Kansas State University Athletics
Men's Basketball
Weber, Bruce
Bruce Weber
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Phone:
- (785) 532-6531
Honors
• 483 career wins // 170 at K-State
• 13 NCAA Tournament Appearances
• 2005 NCAA National Runner-Up // Final Four
• Four Sweet 16s (2002, 2004, 2005, 2018) // Two Elite Eights (2005, 2018)
• Gold Medal Winning Head Coach for Team USA at 2019 U19 World Cup
• Four Sweet 16s (2002, 2004, 2005, 2018) // Two Elite Eights (2005, 2018)
• Gold Medal Winning Head Coach for Team USA at 2019 U19 World Cup
• 2001-02 Missouri Valley Conference co-champions
• 2002-03 Missouri Valley Conference champions
• 2003-04 Big Ten Conference champions
• 2004-05 Big Ten Conference champions
• 2012-13 Big 12 Conference co-champions
• 2018-19 Big 12 Conference co-champions
• 2018-19 Big 12 Conference co-champions
• 2002-03 Missouri Valley Coach of the Year [league coaches]
• 2004-05 Naismith Trophy Coach of the Year [Atlanta Tipoff Club]
• 2004-05 National of the Year [Chevrolet/CBS]
• 2004-05 National Coach of the Year [The Associated Press]
• 2004-05 National Coach of the Year [National Association of Basketball Coaches]
• 2004-05 National Coach of the Year [The Sporting News]
• 2004-05 National Coach of the Year [Basketball Times]
• 2004-05 Adolph F. Rupp Cup Recipient [Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky]
• 2004-05 Henry Iba Award [U.S. Basketball Writers Association]
• 2004-05 Victor Awards National Coach of the Year [Academy of American Sports Awards]
• 2004-05 Coach of the Year [Nike Championship Basketball Clinic]
• 2004-05 Big Ten Coach of the Year [league coaches]
• 2007 Champion Award [Coaches vs. Cancer]
• 2013 Big 12 Coach of the Year [league coaches/The Associated Press]
• 2013, 2019 District VI Coach of the Year [U.S. Basketball Writers Association]
• 2013 District 8 Coach of the Year [National Association of Basketball Coaches]
• 2016 Graven Award [Wartburg College]
• 2018 Saluki Hall of Fame Class [Southern Illinois]
• 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award [Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation]
• 2019 USA Basketball National co-Coach of the Year
One of the winningest active Division I coaches with nearly 500 career wins and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances to his credit, Bruce Weber begins his 10th season at Kansas State in 2021-22 after being named the school’s 24th head men’s basketball coach on March 31, 2012.
Weber is nearing a coaching milestone, as he is just 17 wins shy of 500 in his head coaching career, which includes stints at Southern Illinois (1998-2003), Illinois (2003-11) and now K-State (2012-present). His 483 career wins rank 29th nationally among active Division I head coaches, while his .629 winning percentage places 45th among coaches with a minimum of five years of Division I experience.
Weber has guided the Wildcats to 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances five times during his tenure, 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. The school was one of just 24 nationally, including 15 in power conferences, to win at least 25 games in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. He is the first Wildcat head coach to lead the program to multiple 25-win seasons (three).
During the Wildcats’ run in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Weber became just the 10th Division I head coach to take three different schools (Southern Illinois, Illinois and K-State) 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 170 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 the fourth coach (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 earned his 450th career victory in the Wildcats’ 58-57 upset of No. 20/21 Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on January 12, 2019. He is one of three current Big 12 head coaches to win 450 games in a career, along with a pair of Hall of Famers - West Virginia’s Bob Huggins and Kansas’ Bill Self.
Weber has tutored 14 players named to All-Big 12 teams the past nine seasons, including first team members Rodney McGruder (2013), Dean Wade (2018, 2019) and Barry Brown, Jr. (2019), second team picks Angel Rodriguez (2013), Marcus Foster (2014) and Brown (2018), third team honoree Wes Iwundu (2016, 2017) 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) and Mike McGuirl (2021).
