AD Taylor answers key questions

This Monday brings a mish-mash of Kansas State news and notes...

Baseball

But first things first. The BatCats are winning!

The baseball season got off to a 0-3 terrible start, but Kansas State has steadily picked up the pace, and this weekend, the Wildcats managed their first sweep of an opponent this season. Yesterday afternoon in the familiar confines of Tointon Family Stadium, Kansas State beat LaSalle 5-1 to wrap up the series, the first between these two teams.

Starter Justin Heskett got his first win of the season after pitching nearly eight innings without allowing an earned run. For the batters, Justin Maxson did the most damage with a two-run homer in the eighth that sealed victory for the Wildcats. This was his first career home run.

Up next, the BatCats will host Incarnate Word for a two-game set starting on Tuesday evening.

Basketball

On Saturday, the Wildcats thumped Baylor 77-67 to earn a fourth seed in the Big 12 Tournament and essentially guarantee an NCAA Tournament bid.

It was also Senior Day for a team with just one senior. The team played especially hard so that senior walk-on Mason Schoen would have his moment. With 28 seconds left to play, Schoen got on the floor to cap off an extraordinary college journey that began at the rec center and ended with him in a Kansas State uniform.

Over time, Schoen has become something of a player-coach and hopes to land a gig as a graduate assistant soon.

Football (but also other stuff)

Over the weekend, athletic director Gene Taylor answered a number of questions about the athletic department, but primarily focused on the future of both Bruce Weber and Bill Snyder at Kansas State.

Weber, you may recall, received an extension through 2021 last August. Fans remain conflicted about Weber who has gone 121-78 overall in Manhattan but just 55-53 in the Big 12. AD Taylor is, however, impressed with what the team has accomplished this season despite its relative youth, and more importantly, he appreciates that Weber is doing things the right way in a particularly fraught climate of scandal and corruption in college basketball:

With what is going on in the world of college basketball I couldn’t be more proud of Bruce and his coaches and these kids. They do everything you want them to do, both on the court and off the court. To have somebody like that and to have a program like that, we are pretty lucky.

So, kids, I think it’s pretty clear that Bruce Weber is not going anywhere for a long while. Whether this is good news or bad probably turns on how you feel about Weber.

As for the other elephant in the Kansas State athletic department, AD Taylor notes that Bill Snyder has a rolling contract that essentially renews every year. However, his salary remains to be renegotiated. Snyder had apparently requested that his new-ish staff be in place and have their contracts finalized before working out Snyder’s new salary terms. For now, Snyder’s salary remains at $1.89 million.

Taylor is currently at work on a master plan for future facilities projects at Kansas State. In the immediate offing is a new baseball and soccer facility. The school has raised $13 million for this effort, and groundbreaking is scheduled for May 11.

Wildcats (possibly) in the NFL

Former Kansas State wide receiver Byron Pringle put on a bit of a show at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. He ran a 4.46 40-yard dash, 10th best among the 37 receivers in the field, although he was only middle of the pack in the bench press and and vertical jump. Still, a mostly solid day could help Pringle get drafted early on the second day.

For Pringle, the bigger questions are probably around his off-field activities before he arrived in Manhattan, which included a series of crimes ranging from burglary and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon to grand theft. But Pringle claims he’s a changed man and the fact that he’s stayed out of trouble at Kansas State may well work in his favor.

Speaking of wide receivers in the NFL Draft, Spencer Hall has the right idea.

Miscellany

University president Richard Myers sat down with the Collegian for a Q&A session. He says the K-State 2025 Initiative is still important and the university remains on target. But the biggest problems facing the institution are declining enrollment and lack of financial support from the state.

He also spoke a little on campus culture, and the recent appearance of white supremacist posters and leaflets:

They shouldn’t turn us upside down just because somebody put something up like that. We should treat them just like the Westboro Baptist Church. Bad idea, bad philosophy, not very appropriate to us, thank you very much and move on with life and not all duck for cover because that’s just part of life. We’ve got to make ourselves resilient to that and then promote the kind of culture we want here at K-State. That does not define us.

Happy Monday, all (she said, as the snownami raged around her). Stay warm!