in the article, gave me two semesters of A in physical education at Highland Community College, which anyone who knows me would find hard to believe.

STUDY FINDS NCAA OFFICIALS TRY TO KEEP FOUL NUMBERS EVEN
December 5, 2009

Here's a column from the Kansas City Star which reports a study done in 2004-05 on the tendencies of NCAA referees in calling fouls. The professors involved concluded that referees are very aware of the balance of fouls on the scoreboard, and big picture, they try to even them out.

BIG 12 / PAC 10 HARDWOOD SERIES
December 6, 2009

This series was started in 2007 to up the level of nonconference play. Here's a Wikipedia link. As of today, it's Big 12 - 8, Pac 10 - 2.

FRANK MARTIN QUOTES
2009

• 12/12/09: "We've got to take this experience and build on it. They don't give parades for wins in December. We shot it well in practice and shot it even better today. I felt if we made passes, we'd make some shots. It's a heck of a win for our young team."

• 12/05/09: "It's the best we've done this year."

• 12/05/09: "Our guys have big hearts. They have a lot of pride. They came in here the right way and played the game with tremendous energy and passion."

• 12/01/09: "A couple guys on our team, their manhood is going to get challenged now. Either they're going to step up and join us, or they're going to break and quit. I don't know, that's on them."

• 11/28/09: "Curtis is a big-time talent. Curtis' problem is that he's got his mind made up on what he needs to do, and he won't do what we're asking him to do. If he ever buys in and decides to commit himself to doing the things we're asking him to do, he makes us a good basketball team."

• 11/28/09: "I collect a salary for more than just wearing a suit on the sideline. We'll get this figured out."

• 11/28/09: "I know I'm not very intelligent, but for the last 25 years of my life, this is what I've done. I know we're going to get this right. And if we don't get it right, you're going to see different people wearing our uniforms, I can promise that."

ROBERT J. LIPSON
November 14, 2009

Here's the link to the Wall Street Journal article about Robert as a K-State football fan.

SNYDER'S EFFECT IS FELT BY MANY
October 28, 2009

John Hoover of the Tulsa World has a nice story on the impact of Coach Snyder on his former assistants. Here's the link.

KRAUSE / PRINCE
Throughout 2009

If anyone still wants to think about the $3,200,000 secret Ron Prince buyout, my posts on that topic are archived here.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE COST THE CATS THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
March 16, 2009

TRADITION OF CHAMPIONS: MEN'S BASKETBALL HISTORY DVD
December 27, 2008

I took four hours over the holiday weekend to watch all of this documentary. It has segments on teams, coaches, facilities and memorable moments. It has commentary from a number of former players and coaches. When they refer to a great game or moment, the DVD will then go to footage of the game.

Some of the former players with commentary are Mr. K-State, Ernie Barrett, Jack Parr, Bob Boozer, Rick Harman, Larry Weigel, Lew Hitch, Wally Frank, Howard Shannon, Steve Douglas, Dick Knostman, Roy DeWitz, Bill Guthridge, Don Matuszak, Lloyd Krone, Bob Chipman, Carl Gerlach, Scott Langton, Steve Henson, Chuckie Williams and Lon Kruger.

Former coaches Lon Kruger and Greg Grensing were interviewed at length at UNLV, and the legendary Tex Winter had all kinds of stories from his 15 years at K-State. Current coach Brad Underwood has great stories about the Hartman era.

Journalists and broadcasters we hear from include Fred White, Steve Physioc, Wyatt Thompson, Ben Boyle, Steven Farney, Kevin Haskin, Greg Sharpe, Tim Fitzgerald, John Dodderidge, David Smale and Mark Janssen.

This would be great for serious newer fans to see the level of talent and commitment necessary to have teams that played in the Final Four, and routinely went to the NCAA tournament. Here's the direct link.

Sometimes with productions like this, you look at it once, and that's it. I see myself going back to it often. As I write this, I'm already on my second pass through.

I THINK IT'S BILL SNYDER.
November 23, 2008

Since we learned that Ron Prince would be moving on, I've been telling people that I wouldn't be surprised if our next head coach is Bill Snyder, but I wasn't positive he would accept.

I've also said all along that if I'm correct and Bill Snyder would replace Ron Prince, we absolutely wouldn't know it until the season is over. After spending an hour a week with Coach Snyder at his radio shows for 17 years, I know him well enough to state that he would consider it rude to be announced as coach while Ron Prince was still officially our coach. He would also worry that the announcement would be a distraction to the team, and should not occur prior to the last game. Along with his brilliance as a coach, Bill Snyder is a gentleman. He would want Ron Prince to have full authority and respect while still employed.

The unattributed reports from anonymous message board posters that Gary Patterson's wife has been in Manhattan finalizing the purchase of a house carry absolutely no weight with me. I haven't seen a single conclusive piece of evidence that Coach Patterson wants to come here, and his alleged denials to TCU team members, if true, fit a consistent pattern of response from him. I think that hopeful fans are putting entirely too much on the fact that he is an alumnus. He was here about 25 years ago, and to my knowledge has not kept close ties. He has not even taken the opportunity, over the past three weeks, to wish us well in our search.

What about the search committee that Bill Snyder was supposedly a member of? Well, if he were seen meeting with Jon Wefald and Bob Krause, people would just assume it was a committee meeting. Or not.

