The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as complementary colors.
Kansas State participates in the NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) and is a member of the Big 12 Conference since 1996. Previously, Kansas State competed in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference until 1912; the Big Eight Conference from 1913 to 1928; and the Big Eight Conference from 1928 to 1996 (known as the Big Six from 1928 to 1947 and the Big Seven from 1947 to 1957).
Athletics Department overview Kansas State offers fourteen sports at a varsity level. As of May 2018, Kansas State has won more than 80 conference championships through the years, not counting titles captured in the old Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (see chart below). Kansas State has not won any team NCAA championships, but has several individual national champions.
The Kansas State athletic department is one of a limited number in the United States, and the only one in Kansas, that operates with no monetary contribution from the broader academic institution. The most recent change in athletic teams offered at Kansas State occurred when the school began a women's soccer program in the fall of 2016, and discontinued women's equestrian at the conclusion of the 2015–16 season.
History Athletic competition began within the first decade after the founding of Kansas State Agricultural College in 1863, as students began organizing and playing games of baseball against locals from Manhattan. Beginning in 1890, a baseball game between the faculty and the senior class became an annual feature of graduation day.
According to most sources, intercollegiate competition began on Thanksgiving Day 1893, when Kansas State's football team defeated St. Mary's College 18–10.Kansas State University: A Pictorial History, 1863–1963 (Manhattan, Kansas: Kansas State University), 1962. A baseball match against St. Mary's College followed on May 26, 1894. (St. Mary's was a regional athletics powerhouse, whose recent graduates included baseball pioneers Charles Comiskey and Ted Sullivan.) These matches are not, however, reflected in the school's official histories, and the first official contest recorded is a 14–0 loss to Fort Riley in a football game on November 28, 1896.
By the turn of the century, Kansas State was competing in the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, along with the University of Kansas and other state schools. Adopting a more organized approach to athletics, in 1911 an "athletic committee" was created at the school to set policy and schedule contests, among other duties. On the heels of athletic success in the Kansas conference, including a 1912 football championship, Kansas State was invited to join the more prestigious Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) in 1913. In 1916 head football and basketball coach Zora Clevenger was elected the school's first official Athletic Director. Clevenger was assisted in that role by former football star Germany Schulz. In 1928, when the "Big Six" members of the MVIAA split away from the smaller schools of the Missouri Valley, Kansas State was included in its membership.
The school's commitment to athletics dipped thereafter. According to longtime Wildcat radio announcer Dev Nelson, after World War II Kansas State was one of the few major schools that didn't make a significant investment in its football program, or athletics overall. Indeed, for many years the Wildcats spent far less on athletics than any other Big Eight school. Between 1969 and 1975 the school added women's programs, but also cut four men's sports: men's swimming, wrestling, men's gymnastics and men's tennis. As recently as 1987–1988 the University of Oklahoma (the Big Eight's second smallest school) spent $12.5 million on athletics while Kansas State spent only $5.5 million. In more recent decades, however, the school has recommitted significant resources to athletics, and in 2012 it was the most profitable athletics department in the United States.
In 2012–2013, Kansas State became the second Big 12 school to win conference titles in football, men's basketball, and baseball in the same school year. 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).
Administration Athletics at Kansas State University are administered by the University's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. The department is headed by the Athletic Director.
Director Years NotesZora Clevenger 1916–1920 First athletic director, member of College Football Hall of FameMike Ahearn 1920–1947 Considered "Father of Kansas State Athletics"Thurlo McCrady 1947–1950 Larry Mullins 1951–1955 Bebe Lee 1956–1968 Member of National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of FameErnie Barrett 1969–1975 Known as "Mr. K-State"Johny "Jersey" Jermier 1976–1977 DeLoss Dodds 1978–1981 Resigned to become athletic director at the University of Texas at AustinDick Towers 1981–1985 Larry Travis 1985–1988 Steve Miller 1988–1991 Hired Bill Snyder as football coach in December 1988Milt Richards 1991–1993 Max Urick 1993–2001 Tim Weiser 2001–2008 Resigned from K-State to become the Big 12's deputy commissionerBob Krause 2008–2009 John Currie 2009–2017 Laird Veatch March–April 2017 InterimGene Taylor 2017–current
Conference membership history
1899–1913: Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association 1913–1927: Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association 1928–1947: Big 6 Conference 1948–1957: Big 7 Conference 1958–1995: Big 8 Conference 1996–present: Big 12 Conference
Sports sponsored Baseball Basketball Basketball Cross country Cross country Golf Football Rowing Golf Soccer Track and field† Tennis Track and field† Volleyball
Baseball
The Wildcats call Tointon Family Stadium home. The team's head coach is Pete Hughes.
