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When Jim Wooldridge was hired as the 20th head coach in Kansas State history in 2000, he brought with him the reputation as a master of building programs. After all, he has spent his 16 years as a head coach mastering the art of building programs at places as varied as Central Missouri State, Texas State and Louisiana Tech.
Now entering his sixth season at Kansas State, Wooldridge has the Wildcat program firmly on the cusp of re-establishing itself as a significant force both in the Big 12 Conference and nationally. Wooldridge, who is currently tied with Dana Altman for the seventh-most wins in school history, has registered a 68-77 (.469) record in five years at K-State.
Armed with one of the youngest teams in the Big 12, Wooldridge guided Kansas State to its first winning season in six years in 2004-05 with a 17-12 overall mark. The Wildcats started the year with eight straight victories, which represented the best start by a squad since the 1979-80 team also started 8-0, en route to posting their best non-conference record (10-1) since 1993-94. The team went on to tally six wins over teams that advanced to the postseason, including NCAA Tournament participants Oakland and Iowa State.
A talented yet inexperienced team hit a few bumps during the Big 12 play, but rallied to post six conference wins for the third time in four seasons, including the program’s first series sweep of Missouri since the 1983-84 season. The Wildcats had a number of near misses, as seven of their 10 league losses came by 10 points or less, including two on last second shots and two in overtime. After gaining three wins in its last four conference games, K-State became the first 10-seed to win a league tournament game since 2001 with its 68-62 victory over Texas A&M. The Wildcats dropped another close affair to archrival Kansas to mark their third appearance in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Wooldridge’s five seasons as head coach.
Kansas State continued its stellar play at Bramlage Coliseum under Wooldridge in 2004-05, tying for the second-most home wins since the program moved to the building in 1988-89. The 13 wins tied the 1992 and 1994 squads for the second-most wins, trailing just the 14 tallied by the 1999 team. The Wildcats, which posted its 59th consecutive home winning season this past season, has won 10 or more home games in each of the last four seasons under Wooldridge, which is the most in a four-year period since the team won 52 from 1980-84. Wooldridge has a 56-26 (.683) mark in five seasons at home.
To go along with their stellar home season, Wooldridge’s Wildcats also set attendance marks in the past year, posting its highest total attendance (135,176) since the 1998-99 season and the highest average (7,510) since the 1999-2000 season. In addition, the team drew the third-highest Big 12 home attendance average in school history with an average of 9,641 for its eight league contests.
Youth Movement
The successful season came with one of the youngest teams in the Big 12, as just one senior Jeremiah Massey was joined in the lineup by three sophomores and one true freshman. Over 60 percent of the team’s minutes (67%), field goal attempts (60%), points scored (61%) and steals (69%) were tallied by freshmen and sophomores in 2004-05, while over 70 percent of the assists (78%) and over 90 percent of the three-point field goals (96%) came from these underclassmen. The sophomore trio of Lance Harris, Cartier Martin and Fred Peete blossomed into one of top scoring trios in school history. The three combined to average 33.9 points, which was the highest by three underclassmen since the 1978-79 season, while becoming the first group of underclassmen to each average at least 9.0 points in the same season. True freshman point guard Clent Stewart broke not only the school’s freshman assist record (116), but also became the first freshman in school history to start every game of a season.
Not to be overlooked, Massey became the most acclaimed player of the Wooldridge era in 2004-05. One of only three players to rank among the Big 12’s top 10 in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage, was named to both the coaches as well as The Associated Press’ All-Big 12 second team. A two-time recipient of the Big 12’s Player of the Week honor, Massey became just the third Wildcat since the inception of the Big 12 to be named to one of the three all-conference squads by both the coaches and media. One of the top transfers in school history, Massey’s 931 career points are the fifth-highest by a two-year player and the most since Mitch Richmond scored 1,327 points from 1987-88, while his 16.3 career scoring average ranks sixth among two-year players.
The core of this past year’s squad was the basis for three consecutive national top-25 recruiting classes, including the top-ranked class in 2002-03 by Hoop Scoop magazine.
