Kansas State University Athletics

Basketball (M) Coaching

Basketball (M) Coaching

Men's Basketball Coaching History

Through the years, Kansas State's coaching ledger has read like a who's who of great basketball minds. The nine coaches listed below coached the Wildcats in Ahearn Field House and Bramlage Coliseum. Their predecessors laid the foundation for K-State basketball, however these individuals are widely recognized for the school's most successful hoop years - the post World War II era.


Jack Gardner

1939-42, 1946-53 (147-81)

Jack Gardner had great numbers, great teams and great results. That is why he is enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame, basketball's highest reward. It's also the reason that he is often credited with beginning the great basketball tradition that exists at Kansas State today. Simply stated, he got it all started. Interestingly, he is the only coach in school history to hold the top position on two different occasions. His second stint at the school resulted in some of the best basketball ever played in Manhattan.

Entering the 1946-47 season the team hadn't finished above the .500 mark for 15 years, but Gardner, renowned for his tactical prowess, rallied the purple and white to a 14-10 season in the initial season of his second go-around. The 1950-51 team would soar to a 25-4 record and a second place finish in the NCAA Tournament. Gardner's teams won a total of three conference crowns in seven years and captured two Big Eight Holiday Tournament championships, in addition to finishing the season ranked in the Top 20 on two occasions.

Aside from his on-the-court accomplishments, Gardner is remembered as a driving force behind the construction of Ahearn Field House. His successful teams of the late ‘40s drove basketball fans in these parts into a frenzy, and tickets were as rare as the losses. After nearly a decade of trying to persuade state legislators that a new facility was needed, the new arena became a reality.

Gardner, a native of New Mexico and a graduate of the University of Southern California, responded with the 1950-51 team which was arguably the best in K-State history and one of two that would go to the Final Four during his tenure (the other was in 1948).

Gardner left Manhattan in 1953 to take over the head coaching reins at the University of Utah, where he remained for 18 years. He led the Utes to six appearances in the NCAA Tournament and two Final Four appearances. He finished his career in Salt Lake City with a 339-154 record while winning seven conference titles. Between 1959 and 1962, his teams accumulated a 515 record. Again, Gardner was again partially responsible for the construction of a new basketball facility at Utah.

Gardner, who was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, has been inducted into 10 different Hall of Fames. He is also a member of the Southern Utah Hall of Fame, Utah All-Sports Hall of Fame, State of Utah Basketball Hall of Fame, Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Helms Foundation Hall of Fame, Kansas State University Hall of Fame, the Crimson Club (University of Utah), the Modesto (Calif.) Junior College Hall of Fame and the Redlands (Calif.) High School Hall of Fame. He was also the recipient of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Golden Anniversary Award.

Gardner worked as a consultant for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association from 1979 (when the team moved from New Orleans) until 1991. Gardner, who passed away on April 9, 2000, is credited with discovering John Stockton at Gonzaga while working for the Jazz.


Fred "Tex" Winter

1954-68 (261-118)

Fred "Tex" Winter was an assistant coach during Jack Gardner's glory years. He was a natural to succeed his mentor, although the early years were tough. So tough, in fact, that at one point signs sprouted saying, "Spring is here, Winter must go." Fortunately, Winter stayed, and it was a "long, hard Winter" for K-State opponents for 15 years. Winter earned a reputation as one of the most creative offensive coaches in the land.

Winter owns the best winning percentage of any Kansas State coach, and also laid claim to more league titles (eight) than any other Wildcat coach. He would lead the school to post-season play seven times, including six trips to the NCAA Tournament. Kansas State won the Big Eight Holiday Tournament four times under his leadership, and achieved top 20 finishes four times. Eleven K-Staters achieved all-league honors under Winter, and two (Jack Parr and Bob Boozer) were All-Americans.

There were several outstanding teams under Winter, two of which made appearances at the Final Four. Spearheaded by the play of Bob Boozer, the 1958 team advanced all the way to the semifinals, before being upended. Then, in 1964, the Wildcats charged back to the Final Four, finally being eliminated by UCLA, 90-84.

Winter, a native of Huntington Park, Calif., began his coaching career at Marquette University from 1947-51. Like Gardner, Winter graduated from the University of Southern California, although he attended Oregon State prior to fulfilling a military commitment. A fine all-around athlete, he was an All-America pole vaulter at USC.