In addition, Weber has helped mentor a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in Brown (2019), four All-Big 12 All-Defensive Team members in Rodriguez (2013), Iwundu (2016) and Brown (2018, 2019) as well as three 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.
The Wildcats have also excelled off the court under Weber’s leadership, as 19 student-athletes have earned Academic All-Big 12 recognition a total of 26 times, while players have combined to appear on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll 127 times since 2012. The program has had at least two Academic All-Big 12 selections in eight of Weber’s nine seasons, including a school-record five Academic All-Big 12 selections (with a school-best four First Team honorees) in 2017. Two players – Austin Budke (2017) and Pierson McAtee (2019) – have earned the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, which is the Big 12’s highest academic honor. All 28 players who have completed their eligibility under Weber have earned their degrees.
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.
2020-21
Weber guided K-State through one of the most challenging seasons in its history in 2020-21, as the Wildcats had to navigate COVID-19 protocols on a near daily basis while fielding one of the nation’s youngest teams. The team was able to finish the season on a high note by winning 4 of its last 6 games, including battling eventual national champion Baylor in a 74-68 loss in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
K-State returned just four lettermen for the 2020-21 season, including only one senior (Mike McGuirl), while the team welcomed eight newcomers, including five true freshmen. The four returning lettermen were the fifth-fewest in Division I, while the three upperclassmen (one senior and two juniors) were only surpassed by three other teams. The nine total newcomers (including sophomore Kaosi Ezeagu who sat out the 2019-20 season) were the fourth-most among power-conference schools. The Wildcats’ average age of 19.6 years ranked 336th out of 347 teams that played during the turbulent 2020-21 season.
In addition to its youth and inexperience, K-State saw nine players miss at least one game due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols, including promising sophomore Montavious Murphy missing the last 25 games due to injury.
Freshman Luke Kasubke and Ezeagu were also sidelined for 13 and 10 games, respectively, during the season. The team tied three others nationally (Butler, Miami and Washington State) with nine players missing at least one game, as only Long Beach State (12) had more players miss game action in 2020-21.
In all, the Wildcats had just one player start all 29 games (Mike McGuirl), while it started three true freshmen (Davion Bradford, Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack) in 17 games, including 12 in Big 12 play. The 71 combined starts by true freshmen ranked second nationally to Kentucky’s 72, while the 17 games with at least three true freshmen starters trailed just Duke (19) and Kentucky (18).
The freshman trio of Bradford, Miguel and Pack combined to average 25.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals this season. In all, freshmen were responsible for 45 percent of the team’s scoring. Pack cracked the freshmen Top 10 in eight categories, including second in 3-point field goals made (60), third in 3-point field goal percentage (40.5) and fourth in free throw percentage (79.4). He became the first true freshman to lead the team in scoring since 2013-14.
2019-20
The trials of 2020-21 came after a rebuilding season in 2019-20 that was cut short after the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship was cancelled due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The non-winning season (11-21) snapped a streak of three consecutive 20-win seasons and was the first since the 2014-15 season.
Narrow losses and injuries defined the 2019-20 season, as K-State lost 13 games by single digits (including 8 in Big 12 play) and seven by 5 points or less, while four players combined to miss 59 games. The 13 losses by single digits were the most since the 2002-03 team also lost 13 such games, while the injuries caused Weber to use 10 starting lineups, including a pair of true freshmen starting in seven Big 12 contests.
Senior Xavier Sneed concluded his career in 2019-20 as the only player in school history with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 150 steals. He ended his career in the Top 15 in 11 career categories, while becoming just the seventh Wildcat to finish in the Top 15 in both career scoring (1,463) and rebounding (612).
2018-19
In 2018-19, Weber led K-State to a 25-9 overall record, which included a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with a 14-4 conference mark, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in his tenure, including the third consecutive season. The school’s seventh 25-win season was highlighted by a nine-game Big 12 winning streak from January 9 to February 12, 2019, which came after the Wildcats started league play 0-2. It was the school’s longest conference winning streak in the Big 12 era and the longest since winning 11 in a row in Big Eight play from January 14 to February 26, 1974. In all, the team won 14 of its last 16 conference games, including season sweeps of Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and West Virginia, and posted a league-best 7-2 mark on the road, which was the best by a Wildcat team in conference play since the 1958-59 season.