However, the progress Kansas State showed in 2004-05 was nothing new for Wooldridge, whose approach to coaching has always centered on improvement. It’s a philosophy that served him well in his three previous head-coaching assignments prior to arriving in Manhattan and it’s now beginning to pay big dividends at K-State.
Building On Success
Although plagued by numerous injuries, Wooldridge posted his first non-losing season in 2003-04. The Wildcats posted a 14-14 overall record, including a 6-10 mark in Big 12 play good enough for a ninth place finish. Although a .500 record doesn’t seem flashy, both his 14 overall wins and six league victories were the most by a Wildcat team since the 1998-99 season.
Kansas State capped the 2003-04 regular season with an exclamation point with its first victory over a top-10 opponent since 2002, as the Wildcats upset No. 10 Texas before a nationally-televised audience on ESPN. Under Wooldridge, the Wildcats have now upset five ranked teams, including at least one each of the past four seasons. K-State was close in many games, as 10 of the team’s 14 losses came by a grand total of 58 points.
Although the team did not improve their win total for the first time under Wooldridge in 2002-03, the Wildcats battled night-in and night-out in arguably the nation’s best conference. Of the team’s 12 losses in league play, nine came by 10 points or less, including a two-point overtime setback to eventual Elite Eight participant Oklahoma. The Wildcats beat five teams that advanced to the postseason, including NCAA Tournament participant Colorado and NIT Final Four participant Texas Tech.
After leading the Cats to an 11-18 record in his inaugural season in Manhattan, Wooldridge avoided the dreaded sophomore slump by guiding K-State to a 13-16 mark in 2001-02 that included a sparkling 6-2 ledger in Big 12 home games. During that season, he helped the Wildcats equal their conference win total for the two previous years combined en route to a seventh-place finish that was Kansas State’s best of the Big 12 era. Included among K-State’s victims were No. 9 Oklahoma State the Wildcats’ first win over a Top 10 team since 1994 and Sweet 16 participant Texas.
Now in his fourth collegiate coaching assignment, Wooldridge, who is 297-224 (.570) in 18 years as a head coach, has been successful in each of his three prior stops and is well on his way to returning K-State basketball to the upper echelon of the Big 12.
NBA Experience
The energetic Wooldridge came to Kansas State from the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, where he served two seasons as an assistant coach under Tim Floyd, a two-time NBA head coach and his college teammate. As Floyd’s assistant, Wooldridge was instrumental in the development of some of the top young NBA players, including 1999-2000 Co-Rookie of the Year Elton Brand and Ron Artest, who earned All-Rookie team honors in 1999-2000.
The first assistant coach hired following Floyd’s announcement as the Bulls’ head coach in 1998, Wooldridge was considered the staff authority on the triangle offense after teaching it as a head coach at Louisiana Tech and throughout his career. Much of his knowledge of the triangle offense, which was the offense run by the Chicago Bulls during their championship run in the 1990s, stems from his relationship with Tex Winter. The winningest coach (by percentage) in K-State basketball history, Winter served as assistant coach on nine NBA Championships teams (six with Chicago; three with Los Angeles) and was an assistant coach under Floyd for one season with the Bulls (1998-99).
The Winter-Wooldridge connection goes back several years. Wooldridge was an assistant to Lynn Nance at Central Missouri State (1982-85), while Nance was a former assistant coach under Winter at Washington. Nance is also a disciple of the triangle offense.
A College Coach at Heart
Prior to his two-year NBA stint, Wooldridge made his mark serving as a collegiate coach for 26 seasons, including the last 18 as a head coach. All his teams have been characterized by teamwork, hard-nosed defense and rebounding traits he has continued to instill at K-State.