When Winter departed Manhattan in 1968, he assumed the head coaching chores at the University of Washington, before spending two years with the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association.

From there, it was on to Long Beach State University as the head coach. He later served as an assistant coach at LSU before taking the job as an assistant coach under Phil Jackson with the Chicago Bulls, winners of three consecutive NBA titles from 1991-93, and again from 1996-98. Following the Bulls sixth championship, Winter served as an assistant with former Wildcat head coach Jim Wooldridge under the direction of Tim Floyd. He then followed Jackson to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1999 and they went on to capture the NBA title in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He retired from the coaching ranks prior to the 2008-09 season.


Lowell "Cotton" Fitzsimmons

1968-70 (34-20)

Cotton Fitzsimmons and Tex Winter had at least three things in common. Neither used their given first name (Fitzsimmons' real name is Lowell), both took over the head coaching job at Kansas State after serving as an assistant and both are remembered for a coaching style marked by personality and winning ways.

Fitzsimmons was a menace in the Big Eight Conference in his two years. He finished second in his initial campaign, then won the league crown in his second and final season. That second team eclipsed the 20-win mark, made a trip to the NCAA Tournament and earned Fitzsimmons Big Eight Coach-of-the-Year honors.

Fitzsimmons was colorful, literally. He became the only coach to ever add a third color to the uniforms, when he attached a gold trim during his stay. Of a less literal, Fitzsimmons' style drew attention, too. His first team finished 14-12, but that 1968-69 squad averaged more fans (12,166 per game) than any team in pre-Bramlage Coliseum history.

A native of Hannibal, Mo., he began his coaching career at Moberly (Mo.) Junior College, where he compiled a 224-58 record and won two national titles. He was twice named the National Junior College Coach of the Year.

After leaving K-State, Fitzsimmons became the head coach of the Kansas City Kings of the National Basketball Association. During his 20-year coaching career that began in 1970, he compiled a record of 832-775 (.518), finishing his career sixth on the NBA all-time victory list and as a two-time NBA Coach of the Year.


Jack Hartman

1970-86 (294-170)

Shrewd, calculating and intense all describe the winningest coach in Kansas State history. Jack Hartman endeared himself to K-Staters for a number of reasons, but none more memorable than his ability to take seemingly less talented teams and consistently come out on the winning side of the ledger.

Hartman led Kansas State to three Big Eight titles, two Big Eight Tourneys and nine postseason appearances. He saw the ‘Cats register 20 or more wins seven times. He was honored as National Coach-of-the-Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches after a storybook 1981 season. That year, the Wildcats charged into the NCAA West Regional Finals on the strength of upset wins over San Francisco, Illinois and second-ranked Oregon State.

In 23 years of coaching at the Division I level (the other seven at Southern Illinois), Hartman was 439-233. Throw in seven years of junior college coaching at Coffeyville (Kan.) and you get an incredible record of 589-279.

In fact, Hartman was the last coach to take a junior college team through an entire season undefeated, including the national championship. His 1962 team accomplished that feat at 32-0.

Hartman coached a number of future pros. While at Southern Illinois, he tutored Walt Frazier, and at Kansas State, he produced players like Mike Evans, Rolando Blackman and Ed Nealy. In addition, he was the head coach for the United States at the 1983 Pan American Games, and led the Americans to the gold medal.

A two-sport star while in college at Oklahoma State, Hartman actually played professionally on the gridiron. After garnering All-Missouri Valley honors as OSU's quarterback, he played for Saskatchewan in the CFL. He was also an outstanding basketball player, and played for the incomparable Henry Iba.

Hartman retired from coaching after the 1985-86 season. He served as a color analyst for the Wildcat Television Network and the Big Eight Conference television package following his retirement. He remained active in K-State athletics until his death in November 1998.


Lon Kruger

1986-90 (81-46)

Lon Kruger, a two-time Big Eight Conference Player-of-the-Year for K-State in the early ‘70s, is remembered for many outstanding accomplishments. At the top of that list, however, one will find four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Despite K-State's lofty reputation in NCAA Tournament play, no K-State coach had been able to secure four-straight trips to the prestigious event. Kruger changed all that by taking the ‘Cats to the NCAA Tournament in each of his four years at the helm, and became the first coach in school history to win 20 games in his initial season as head coach.