Kansas State's baseball team officially began play in 1897. The Wildcats earned one of 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. The school's most recent championship was the Big 12 Conference regular season championship in 2013. Kansas State's best finish at the Big 12 Conference baseball tournament is a runner-up finish in the 2008 tournament.
The Wildcats have traditionally not been competitive on a national scale, but in 2009 the team made its first appearance in the NCAA tournament, and it has returned three times since. Former coach Brad Hill's teams also earned the school's first national rankings in the USA Today/ESPN Coach's Poll in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
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.
Basketball The men's and women's basketball teams play their home games in Bramlage Coliseum, nicknamed the "Octagon of Doom".
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 19 major conference crowns in the sport. The program has also appeared in 31 NCAA basketball tournaments. Kansas State lost to the University of Kentucky for the national championship in 1951, and has reached the Final Four four times, the Elite Eight 13 times, and the Sweet Sixteen 17 times. K-State has finished ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll or Coaches Poll on nine occasions (most recently in 2010), and in the final top 25 polls 21 total times. When Street & Smith's Annual listed the 100 greatest college basketball programs of all time in 2005, K-State ranked 22nd.
After a lengthy period with little success during the 1990s and 2000s, Kansas State returned to winning under head coaches Frank Martin (2007–2012) and Bruce Weber (2012–present). Following a twelve-year absence, the team was invited to the 2008 NCAA tournament, and has now appeared in the tournament 9 of the past 12 seasons. Highlights during this era include winning two Big 12 regular-season conference championships (2012–13 and 2018–19), and freshman Michael Beasley being named an All-American and Big 12 Conference Player of the Year in 2008. The 2009–10 team spent much of the year ranked in the Top 10 of the national polls and finished second in the Big 12. That team went on to advance to the Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA tournament, a feat the program repeated in 2018 and 2023.
On March 21, 2022, KSU athletic director Gene Taylor announced that Baylor associate head coach Jerome Tang had been named the new head men's basketball coach for the Wildcats, starting with the 2022–23 season.
The current men's basketball coach is Casey Alexander.
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 21 total NCAA basketball tournaments and AIAW tournaments (pre-NCAA), the second-most appearances in the Big 12 Conference. K-State has finished ranked in the Top 25 of the AP Poll twelve times, including three rankings in the Top 10 (1984, 2003, 2004). Following the 2005–2006 season, Kansas State was crowned champion of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
The current head coach is Jeff Mittie.
Football
Kansas State's football team officially began play in 1896 with a 14–0 loss to Fort Riley on November 28, 1896. The program had some shining moments in the 1920s and 1930s, but by 1989 the school was statistically the worst program in NCAA Division I with a record of 299–509–41.
Fortunes changed when Bill Snyder was hired as head coach in 1989. Success and high rankings followed, highlighted by a #1 national ranking during the 1998 season, a #1 BCS ranking in the 2012 season, and Big 12 Conference championships in 2003 and 2012. Between the years of 1993 and 2003, Snyder's teams went 109–29–1 and attended eleven straight bowl games. Additionally, from 1995 to 2001 the school appeared in the AP Poll for 108 consecutive weeks—the 15th-longest streak in college football history.
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, selected away games and all bowl games.
The current coach is Collin Klein, who succeeded Chris Klieman upon his retirement at the conclusion of the 2025 season. Through five seasons, Klieman has a record of 48-28. Klieman announced his retirement from coaching December 3, 2025 at Kansas State facilities in Manhattan.
Track and field Kansas State began competing in track and field in 1904. The team has won 23 major conference championships. Its athletes have also achieved considerable national success.
Through the end of the 2015–2016 season, K-State athletes have won individual NCAA national championships 37 times. Twenty-four Kansas State athletes have attended 15 Olympic Games, most recently at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and have won eight medals.