K-State finished the 2018-19 season in the Top 25 in both major polls, finishing at No. 18 in the final Associated Press poll and No. 19 in the final USA Today Coaches poll for the second straight year. The squad appeared in the final Coaches poll in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns.
Known for being one of the top defensive coaches in the game, Weber’s 2018-19 Wildcats were one of the top defensive teams in the country, allowing just 59.6 points per game, which ranked fourth nationally. It was the lowest opponent scoring average in school history since the introduction of the shot clock and the lowest since allowing 58.4 points per game in 1982-83. The team held 18 of 34 opponents to 60 points or less, holding foes to an average of 14.5 points under their scoring average.
Weber helped coach four Wildcat players to All-Big 12 honors in 2019, as seniors Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade became the first duo to be named to the All-Big 12 First Team in the same season. Brown was one of three unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First team, while Wade became just the second Wildcat to be named to the league’s First Team in back-to-back seasons, joining Jacob Pullen (2010, 2011). The duo was joined on the All-Big 12 Teams by fellow senior Kamau Stokes and junior Xavier Sneed, who were both honorable mention selections.
The four overall selections tied for the most in the Big 12 era, while the school had two First Team picks for the first time since the Big Seven/Eight/12 began designating various all-conference teams and the first time in any season since Mike Evans and Curtis Redding were both honored to the five-member All-Big Eight Team in 1977.
Brown became the first Wildcat to be named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year since Rolando Blackman earned the honor in consecutive seasons in the Big Eight in 1979 and 1980. He was also a Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection for the second straight season and one of just two unanimous picks.
2017-18
The 2018-19 Big 12 Championship season came on the heels of perhaps the best coaching performance of Weber’s career, in which, he guided a K-State team picked to finish eighth in the Coaches’ preseason Big 12 poll to a second 25-win season in his tenure and its first trip to the Elite Eight in eight years in 2017-18.
Led by All-Big 12 selections Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade, the Wildcats posted a 25-12 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 with a 10-8 mark in 2017-18, which included nine victories over postseason teams and season sweeps of conference foes Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Texas. The 10 Big 12 victories were the most since also winning 10 in 2013-14, while the fourth-place finish was the best since winning the league title in 2012-13. The team finished 19th in the final USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll, which was the program’s highest such final ranking since concluding the 2009-10 season at No. 7.
Weber’s ability to rally his team through adversity was put on full display during K-State’s memorable run to the Elite Eight, as the Wildcats were forced to play the entire NCAA Tournament without their leading scorer and rebounder Wade, who became just the fourth player in school history to be named to the All-Big 12 First Team. Highlighted by special performances from Brown, sophomore Xavier Sneed and freshman Mike McGuirl, the squad knocked off No. 8 seed Creighton, Cinderella and No. 16 seed UMBC and No. 5 seed Kentucky before falling to 11-seeded Loyola Chicago in South Regional Final. It marked the 12th Elite Eight in school history, including just the second in the last 25 seasons.
2016-17
The run to the Elite Eight in 2018 was the second straight NCAA Tournament for Weber’s Wildcats, which tallied a 21-14 overall record to go with an 8-10 mark in Big 12 play in 2016-17. He led K-State to its first postseason victory in five seasons with a 95-88 win over Wake Forest in the First Four in Dayton before falling to Cincinnati in the NCAA South Regional. Among the 21 victories were eight over teams that advanced to the postseason, including NCAA Tournament participants Baylor (twice), Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
Senior Wes Iwundu repeated his selection to the Coaches’ All-Big 12 Third Team, while fellow senior D.J. Johnson, who set school records for both single season (62.3) and career field goal percentage (59.5), nabbed honorable mention accolades. Iwundu became the first player in school history to tally at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals in a career, while then sophomore Barry Brown, Jr., smashed the single-season mark for steals with 82, which included a Big 12-best 45 in league-only games.
Iwundu capped off his impressive senior campaign by becoming the 50th Wildcat selected in the NBA Draft and the first since 2008 when he was taken with the 33rd overall pick in the second round by the Orlando Magic. He was the fourth college senior selected in the 2017 NBA Draft and one of just 10 taken in its two rounds.
2015-16
Playing a schedule that included a school-record 14 Top 25 opponents, Weber guided K-State to a 17-win campaign in 2015-16 which included the fifth over a No. 1 team in school history – No. 1 Oklahoma on Feb. 6, 2016 – to go with wins over NCAA Tournament participant Texas Tech, NIT participant Georgia, 22-win Ole Miss and CIT Champion Columbia. The youthful Wildcats, whose 10 newcomers tied for the third-most in Division I, improved in nearly every category (16 total) from the previous season, surpassing marks for scoring, field goals, 3-point field goals, free throws, points in the paint, second-chance points, rebounds, blocks and steals.
Iwundu became the first Wildcat since 2014 to earn recognition to one of the Coaches’ three All-Big 12 teams when he was selected to the Third Team to go with his All-Defensive Team honor. In addition, K-State was the only school to have two players – freshmen Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade – on the All-Newcomer Team.
2014-15
Despite a trying season in 2014-15 that saw K-State drop 10 games by 10 points or less, including seven by 5 points or less, Weber still helped the Wildcats collect five Top 25 wins, including back-to-back over Top 15 foes Kansas and Iowa State. The victory over the Jayhawks marked the first time in 32 seasons that the Wildcats posted consecutive wins over their archrivals at home. In addition, the squad posted double-digit wins at home for the 14th consecutive season, including five over eventual NCAA Tournament teams.
2013-14
Weber’s second season included his 10th NCAA Tournament appearance and 12th 20-win campaign, as K-State compiled a 20-13 record to go with a 10-8 mark in Big 12 play in 2013-14. The season was highlighted by a 10-game winning streak from November 24, 2013 to January 7, 2014, which tied for the ninth-longest in school history, and a 15-game home court winning streak that was the longest in Bramlage Coliseum history and the longest since a 20-game streak at Ahearn Field House from January 28, 1981 to January 30, 1982.
2012-13
Weber’s record-setting inaugural season is considered one of the best in school history, as the Wildcats tallied a 27-8 overall record and a 14-4 mark in league play en route to its first-ever Big 12 regular season championship and a school-record fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The 27 wins remain the second-most in school history, while the 14 in league play tied the school record held by the 1958-59 team (and again tied in 2018-19). The league championship was the 18th in school history and the first since the 1976-77 season.
For his efforts, Weber was named the 2013 Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the league coaches and The Associated Press and District Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). He has now been named conference Coach of the Year in three different times in three different leagues, the Missouri Valley (2003), Big Ten (2005) and Big 12 (2013). He is one of three coaches to win the Big 12 title in his first season since the inception of the league in 1997, while his 27 wins are third-most by a first-year head coach in Big 12 history.
Overall
Weber, 64, has compiled a 483-285 (.629) record in his 23 seasons as a head coach, which includes stints at Southern Illinois (1998-2003) and Illinois (2003-11). His teams have participated in postseason play 15 times, including 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. He has won 15 NCAA Tournament games, including trips to the Sweet 16 in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2018 and the Elite Eight in 2005 and 2018, while his 2004-05 Illinois squad played North Carolina for the NCAA Championship.
Weber's teams have won a combined seven conference regular season and tournament championships, including the 2002 and 2003 Missouri Valley Conference, 2004 and 2005 Big Ten Conference and 2013 and 2019 Big 12 Conference regular-season titles. He has won 20 or more games in 15 of his 23 campaigns, including an Illinois school-record 37 wins in 2004-05, and has averaged 21.0 victories a season in his head coaching career.