His best team was the 1987-88 club, which featured All-American Mitch Richmond. That squad tied the school record for wins at 25-9 and advanced all the way to the Midwest Regional title game at Pontiac, Mich. Following that season, he was named NABC District Coach of the Year.

With a coaching style marked by calculated precision and calm under pressure, Kruger led the Wildcats to several triumphs that will be recalled for many years to come. His upsets of some of the nation's highest-ranked teams became almost routine as his trips to the NCAA Tournament.

A native of Silver Lake, Kan., Kruger served as an assistant to Jack Hartman at K-State before accepting the head position at the University of Texas-Pan American (now Texas-Rio Grande Valley) from 1982-86.

Following his head coaching stint in Manhattan, Kruger moved on to Florida for six seasons (1990-96) where he led the Gators to the 1994 Final Four, before serving as head coach of Illinois for four years (1996-2000). After a stint with the Atlanta Hawks from 2000-02, he returned to the college games at UNLV on March 15, 2004. He led the Runnin' Rebels to 161 wins and six postseason appearances in seven seasons (2004-11), which included four NCAA Tournament trips. He left Vegas in 2011 to take the head coaching position at Oklahoma, where he led the Sooners to 195 wins and seven NCAA Tournament appearances in 10 seasons before retiring in March 2021.

In 2012-13, Kruger became the first head coach in NCAA history to take five different schools (K-State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and Oklahoma) to the NCAA Tournament, while he was the first to take four schools to the Sweet 16 since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. He was also the first coach to take five schools to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances. He finished his career with a 674-432 (.609) overall record in 35 seasons, including 100 or more wins at Florida (104), UNLV (161) and Oklahoma (195). His teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament 20 times, including Final Four appearances in 1994 and 2016.


Dana Altman

1991-94 (68-54)

Although his four-year tenure as K-State's head coach only produced one NCAA Tournament appearance, Dana Altman will be remembered most for his uncanny ability to win close ball games, and for pulling off some of the biggest upsets in school history.

Altman's teams were a remarkable 28-13 in games decided by six points or less, which included a 6-1 mark in one-point games. His 1992-93 club perpetuated a K-State tradition. Picked to finish last in the Big Eight, Altman's Cardiac ‘Cats won 11 games in the final minute, earned the school's first Top 25 ranking in five seasons, finished 19-11, reached the championship game of the Big Eight Tournament and returned K-State to the NCAA Tournament for the 21st time.

Altman's peers named him Big Eight Coach-of-the-Year in 1993 and he capped the season by upsetting No. 6 Kansas 74-67 in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

The following season, he made it two in a row over KU when he upset the No. 1 ranked Jayhawks 68-64 on ESPN in Lawrence. His 1993-94 squad finished the season with a 20-14 record and advanced to the NIT Final Four in New York City.

Following the 1993-94 season, Altman accepted the head coaching position at Creighton in his home state of Nebraska. He stayed at Creighton until 2010, building the Bluejays into one of the top mid-major programs with 327 wins in 16 seasons with three Missouri Valley Conference regular season and six tournament titles and seven trips to the NCAA Tournament. He has continued his impressive work at Oregon, where he has led the Ducks to 300 wins, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and a trip to the 2017 Final Four the last 12 seasons. 


Tom Asbury

1994-2000 (85-88)

Following a successful tenure at Pepperdine, Tom Asbury became K-State's head coach in 1994 and coached the Wildcats to 85 wins and three postseason appearances in six seasons. After rebuilding in 1995 with a young squad, he led the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament in 1996 for the first time in three seasons with a 17-12 overall record. Asbury also guided the Wildcats to back-to-back NIT appearances in 1998 and 1999. The 1998-99 squad captured the 19th 20-win season in school history. Asbury's teams were known for their toughness on defense and in 1998-99 led the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 37.1 percent shooting from the field.

