Good Afternoon Wildcat Nation,

It's Homecoming weekend, and we are already enjoying seeing K-State alumni rolling in for a full weekend of activities, which we'll cover in greater detail later in this letter.  But first, let's all wish K-State's men's and women's cross country teams good luck in our first Big 12 Championship of the year, tomorrow morning in Austin.
 
I do want to take a quick moment to look back at our victorious trip to West Virginia last weekend, primarily because of the numerous letters and notes I have received from our fans about how well they were treated by the host fans of the Big 12's newest member institution.  We salute President Jim Clements and AD Oliver Luck for establishing a high level of sportsmanship expectation and tone.  And, we continue to appreciate the great job K-State fans are doing to set the example for all of college athletics in how we welcome our visiting fans here at Bill Snyder Family Stadium with "The Best Fan Experience in Big 12."
 
And, it was a tremendous performance on and off the field in Milan-Puskar Stadium, with K-Staters from 22 states attending the pre-game alumni function (click here for additional alumni functions on the road) and approximately 3,500-4,000 Wildcat fans at the game, all wearing purple I might add! Thanks for your passion for the Cats!

Top stories from local and national media:

• Klein's improvement at K-State comes down to confidence (Kansas City Star)

Top stories from local and national media:

• Toughness with a twist: Weber plans to add on to program rebuilt by Huggins, Martin (Salina Journal)

Top stories from local and national media:

• Bill Snyder saved a town and a football team -- twice (Kansas City Star)
•  Klein nearly flawless in Wildcats' rout (Manhattan Mercury)

Top stories from local and national media:

• K-State's Malone plays corner with an attitude (Topeka Capital-Journal)

Good Afternoon Wildcat Nation,

Today is a historic day for K-State Athletics.  It is already a huge Wildcat weekend with our No. 7 equestrian team getting the festivities started with a Big 12 battle with Baylor this morning at Timbercreek Stables at 10 a.m.  Tomorrow we'll have the nationally-televised football edition of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown against the Jayhawks at 11 a.m. and the huge 7 p.m. Big 12 volleyball battle with Texas in Ahearn between two Top 15 teams.

And this afternoon we will have a very special and significant event as we dedicate our new state-of-the-art $18 million Basketball Training Facility for our men's and women's teams.  We are incredibly grateful to all the Ahearn Fund members who have made this completely privately funded project possible. Coupled with our tremendous home court advantage and awesome student section in Bramlage, we believe that our basketball facility environment is now as good as anyone in the country.

Our basketball student-athletes will get the first tour of their new facility early this afternoon before an invitation-only event and program wraps up the dedication.  Over the next six weeks we will also hold a public open house so that all of our great fans can see firsthand this gorgeous facility.  We appreciate the hard work of our project architects at Populous, construction manager MW Builders and members of our athletics staff in making sure this facility - to the very finest detail - is top-notch and one of the best in the country.  In the meantime, be sure and tune in to K-StateHD.TV this evening at 5:45 p.m. and watch the dedication program live.  Also check back soon for a video tour and let us know what you think!

Coach Snyder's goal No. 12 is "No Self Limitations."  Truly the Basketball Training Facility represents what can happen when all the elements of the K-State Nation come together and determine that we will indeed be a model intercollegiate athletics program!  We continue to support President Schulz's leadership and the visionary K-State 2025 program of becoming a Top 50 public research institution.  With our terrific university leadership team, faculty and staff and the support of K-Staters across the globe, K-State students will continue to have one of the best college experiences in the country!