Wooldridge spent four seasons (1994-98) at his alma mater, Louisiana Tech, before his tenure with the Bulls. Taking over a program that had won just nine games the previous two years combined, Wooldridge guided the Bulldogs to a pair of winning seasons in his first three seasons, including a 14-13 record his first campaign. That first year was a remarkable improvement considering Louisiana Tech was coming off NCAA probation and a 2-25 record the previous season (1993-94). Even more impressive was the fact that the Bulldogs posted a .500 conference slate (9-9) in Wooldridge’s inaugural season, after going winless in Sun Belt play the year before (0-18).
Wooldridge nearly led the Bulldogs to their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance two years later. In 1997-98, the still-rebuilding Bulldogs posted a 10-8 conference mark en route to a 15-14 overall record, the most wins by a Louisiana Tech squad since the 1991-92 season. Wooldridge’s team, led by all-conference guard Lonnie Cooper and Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, Derek Smith, advanced to the finals of the conference tournament where it dropped a one-point heartbreaker to South Alabama, which went on to represent the league in the NCAA Tournament that season.
Wooldridge’s steady climb through the collegiate coaching ranks began as a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech. Following his playing days, which saw him play on a Southland Conference Championship team (1975-76) and earn the team’s top defensive player award twice, the 1977 Louisiana Tech graduate spent one more season on the Bulldog bench.
His work as a graduate assistant at the Ruston, La., school earned Wooldridge his first full-time coaching post at East Central University (Ada, Okla.) in 1978. As an assistant coach at the Division II school, he helped the Tigers capture three Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference championships.
Successful climb begins at CMSU
Wooldridge then began a successful nine-year association with Central Missouri State, including serving the final six seasons as the Fighting Mules’ head coach. Before ascending to head coach, Wooldridge served as Lynne Nance’s top assistant for three seasons. Along with his duties on the bench, he also had the primary staff responsibility for recruiting. During those three seasons, the Mules compiled a 74-17 (.813) record and won the 1984 NCAA Division II national championship. They also won the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association title that season and were co-champions the following year.
Named head coach of CMSU in April of 1985, Wooldridge kept the Mules competing at a high level throughout his six-year tenure as head coach. In his first three years at the helm, Central Missouri finished among the top three in the MIAA regular-season standings, including a 20-8 campaign in 1986-87, and advanced to the league playoffs in each of those years. That was only the beginning of a superb run, which saw the Mules reach the NCAA Tournament and post 22-plus victories for three straight seasons.
Following a 22-9 season, Wooldridge’s CMSU squad posted a 27-6 mark in 1989-90, the second-most wins in school history. Only the 29-3 national championship team of 1984 won more games. After finishing second in the league tourney in 1990, the Mules advanced to the NCAA West Regional Final, where they lost by four points to eventual national runner-up Cal State Bakersfield.
In 1990-91, Central Missouri continued its postseason success by again advancing to the finals of the NCAA West Regional after posting a 27-5 record and a 13-3 slate in the MIAA. Wooldridge ended his CMSU career as only the fourth coach in Mules’ history to win more than 100 games (131-48), with only Nance reaching that plateau faster.
Wooldridge is also the only coach in CMSU history to record back-to-back 25-win seasons (1989-90 and 1990-91). For his efforts, Wooldridge was inducted into the Central Missouri State Athletic Hall of Fame on February 28, 2004.
A Chance to Coach at Division I
Wooldridge’s success at CMSU translated into the opportunity to coach at the Division I level for the first time in his career. In 1991, he became head coach at Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State) in San Marcos, Texas.
Taking over a program that had suffered through seven straight sub-.500 seasons, Wooldridge had Texas State above the .500 mark in just his second season. That 14-13 mark in 1992-93 would be a precursor of greater things to come. The following year, 1993-94, would be one of the best seasons in school history. He led the Bobcats to a 25-7 record, including a 14-4 mark in the Southland Conference.
Sparked by a pair of All-Conference performers, Lynwood Wade and Russell Ponds, TSU captured the Southland postseason tournament title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It marked the Bobcats’ first trip to the “Big Dance” in school history and their 25 wins were the fourth-most at TSU.