Mark Janssen of the Manhattan Mercury, who I consider the ultimate source on K-State football, seems to agree with me. Mark wrote today that, "The silence and privacy of the last two-plus weeks looks and feels very Snyder-like." That much is certain.

I think I'm right, and I definitely hope I'm right.

GOING ON THE RECORD ON THE LAVENDER MBB UNIFORMS...
November 15, 2008

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Cats in the latest version of Jack Hartman's lavender-over-purple road uniforms. If you'd like to see what these uniforms mean in terms of our program's history, look here. If you're not aware of the Hartman era and K-State's winningest coach, you may enjoy reading up on it a little bit.

K-STATE PRIDE
November 14, 2008

The Pride of Wildcat Land rolled out of Manhattan at the crack of dawn to make it to the KU football game on Nov. 1. They performed extremely elaborate marching maneuvers to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," and by all reports blew the roof off the dump. A band member told me yesterday that they may perform it again this Saturday to show the Nebraska band a few things. I promise you you'll be filled with pride if you take 7:16 to watch this YouTube video of the performance. Notice the cheering from the Hawk fans at the end of the performance. Here's another YouTube video of their performance of it for the Central States Marching Festival on October 19 in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

FROM FRANK MARTIN TO ALL OF US...
November 11, 2008

K-State Fans:
If you weren't in Bramlage Coliseum on Sunday, you missed a great start to our 2008-09 season. Jacob Pullen led the team with 21 points in our 81-57 victory over Washburn, and our new guys got their first game as a Wildcat under their belt. Denis Clemente has made an immediate impact on our team — scoring 12 points and leading the team with 5 assists.

We return seven lettermen, including five who started at least one game last year. Along with our talented newcomers, they have come together as a team like no group I've coached before, and that's a special thing to witness. They're out to prove that we haven't skipped a beat since last season's NCAA tournament appearance and 3rd place finish in the Big 12.

For those of you who celebrated with us last season when we ended the streak and beat KU, you know what a special place Bramlage Coliseum can be. What I'm challenging you to do this year is to make Bramlage Coliseum the toughest arena in the country — night-in and night-out, from the first game until the last.

In order to do that, we must have people in the seats. If you can't come to a game, give your ticket to someone who wants to experience K-State Basketball first-hand, or send it back to us and we'll make sure a Fort Riley soldier takes your spot in the arena (Call 1-800-221-CATS for details on donating your tickets.)

During my time here, I've learned how special K-Staters are, and I've seen you support the team through ups and downs, wins and losses. I'm asking you to make sure your seat is filled by you, or someone else, for every game this season so that our kids have the best home court advantage in the country.

I'm looking forward to another successful K-State Basketball Season. I hope you'll be there along the way, including this Friday, November 14, as we take on Florida A&M in Bramlage at 7 P.M. Thank you for supporting us, and GO STATE!

— Head Coach Frank Martin

Former quarterback Zac Burton has an opinion piece in the Manhattan Mercury on our coaching situation. It's time for a resolution. As it stands now, the uncertainty about the state of K-State fooball is a soap opera for boys. Fans want answers. I don't predict any action until the end of the month.

WE HAVE GOT TO DO OUR JOBS
October 4, 2008

I'm on this again because someone's not listening to me. I don't know anything about football, but after 38 years I know a lot about K-State athletics. This is not about game strategy, or whether there should be personnel changes after giving up 626 yards. This is about fans.

We fans must provide absolute support to our coaches and players at games. Fan support is going down fast. This is detrimental to the motivation of our players, and the income Athletics needs to compete in the Big 12. It's sure to damage recruiting. I saw the same thing happen in men's basketball during the Asbury and Wooldridge eras. How can you recruit top players with the kind of fan support shown on regional ABC coverage today? If you don't like what's going on, write a letter with your ideas to Dr. Wefald or Bob Krause, but don't cast your vote by not showing up. Potential players and coaches need to see that even if our winning percentage is down, K-State is a great place to be, and a great place to play.

TOP SPENDERS IN SPORTS RECRUITING
August 1, 2008

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story on the expenditures on athletic recruiting. The article includes a chart which lists K-State as #5 in the nation in spending for 2006 - 07. I wonder whether that was before the ban on private aircraft that KU got put into place. K-State was the biggest spender in the Big 12, although not far above NU and UT.

I KNEW TEXAS HAD MONEY, BUT GOODNESS...
September 30, 2007

Look at this article in the American Statesman on the $107,600,000 budget of University of Texas athletics.

OK... KANSAS IS THE WHEAT STATE, BUT PLEASE...
February 2, 2007

Once again, controversy has developed over the Cat Band's playing Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll Pt. 2, or as the band sometimes calls it, Time Lords. I've never noticed it, but apparently this past year the students have substituted the item that we're going to beat out of our opponent. It's not a good choice for our younger and more conservative fans, but that's not why I called you here.

Whether at football, basketball or volleyball, every time the band plays that tune, the students stick their arms up and wave them back and forth. Stop it! Why don't our students understand that they're waving the wheat, which is a decades-old KU tradition? It makes me sick every time I see it. The bands have to stop playing that song if our students don't realize they're participating in a highly disgusting KU tradition.