Kansas State AD Gene Taylor celebrated Cats’ Big 12 football championship in unique way
Gene Taylor is usually one of the first people waiting to congratulate Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman after a big win. He gave Klieman a bear hug in the end zone following the coach’s first victory with the Wildcats in 2019 and he kept on showing him love as the Wildcats earned a berth in the Big 12 championship game this season.
But Taylor was nowhere to be found after K-State defeated TCU on Saturday and celebrated its first conference title in a decade at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
No bear hug. No high five. No silent nod of appreciation.
The best Kansas State’s athletic director could do after that big win was tell Klieman congratulations via FaceTime while he was sequestered in a DFW hotel as a member of the College Football Playoff selection committee.
Taylor had no choice but to celebrate this win a little differently.
“After the game was over I walked into the committee room and put my arms up,” Taylor said. “Then I yelled, ‘Go Cats!’ Or maybe it was, ‘How bout them Cats!’ Something like that. Then everyone starting cheering. You get to know these guys pretty well and we root for each other. That was pretty cool.”
Still, it was a strange day for Taylor. During his six years with the Wildcats, Taylor said he had previously missed only two other K-State football games. But neither of them were anywhere near as meaningful as a Big 12 championship.
This time he also felt so close, yet so far away from the game. His hotel was in the same Metroplex as AT&T Stadium, but he wasn’t allowed to attend the game because he had to help the selection committee sort out the final playoff rankings, which were released on Sunday.
The committee did let him bend the rules a little, though. Instead of forcing Taylor to watch the game alongside the rest of the playoff team, which would require him to suppress his emotions during the biggest K-State game of the season, CFP executive director Bill Hancock gave Taylor permission to watch on his own in his hotel room.
“I told him beforehand, ‘Bill, this is going to be really hard for me,’” Taylor said. “Bill just said, ‘Gene, go to your room. It’s fine. You will be able to see all the other games.’ The committee members all understood. Fortunately, I was able to watch in my own room and let my emotions run free.”
Taylor said it was a totally different experience watching a K-State football game live on TV for the first time. He missed being able to gauge the emotions of K-State players on the sideline, but he enjoyed listening to the ABC announcing team of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit speak fondly of the Wildcats for three-plus hours.
He also got a kick out of watching his phone light up like a Christmas tree after K-State won 31-28 in overtime on a last-second field goal from Ty Zentner. He had never received so many calls and text messages in such a short time before.
That being said, he has no plans of making that a tradition for superstitious reasons.
“I just felt weird not being there,” Taylor said. “It was different. I hope that it doesn’t happen again anytime soon.”
The main reason why: He wasn’t there to congratulate Klieman, his coaching staff and the players who put in so much hard work to win a championship this season.
Taylor and Klieman share a special bond.
It was Taylor who promoted Klieman to head coach when they were both at North Dakota State, and Klieman took advantage of the opportunity by winning four FCS championships. Then Taylor hired Klieman to replace Bill Snyder at K-State. That move was not initially well received by fans, but there aren’t many doubters now that Klieman has led the Wildcats to three bowls and one conference championship in four years.
Working proactively to keep Klieman and his coaching staff comfortable in Manhattan, potentially with raises and new contracts, for years to come will be a priority this offseason, Taylor said.
This is the kind of success Taylor envisioned for K-State football when he hired Klieman.
“I’m happy for Chris, because people doubted him,” Taylor said. “I knew he could come in here and build a program. He just validated the fact that I knew that. I don’t worry too much about outside noise, but every once in a while I do catch myself going, ‘Yep, I told you so.’ That thought may have crossed my mind on Saturday while I was in my hotel room.”