K-State Q&A: Ranking the best moments in a bad athletic year for the Wildcats
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State missed postseason in football and both basketball programs in 2025-26.
- Football finished 6-6, was bowl eligible, and declined a bowl invitation.
- Collin Klein and Casey Alexander were hired; Klieman retired and Tang was fired.
It has been a year to forget for Kansas State.
That is the nice way to put it.
There are dozens of mean ways to describe the 2025-26 athletic year for the Wildcats, which resulted in no bowl game for the football team and no trips to the NCAA Tournament in men’s or women’s basketball. The baseball team is also unlikely to reach a NCAA Regional.
Bad, awful, dreadful, lousy, terrible, abysmal ... Take your pick.
It’s unusual for the stars to align in such a bad way for the Wildcats. This is the first time K-State has missed the postseason in all four of those sports in two decades.
Congrats to volleyball and women’s golf for reaching the NCAA Tournament in their sports. The Wildcats weren’t shutout.
To be fair, the Wildcats were bowl eligible in football at 6-6, but they declined an invitation. But I’m not sure an appearance in the Independence Bowl would improve the big-picture outlook all that much.
The year began with a football loss to Iowa State in Dublin. It will likely end with a baseball loss in the Big 12 Tournament. No courts or fields were stormed in between. Chris Klieman retired. Jerome Tang was fired. Collin Klein and Casey Alexander have been hired to turn things around.
It will be interesting to see where the Wildcats go from here.
That seems like an excellent lead-in to our first question in this week’s edition of K-State Q&A. Let’s dive in. Thanks, as always, for your participation.
I know it’s been a rough year for the Cats, but there were still some good moments, right? For your next Q&A, how about ranking the top five. That could be fun! - Shannon B. via e-mail.
I agree, it could be fun to go back and find a few moments to celebrate in an otherwise downer year for the Wildcats.
- K-State’s blowout win over KU in football: No matter how bad things get, at least Cat fans can still count on their team in the Sunflower Showdown football rivalry. The Jayhawks entered that game as a favorite for the first time in ages, but the Wildcats won big 42-17.
- Joe Jackson’s big game at Utah: It wasn’t enough for K-State to leave Salt Lake City with a win, but it was fun to watch him rush for a school record 293 yards and three touchdowns against the Utes.
- A magical Big 12 Tournament for the K-State women: Jeff Mittie’s team played like one of the best teams in the Big 12 as it advanced all the way to the semifinals of the conference tournament in KC.
- PJ Haggerty’s huge game in KC: For one night, everything seemed just peachy for the K-State men’s basketball team when Haggerty scored a season-high 37 points and the Wildcats stomped Mississippi State 98-77 at T-Mobile Center.
- K-State volleyball wins a game in the NCAA Tournament: The volleyball team beat San Diego in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Every other team on campus was jealous of that accomplishment this year.
Collin Klein returning to his alma mater to coach the K-State football team was probably the true top moment of the year. But I left it off the list, because it had nothing to do with on-field results.
I also thought about including the trip to Dublin as one of the best five moments. K-State and Iowa State gave their fans a fun excuse to visit a foreign country. Personally, I had a blast exploring Ireland before the game. It seemed like everyone I met over there did, too. The pep rally and the moments before kickoff were electric. Everyone who crossed an ocean for the game was pumped to be there.
Losing ruined the trip for some fans, and it derailed the entire season for K-State. In hindsight, the Wildcats have to regret giving up a home game for that result. But the trip itself was awesome.
What is the breakdown of how NIL money is divided among teams at K-State? -@kstatefanfirst via X.
If you are referring to the $20.5 million that K-State is permitted to share with student-athletes every year in revenue sharing, the breakdown looks something like this:
Football gets 75% of the pie. That comes out to be around $15 million. Men’s basketball gets 20% or around $4 million. Every other sport works with significantly less money, with women’s basketball and baseball leading the way.
Some schools, like TCU, allot more money to women’s basketball than their peers. That is one of the main reasons why the Horned Frogs are suddenly so good in that sport, by the way.
Others, like Kansas, adjust the percentages to help men’s basketball.
In a perfect world, that $20.5 million would serve as a salary cap and each school would have to decide how to best spend their resources.
But no schools have been penalized for spending more than $20.5 million in an athletic year, so college athletics is actually more like the MLB with no salary cap. It has been suggested that the best football rosters could cost up to $40 million next season and the best basketball rosters checking in at $20 million.
Long story short, any competitive school is spending more than $20.5 million on student-athletes.
It’s hard to say how much K-State boosters are spending on over-the-cap payments to players. But I will say that Collin Klein and the football team aren’t struggling for support. Donors are lining up to help Klein build a winner. He has a bigger staff than his predecessor and his recruiting budget is competitive with most Big 12 teams, aside from BYU and Texas Tech.
Casey Alexander said he had to rebuild the men’s basketball team “on a budget” ahead of his first season at Bramlage Coliseum. After watching Jerome Tang lose with high-priced transfers, donors have been hesitant to keep throwing extra money at basketball.
That’s not to say Alexander has been recruiting with nickels and dimes, but his resources won’t match any of the big spenders out there.
Let’s start the Big 12 football talk! What’s the top five non conference games for the Big 12? What’s the top non conference game for K State and would it make the top 10 Big 12 non conference games? -@bfullingt1 via X.
The five best non-conference games in the Big 12:
5. North Carolina vs. TCU: The Big 12 is going back to Dublin.
4. Baylor vs. Auburn: This will be a fun Big 12/SEC showdown in Atlanta.
3. Arizona State at Texas A&M: This will be a fun Big 12/SEC showdown on campus.
2. Oregon at Oklahoma State: Last year’s game was a blood bath, but the Cowboys are a brand new team. It will also be cool to see a team like Oregon at Boone Pickens Stadium.
1. Notre Dame at BYU: This will be a great game for the Big 12. USC dropped the ball when it failed to schedule Notre Dame over the next two seasons. The Cougars took advantage with a terrific home-and-home series against the Fighting Irish.
The best non-conference game on K-State’s schedule:
Tulane at K-State: The Wildcats play three duds before Big 12 play begins in Nicholls State, Washington State and Tulane. But the Green Wave have been good in recent years, and K-State’s past two games against them were entertaining. So it’s probably the best of the bunch.
Which K-State passer can we expect to take over as QB2 behind Avery Johnson next season? -@garrettb1983 via X.
The position battle should come down to Dillon Duff and Blake Barnett.
Collin Klein said Jacob Knuth was also in the mix and that it was way too close to call a winner near the end of spring practice.
But Knuth will help K-State on special teams next season. The fact that he’s doing that suggests to me that he will not be the primary backup QB.
Barnett has more experience than Duff. But Duff generated more buzz in April.
I would consider Duff to be a small favorite at the moment. But there is a long way to go. And if Johnson stays healthy, I don’t see any other quarterbacks playing much next season.