Despite a first-round exit to nationally-ranked Massachusetts in the NCAA Tourney, Wooldridge had the Bobcats headed in the right direction. That improvement triggered a coaching opportunity that would be difficult to ignore. Following his success in reviving TSU, Louisiana Tech called with the chance to return to his alma mater as head coach and he accepted the offer to guide the Bulldog program beginning with the 1994-95 season.
Ironically, current K-State associate head coach Mike Miller took over for Wooldridge upon his departure from TSU and led the Bobcats back to the NCAA Tournament three years later. Miller was the first addition to Wooldridge’s staff at Kansas State.
Personal
A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., Wooldridge played on Putnam City High School’s class 4A state championship team in 1972. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Louisiana Tech in 1977, he earned a master’s degree in education from East Central University in 1979. Wooldridge and his wife, Ann, have two children: Jamie (21) and Eric (14).
Wooldridge Year-By-Year Coaching Record
Assistant Coaching Record
Conf Conf
Year School W-L W-L Finish
1977-78 Louisiana Tech 6-21 2-8 T-5th
1978-79 East Central State 7-21 2-6 4th
1979-80 East Central State 19-10 5-3 T-1st
1980-81 East Central State 19-11 5-3 1st
1981-82 East Central State 18-9 6-2 1st
1982-83 Central Missouri State 23-7 9-3 2nd*
1983-84 Central Missouri State 29-3 11-1 1st**
1984-85 Central Missouri State 22-7 9-3 1st*
1998-99 Chicago Bulls (NBA) 13-37 -- 8th
1999-00 Chicago Bulls (NBA) 17-65 -- 8th
Head Coaching Record
Conf Conf
Year School W-L W-L Finish
1985-86 Central Missouri State 17-10 9-3 2nd
1986-87 Central Missouri State 20-8 8-6 3rd
1987-88 Central Missouri State 18-10 8-6 4th
1988-89 Central Missouri State 22-9 8-6 4th*
1989-90 Central Missouri State 27-6 12-4 2nd*
1990-91 Central Missouri State 27-5 13-3 T-2nd*
1991-92 Texas State 7-20 4-14 8th
1992-93 Texas State 14-13 9-9 5th
1993-94 Texas State 25-7 14-4 2nd^
1994-95 Louisiana Tech 14-13 9-9 T-5th
1995-96 Louisiana Tech 11-17 6-12 T-9th
1996-97 Louisiana Tech 15-14 10-8 T-4th
1997-98 Louisiana Tech 12-15 9-9 T-5th
2000-01 Kansas State 11-18 4-12 10th
2001-02 Kansas State 13-16 6-10 T-7th
2002-03 Kansas State 13-17 4-12 11th
2003-04 Kansas State 14-14 6-10 T-9th
2004-05 Kansas State 17-12 6-10 10th
*NCAA Division II Tournament
**NCAA Division II National Champions
^NCAA Division I Tournament
Coaching Records
Overall 297-224 (.570)
At Central Missouri 131-48 (.732)
At Texas State 46-40 (.535)
At Louisiana Tech 52-59 (.468)
At Kansas State 68-77 (.469)
Kansas State Breakdown
Home 56-26 (.683)
Away 7-44 (.137)
Neutral 5-7 (.417)
Non-Conference 39-18 (.684)
Big 12 Conference 26-54 (.325)
Ranked Teams 5-31 (.139)
Non-Ranked Teams 63-46 (.578)
Big 12 Tournament 3-5 (.375)
Overtime Record 2-5 (.286)
K-State’s All-Time Winningest Coaches
1. Jack Hartman (1970-86) 295-169
2. Tex Winter (1954-68) 262-117
3. Jack Gardner (1939-42; 46-53) 147-81
4. Charles Corsaut (1923-33) 90-80
5. Tom Asbury (1994-2000) 85-88
6. Lon Kruger (1986-90) 81-47
7. Jim Wooldridge (2000-) 68-77
Dana Altman (1990-94) 68-54
9. Z.G. Clevenger (1916-20) 54-17
10. Frank Root (1933-39) 38-72
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