A year after leaving Kansas State, Asbury accepted an assistant coaching position at Alabama under former protégé Mark Gottfried. After a brief retirement, he returned to the sidelines in March 2008 for his second stint as the head coach at Pepperdine, guiding the Waves for three seasons (2008-10) before retiring for good in 2010. He concluded his career with a 242-212 (.533) record in 15 seasons at Pepperdine (1988-94; 2008-10) and K-State.


Jim Wooldridge

2000-2006 (83-90)

Jim Wooldridge became the 20th head coach in Kansas State history in 2000 after a two-year stint as an assistant coach to Tim Floyd with the NBA's Chicago Bulls. He previously was the head coach at Central Missouri State (1985-91), Texas State (1991-94) and his alma mater, Louisiana Tech (1994-98) prior to his stint with the Bulls. A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., Wooldridge guided the Wildcats to 83 wins during his six-year tenure as head coach, including back-to-back winning seasons in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Wooldridge slowly but steadily re-built the Wildcat program from nine wins the year before he arrived to 17 victories just five years later. The team started the 2004-05 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, but narrowly missed the postseason. His last team achieved a winning mark with a 15-13 record, but lost nine games by five points or less, which tied for the second-highest total in the nation.

Upon leaving K-State, Wooldridge worked as the Director of Major Gifts at Texas State before returning to the coaching ranks as the head coach at UC Riverside in May 2007, posting a 70-112 record before retiring from coaching and becoming the school's athletics director. He moved two years later to become athletics director at Riverside City College before retiring in 2020. He finishing his coaching career with a 382-349 (.537) record in 25 seasons.


Bob Huggins

2006-07 (23-12)

One of the most successful coaches in the country with over 500 career wins and 15 NCAA Tournament appearances to his credit, Bob Huggins was named the 21st basketball coach at K-State on March 23, 2006. Although he served as head coach for just one season, Huggins made an immediate impact at the school, as he guided the Wildcats to a 23-12 overall record and a fourth-place finish in Big 12 Conference play with a 10-6 mark.

The 23 wins were the most by the program since the 1987-88 team compiled 25 en route to advancing to the Elite Eight and the first 20-win season in nearly a decade. Huggins also helped the Wildcats' return to the postseason for the first time since 1999, as the squad reached the second round of the MasterCard NIT. His 23 wins were the most by a first-year coach in school history, while he became just the second rookie coach in school history to guide his team to the postseason. Huggins' 10 Big 12 wins were the most by a Wildcat squad since the league's inception in 1997 and the most in a single-season since the 1987-88 squad produced 11.

Huggins also helped the program set all sorts of attendance marks, as the Wildcats posted the second-highest average attendance (12,301) in Bramlage Coliseum history and produced a single-season best six sellouts. In addition, he helped the squad capture their first in-season tournament title in 10 years by winning the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Holiday Classic on Dec. 23, 2006.

Huggins left Kansas State in the spring of 2007 when he was named head coach at his alma mater, West Virginia. He has led the Mountaineers to 326 wins and 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in 15 seasons, including a trip to the 2010 Final Four. He became the sixth coach in NCAA Division I history to win 900 games in March 2021. He was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022 on April 2, 2022.


Frank Martin

2007-12 (117-54)

Just like it had done twice before when it elevated assistants Tex Winter (1953) and Cotton Fitzsimmons (1968) to the head coaching spot, K-State tapped Bob Huggins’ top assistant Frank Martin as his replacement in 2007.

The fiery Martin, a native of Miami, Fla., took the baton from Huggins and led the school to arguably its greatest stretch in its long and storied history. He helped the Wildcats to a 117-54 (.684) overall record, including a 50-32 (.610) mark in Big 12 play, and the team advanced to the postseason each of his five seasons, including four trips to the NCAA Tournament (2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012). He is the first coach in school history to post five consecutive 20- win seasons and the first to guide the team to the postseason in each of his first five years. His 117 wins rank fifth in school history behind Jack Hartman (295), Tex Winter (261), Bruce Weber (184) and Jack Gardner (147).

Hired as the 23rd head coach on April 6, 2007, Martin posted one of the most successful inaugural campaigns in school history. He guided the Wildcats to a 21-12 record in 2007-08, including a third-place finish in the Big 12, and broke a 12-year drought in the NCAA Tournament. He became just the second rookie head coach in school history to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament and the first since Lon Kruger in 1986- 87. Under his tutelage, Michael Beasley posted one of the greatest seasons ever by a college freshman, averaging 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds en route to earning consensus National Freshman of the Year honors and National Player of the Year honors from a number of outlets. Beasley became the first consensus first team All-American since 1959.

