The Kansas State Wildcats football program (variously K-State or KSU) is the intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference.
Historically, the team has an all-time losing record, at 585-680–42 as of the conclusion of the 2025 season. However, the program has had some stretches of winning in its history. Most recently, in 2022, the team under head coach Chris Klieman won the Big 12 Conference and appeared in its first Sugar Bowl. Under former coach Bill Snyder, Kansas State won two conference titles, finished the 1998 regular season with an undefeated (11–0) record and No. 1 national ranking, and from 1995 to 2001 appeared in the AP Poll for 108 consecutive weeks—the 16th-longest streak in college football history.
Since 1968, the team has played in Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium (formerly KSU Stadium) in Manhattan, Kansas. The Kansas State University Marching Band, also known as the Pride of Wildcat Land, performs at all home games and bowl games.
History
Early history (1893–1966) According to most sources, Kansas State's football team began play on Thanksgiving Day 1893.Kansas State University: A Pictorial History, 1863–1963 (Manhattan, Kansas: Kansas State University), 1962. A team from Kansas State defeated St. Mary's College 18–10 on that date. Other sources name Kansas State's first game as a 24–0 victory over a team from Abilene, Kansas, on November 3, 1894. However, the first official game recorded in the team's history is a 14–0 loss to Fort Riley on November 28, 1896.
In its earliest years, the program had a different coach every year—generally, a former college football player who had just graduated from college. Often, the coaches also played with the team during the games. Some of the coaches during this era include Fay Moulton (1900), who went on to win Olympic medals as a sprinter; Wade Moore (1901), who later was a successful minor league baseball manager; and Cyrus E. Dietz (1902), who became a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. The pattern changed when Mike Ahearn became the first long-term coach in 1905. Ahearn coached for six seasons, leading the team to winning records each year, and concluding in the 1910 season with a 10–1 mark. Ahearn also won two conference championships in the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, in 1909 and 1910. Ahearn was followed by Guy Lowman, who led Kansas State to another conference championship in 1912.
Kansas State accepted an invitation into the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1913. After a few years adjusting to the league's eligibility rules and a higher level of competition, the school experienced sustained success in the 1920s and 1930s. Elden Auker was part of a group of excellent athletes who attended Kansas State around the time of the Great Depression, which also included Ralph Graham, Maurice Elder, Leland Shaffer, Cookie Tackwell, Dougal Russell, Henry Cronkite, George Maddox, and Elmer Hackney. These athletes were coupled with a series of Hall of Fame coaches. The first of these coaches was Zora Clevenger, who arrived in 1916 when Kansas State essentially swapped head coaches with Tennessee. Clevenger is in the College Football Hall of Fame for his playing abilities, but he was also recognized as a brilliant coach and administrator. Clevenger was followed as football coach in 1920 by Charlie Bachman, who stayed until 1927 and earned his way into the College Football Hall of Fame with his coaching prowess. Bachman was also responsible for permanently endowing Kansas State's sports teams with the nickname of "Wildcats." His successor, Alvin "Bo" McMillin, the coach from 1928 to 1933, is also in the College Football Hall of Fame as a player, but he too was a successful coach who, after leaving Kansas State, was recognized as national collegiate coach of the year and then served as head coach for two NFL teams. After McMillin left, Kansas State hired Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf, who was also later enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.
With this combination of coaches and players, Kansas State enjoyed what would be its last streak of sustained success on the football field for 60 years. In 1931, the football team was on track for a potential bid to the Rose Bowl, the sole bowl game in the country at the time, until Ralph Graham was injured. In 1934, Kansas State won its first major conference football championship. That same year, the New York Times referred to Kansas State as "an established Middle Western leader." But then Waldorf abruptly left for Northwestern after the season, and the winning stopped. In the midst of the period, the MVIAA split up. In 1928, six of the seven state schools in the MVIAA, including Kansas State, banded together in a conference that retained the MVIAA name. This group would evolve into the Big Eight Conference. Over the next 60 years, Kansas State would experience very little success on the football field. According to longtime Wildcat radio announcer Dev Nelson, part of the problem was that Kansas State was one of the few major schools that didn't make a significant investment in its football program after World War II. Indeed, for many years the Wildcats spent far less on football—and athletics as a whole—than any Big Eight school. For example, in 1987–1988, the University of Oklahoma (the conference's second smallest school) spent $12.5 million on athletics while Kansas State spent $5.5 million. Reflective of the mid-century futility was a 28-game losing streak from 1945 to 1948, the second-longest in NCAA FBS history. Kansas State also had losing streaks of 18 and 17 games in the 1960s. In the middle of posting a 0–10 record in the 1947 season, the Kansas State program slipped below the .500 all-time winning percentage, where it has remained since. However, there were a few shining moments during these decades. (the first televised homecoming game), losing to Nebraska 25–9.
