New Kansas State A.D. Gene Taylor: ‘I have done my research on this place for a long time’

This is what Gene Taylor had in mind three years ago, when he left the job he was best known for.

He was North Dakota State’s athletic director back then, and his approval rating was untouchable. Under his guidance, the Bison successfully made the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I and built a FCS football juggernaut that won three consecutive national championships. He had worked there for 13 years and he could have stayed and remained popular until the day he retired.

But he left it all behind in 2014 to become deputy athletic director at Iowa, a downward move in title and an upward move in employer. Why? He aspired to be an athletic director for a power-conference school, and he didn’t think he could get that type of job without first working for one.

“I had aspirations to be a power-five athletic director,” Taylor said. “But as opportunities came up, I really wasn’t getting the opportunity to sit at the table for interviews, even with the success we had at North Dakota State.”

In essence, he took a gamble. And he’s glad he did. He’s not sure Kansas State would have considered him to replace John Currie had he followed a different path.

“If I wanted to stand here before a group like this today,” he said, “I wasn’t going to do it unless I made that move to Iowa.”

Taylor was formally introduced as Kansas State’s athletic director on Monday. President Richard Myers gave him a purple blazer, and a room filled with K-State staff applauded his arrival.

It was a moment he had dreamed about for many years, going back to his time with North Dakota State when he traveled to Bramlage Coliseum for a basketball game in 2006. He thought Manhattan was a special place. But he thought even higher of K-State when he returned for a football game in 2013, which the Bison dramatically won 24-21 on a touchdown drive in the final minute.

He loved the atmosphere at Snyder Family Stadium, the facility improvements, the passionate fan base, even the weather.

“I have done my research on this place for a long time,” Taylor said. “I told myself if John Currie were to ever leave, I was going to do everything I can to put myself in a position to get this opportunity.”

Opportunity became reality last week.

K-State hired Taylor on Friday and he arrived in Manhattan on Monday for a whirlwind of introductions. He will officially begin working for the Wildcats on May 1.

Taylor will earn $450,000 in the first of a five-year contract, with raises scheduled for $50,000 each year. He receives a $250,000 bonus at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

“This is a dream come true,” Taylor said. “I had goals of mine when I first started in this business to have an opportunity to be at a power-five institution as a director of athletics. To be able to be at a place like Kansas State is very special.”

Myers said he selected Taylor over a diverse pool of applicants that exceeded his expectations for the opening.

Currie, now the athletic director at Tennessee, had been K-State’s AD since 2009. Taylor had applied for the opening back then but wasn’t considered.

“His success at North Dakota State and the success he has had at Iowa, working as the deputy, stood out for me,” Myers said. “But more than the resume, it’s his humility, his ability and the seriousness with which he takes relationships. Those are the things that stood out. I feel he is a good fit for me and a good fit for the department.”

Taylor arrives at K-State with a history of winning. He hired successful coaches in football (Wyoming coach Craig Bohl) and basketball (Nebraska coach Tim Miles and Ohio coach Saul Phillips) at North Dakota State. Then he helped Iowa maintain what it had built.

He is known as an administrator who builds strong relationships with student-athletes and coaches. Among his first priorities will be meeting as many of both as he can at K-State and listening to them and their ideas for improving the athletic department. The odds of him making any major decisions without the input of his experienced staff are low. He described making decisions totally on his own as unfair.

“The greatest thrill I have as an athletic director is watching our young people prepare and work extremely hard and then go out on those fields of competition and have success,” Taylor said. “Even when they don’t have success, to be there for them if they have a tough game or a serious injury to be there for them is a thrill.”

One challenge he may eventually encounter: hiring a replacement for football coach Bill Snyder.

Myers asked Taylor about his hiring methods during the interview process and was impressed by his ability to adapt based on the circumstances surrounding every job.

“I was looking for somebody that was not so locked into a method that he couldn’t be flexible,” Myers said. “I think intellectual agility, when it comes to that, is important.”

When asked specifically about K-State football beyond Snyder, 77, Taylor shifted the topic of conversation.

“I haven’t really thought about it much, because I just want to enjoy working with him,” Taylor said. “I hope it’s going to be a long time. Did it come up? Yeah, someday you are going to have to replace the guy whose statue is outside the stadium. I get that. But I don’t even want to think about that right now.”

He is more focused on what he can do to help Snyder win next season. Taylor said he is most eager to help the Wildcats compete for Big 12 championships and deep postseason runs, the same way he did at North Dakota State.

“You are here to win Big 12 championships and to compete for NCAA championships,” Taylor said. “I am going to do everything can to support that.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 1:13 PM with the headline "New Kansas State A.D. Gene Taylor: ‘I have done my research on this place for a long time’."