After an NIT finish in year two, Martin helped K-State to its first Elite Eight appearance in 22 seasons in 2009-10. Led by All-Americans Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen, the Wildcats won a school-record 29 games and finished in a tie for second in the rugged Big 12. In all, the team set 23 team and individual school records, including the mark for scoring (2,949). For his effort, Martin was the Phillips 66 Big 12 Coach of the Year and a runner-up for the AP’s National Coach of the Year.

Martin left K-State in March 2012 for the head coaching job at South Carolina, where he helped the Gamecocks to 171 wins in 10 seasons (2012-22) and their first-ever trip the Final Four in 2017. He was named head coach at UMass on March 25, 2022.
 

Bruce Weber

2012-22 (184-147)

One of the winningest active Division I coaches with stints at Southern Illinois (1998-2003) and Illinois (2003-11) to his credit, Bruce Weber was named the school's 24th head men's basketball coach on March 31, 2012.   

During his decade-long stint, Weber guided the Wildcats to 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances five times, including consecutive 25-win campaigns in 2017-18 and 2018-19 for the first time in school history. K-State recorded its first 25-win season in five years and made its 12th trip to the Elite Eight in 2017-18 then followed it with another 25-win campaign and a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19. During the run in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Weber became just the 10th Division I head coach to take three different schools to the Sweet 16.

In addition to his 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances, Weber has steered K-State to a pair of Big 12 regular-season titles during his tenure, including the school’s first conference championship in 36 seasons in his inaugural campaign in 2012-13. His first Wildcat team won 27 games – the second-most wins in school history –and 14 in Big 12 play to tie for its first conference title since the Big Eight crown in 1977. In 2018-19, he guided the school to its 21st conference championship, including its 19th won in the regular season, with a 25-9 overall record and a 14-4 mark in league action. The 14 conference wins in both 2012-13 and 2018-19 tie for the most in school history, along with the perfect 14-0 Big Eight mark in 1958-59.
 
Weber’s 184 wins are the third-most by a head coach in school history and the most since Jack Hartman retired as the school’s winningest coach with 295 victories in 1986. He earned his 150th career victory at K-State in the 70-61 victory over TCU in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 14, 2019 to become the third head coach (joining Hall of Famers Jack Hartman and Fred “Tex” Winter) in school history to eclipse 150 career wins. He is one of four coaches (Hartman, Winter and Frank Martin) to take the school to at least five NCAA Tournaments in a tenure, while only Hartman (with seven) has more 20-win seasons.

Weber tutored 17 players named to All-Big 12 teams in 10 seasons, including first team members Rodney McGruder (2013), Dean Wade (2018, 2019), Barry Brown, Jr. (2019) and Nijel Pack (2022) second team picks Angel Rodriguez (2013), Marcus Foster (2014) and Brown (2018), third team honorees Wes Iwundu (2016, 2017) and Mark Smith (2022) and honorable mention selections Shane Southwell (2013), Thomas Gipson (2014, 2015), Will Spradling (2014), Foster (2015), Nino Williams (2015), D.J. Johnson (2017), Kamau Stokes (2019), Xavier Sneed (2019, 2020), Mike McGuirl (2021) and Markquis Nowell (2022).
 
In addition, Weber has helped mentor a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in Brown (2019) and a Big 12 Most Improved Player in Pack (2022), five All-Big 12 All-Defensive Team members in Rodriguez (2013), Iwundu (2016), Brown (2018, 2019) and Nowell (2022) as well as four players selected to the league’s All-Newcomer Team, including Brown and Wade, who became the first Wildcat duo to be honored on all-rookie squad in 2015-16.

Weber has also spent time coaching in the USA Basketball system while K-State, serving as head coach for Team USA at the 2019 FIBA U19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece. He guided the Americans to their seventh gold medal in the event, including the first since 2015, with 93-79 win over Mali to complete a perfect 7-0 run. For his efforts, he was selected as the co-recipient of the 2019 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year award with Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz.