Eric Wolford is the longest-tenured active offensive line coach in the Southeastern Conference. The son of a steel mill plant supervisor in Youngstown, Ohio, Wolford grew up strong, tough and gritty. He played offensive guard at Kansas State under Bill Snyder. Along his professional journey, Wolford served as head coach at Youngstown State, and he coached offensive lines at South Florida, Houston, North Texas, Arizona, Illinois, South Carolina, San Francisco 49ers, Kentucky, Alabama and now LSU. He played or coached under head coaches such as Bill Snyder, Steve Spurrier, Mark Stoops, Nick Saban and now Lane Kiffin.
For four weeks, it's been a constant grind, a simple schedule, an ease-in approach with an hour of weights and a 50-minute practice at Ice Family Basketball Center. The Kansas State men's basketball team, compiled of players from across the country but shooting for the same goal, eats breakfast together, competes hard on the court and gels off the court, consumed in a world of their own — a world that at the end of the day typically includes video games and a couch.
After four weeks of the grind, there' a break in this summer phase of preparation for the Kansas State men's basketball program. Players will enjoy this week and the Fourth of July and return to the Ice Family Basketball Center on July 5. That's when 23-year-old Isaiah Walker, who's in his first season as the Director of Player Development, will rejoin the rest of the K-State coaching staff and get his hands again on this new group of players, so eager, and so together, and so engaged in the 55-minute practice sessions each day under the watchful eye of assistant coaches and support staff — many who've seen it, who've felt it, and who are teaching the many intricacies of a recipe that's led to proven success under head coach Casey Alexander to the Little Apple.
He grabbed the microphone with his left hand and pointed to the sky with his right, this whirling, lavender polo-wearing, country traveling, sideline pumping, official-recruiting-visit speaking, 41-year-old son of Wichita, Kansas, who was born 6.1 miles east at Wesley Medical Center, and who today stands before hundreds of purple-clad Kansas State supporters at Chicken N Pickle, needing no introduction at the Wichita Catbackers gathering — just a microphone.
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