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Previously
As covered by our own AMS, Offensive Coordinator Dana Dimel will be leaving the Wildcat football program to take over the head coach position at the University of Texas-El Paso. Dimel has served at K-State off and on since the late 1980’s, after his playing career as a Wildcat ended, but has been the o-coordinator since Bill Snyder’s return in 2009.
This will be Dimel’s third head coaching gig, with previous assignments at Wyoming and Houston. He only went 8-26 during his time at Houston, from 2000-2002, but had to completely rebuild the program, and many credit Dimel with the quick success Art Briles found in his first couple seasons after replacing Dimel.
Dimel is expected to coach at K-State through the Cactus Bowl before leaving for El Paso (Robinett, Eagle).
Bret Bloomquist at the El Paso Times has coverage from the Miners viewpoint. And Alex Nichols at SBNation’s Miner Rush has the news of the hire, as well as his take on the “safe route” hire.
Football
In other news, Will Geary and Dalton Risner have been named First-Team All-American’s by Pro Football Focus, who makes their picks via cumulative season performance-based grades instead of voters (Robinett, Eagle). Geary and Risner were previously honored by PFF on their First Team All-Big 12 team, where Geary recorded the highest grade on defense.
Congratulations to the 2017 PFF All-American 1st Team Defense pic.twitter.com/77eGJzxz1p
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 6, 2017
Congratulations to the 2017 PFF All-American 1st Team Offense pic.twitter.com/BRP2uyvx1o
— PFF College Football (@PFF_College) December 6, 2017
Women’s Basketball
The K-State women hosted UT-Arlington on Wednesday night, and the game was closer than the final score would indicate. The MittieCats beat the Mavericks to the tune of 70-56, but the Wildcats struggled in the first half, shooting a balmy 14% in the first quarter, before Kayla Goth’s K-State record 18 points in the third quarter pushed the Wildcats ahead for good (the record is for points in a quarter). Goth was joined in double-figures by Kaylee Paige, with 12, and Cymone Goodrich, who had ten points off the bench.
The Cats improved to 6-2 on the season, and now have a little over a week off to focus on finals before getting back in action against Arkansas-Little Rock on December 16th at Bramlage Coliseum.