In the mid-1950s, head coach Bill Meek started to rebuild the program he took over in 1951. In 1953, Kansas State posted a 5–3–1 record, the school's first winning season since Wes Fry's 1936 team. Upon starting that season 5–1, K-State also made the school's first appearance in the top 20 polls for college football, at No. 18 in the Coaches Poll on October 28, 1953. The following year was even better, with Kansas State posting a 7–3 record and playing for an Orange Bowl berth in their final game. But Meek left Kansas State following the 1954 season, when the school refused to give raises to his assistants. Bus Mertes got his first college head coach position as the 24th head football coach for the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan, Kansas, and he held that position for five seasons, from 1955 until 1959. His coaching record at Kansas State was 15 wins, 34 losses, and 1 ties. As of completion of the 2007 season, this ranks him tenth at Kansas State in terms of total wins and 19th at Kansas State in terms of winning percentage. In seven seasons at Kansas State, Coach Doug Weaver compiled an 8–60–1 record. His final two seasons went without a win. His 1961 and 1962 teams posted a losing streak of 18 games—tied for the 20th-longest streak in college football history. Weaver's best season at K-State came in 1964, when his team went 3–7, with the three wins coming by a combined six points, but he retained his sense of humor. According to a Sports Illustrated article, after he was hanged in effigy at K-State, he said: "I'm glad it happened in front of the library. I've always emphasized scholarship." He was fired following the 1966 season. His career record was 8–60–1 including a 4–43–1 record in conference play.
Vince Gibson era (1967–1974)
In the late 1960s, coach Vince Gibson also briefly started to turn the program around. Behind sophomore quarterback Lynn Dickey, the 1968 squad earned the school's first ranking in the AP Poll and shut out the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for the school's first victory over NU in a decade. That same season, Kansas State also moved into newly built KSU Stadium, currently named The Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The 1969 season was even better. The team started 2–0 before second-ranked Penn State University arrived to play in Manhattan, Kansas. Penn State would ultimately finish the 1969 season undefeated, but Kansas State provided them with one of their toughest tests in a 17–14 game. Following the loss to Penn State, Kansas State reeled off three straight victories, including a win over defending conference champion Kansas in the first Governor's Cup game, and a 59–21 blowout of 11th-ranked Oklahoma, which was Kansas State's first win over OU since 1934. (It was also the largest loss in Oklahoma's history.) After the Oklahoma game, Kansas State sported a 5–1 record and a No. 12 national ranking in the AP Poll. This was the high point of the season, as the team lost its last four games to finish 5–5. Nevertheless, in only his third season, Gibson had dramatically improved the program.
Prior to the 1970 season, Gibson was named the pre-season national coach of the year by Playboy Magazine. The season that followed was up-and-down but ultimately disappointing despite a winning record and a second-place finish in the Big Eight. Kansas State won at Oklahoma and defeated eighth-ranked Colorado, but the season was soured by non-conference defeats and a blow-out loss to Nebraska in the final conference game of the year with the conference title on the line. The worst news of the season came on October 7, 1970, when the conference issued severe sanctions against Kansas State for recruiting violations. The Wildcats were placed on three years' probation, including a one-year ban from bowl games and live television. Gibson would never have another winning season, and left the school in 1974. He later said that the sanctions—the product of what he called an immature quarrel between himself and Jayhawks coach Pepper Rodgers—destroyed everything he'd built over his first four years.
Ellis Rainsberger era (1975–1977)
Wisconsin assistant coach Ellis Rainsberger returned to his alma mater to serve as head football coach from 1975 to 1977. He started his tenure there winning his first three games, but ultimately compiled a record of 6–27. Rainsberger left Kansas State with the program placed on probation for giving too many scholarships.
Before and after his tenure as head coach at Kansas State, Rainsberger served as an assistant coach and coach for numerous teams in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining Kansas State, he worked at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin. After leaving Kansas State, he served as the offensive coordinator for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL) and became the head coach of the Pittsburgh Maulers (USFL) midway through the 1984 season.
While at Kansas State, it was found that he had awarded scholarships to 43 players, exceeding the limits set by the NCAA, which resulted in the program being penalized. In addition, in 1977, the university received a second NCAA sanction for fielding two varsity players under different names in a junior varsity (JV) game; both incidents were widely covered in the press at the time.
By the end of his tenure at Kansas State, the team had gone three consecutive years without a win in the Big Eight Conference. Rainsberger left his position with an overall record of 6–27 and no conference victories. His time at the helm is considered one of the most challenging periods in the program’s history.
In addition to football, Rainsberger also competed on the wrestling team at Kansas State. Over the course of his career, he not only developed athletes but also worked as a professional scout in the NFL for teams such as the Tennessee Titans and the Miami Dolphins.