Weber has won numerous Coach of the Year honors in his career, including consensus National Coach of the Year accolades in 2005. Among the National Coach of the Year awards earned by Weber in 2005 were the Naismith Award, The Associated Press, Adolph F. Rupp Cup, U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Henry Iba Award, National Association of Basketball Coaches, Chevrolet/CBS, The Sporting News and Basketball Times. He was also selected as the 2003 Missouri Valley Conference, 2005 Big Ten Conference and 2013 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
In all, Weber has 40 years of college coaching experience, which includes 19 seasons as an assistant coach for coaching legend Gene Keady, a native of Garden City, Kansas and a 1958 K-State graduate. Weber spent his entire assistant coaching career with Keady, first at Western Kentucky (1979-80) and then Purdue (1981-98). The coaching duo helped the Hilltoppers to the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles and a trip to NCAA Tournament in 1980 before moving to West Lafayette the following season. In Weber's 18 years at Purdue, the Boilermakers won six Big Ten titles, played in 14 NCAA Tournaments and made three NIT appearances.
All told, he has been a part of more than 900 victories, 28 NCAA Tournament appearances and 14 conference championships in coaching stints at Western Kentucky, Purdue, Southern Illinois, Illinois and K-State.
Weber earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1978 and a master's degree in education administration and physical education from Western Kentucky University in 1981.
Weber was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 19, 1956. He and his wife, Megan, have three daughters, Hannah (husband Taylor), Christy (husband Trent) and Emily (husband Spencer) as well as four grandchildren (Chipper, twins June and Clayton and Foster Brett).
• 2016 Graven Award [Wartburg College]
• 2018 Saluki Hall of Fame Class [Southern Illinois]
• 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award [Milwaukee Public Schools Foundation]
• 2019 USA Basketball National co-Coach of the Year
One of the winningest active Division I coaches with nearly 500 career wins and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances to his credit, Bruce Weber begins his 10th season at Kansas State in 2021-22 after being named the school’s 24th head men’s basketball coach on March 31, 2012.
Weber is nearing a coaching milestone, as he is just 17 wins shy of 500 in his head coaching career, which includes stints at Southern Illinois (1998-2003), Illinois (2003-11) and now K-State (2012-present). His 483 career wins rank 29th nationally among active Division I head coaches, while his .629 winning percentage places 45th among coaches with a minimum of five years of Division I experience.
Weber has guided the Wildcats to 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances five times during his tenure, 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. The school was one of just 24 nationally, including 15 in power conferences, to win at least 25 games in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. He is the first Wildcat head coach to lead the program to multiple 25-win seasons (three).
During the Wildcats’ run in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Weber became just the 10th Division I head coach to take three different schools (Southern Illinois, Illinois and K-State) 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 170 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 the fourth coach (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 earned his 450th career victory in the Wildcats’ 58-57 upset of No. 20/21 Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on January 12, 2019. He is one of three current Big 12 head coaches to win 450 games in a career, along with a pair of Hall of Famers - West Virginia’s Bob Huggins and Kansas’ Bill Self.
Weber has tutored 14 players named to All-Big 12 teams the past nine seasons, including first team members Rodney McGruder (2013), Dean Wade (2018, 2019) and Barry Brown, Jr. (2019), second team picks Angel Rodriguez (2013), Marcus Foster (2014) and Brown (2018), third team honoree Wes Iwundu (2016, 2017) 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) and Mike McGuirl (2021).
In addition, Weber has helped mentor a Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in Brown (2019), four All-Big 12 All-Defensive Team members in Rodriguez (2013), Iwundu (2016) and Brown (2018, 2019) as well as three 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.
The Wildcats have also excelled off the court under Weber’s leadership, as 19 student-athletes have earned Academic All-Big 12 recognition a total of 26 times, while players have combined to appear on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll 127 times since 2012. The program has had at least two Academic All-Big 12 selections in eight of Weber’s nine seasons, including a school-record five Academic All-Big 12 selections (with a school-best four First Team honorees) in 2017. Two players – Austin Budke (2017) and Pierson McAtee (2019) – have earned the Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award, which is the Big 12’s highest academic honor. All 28 players who have completed their eligibility under Weber have earned their degrees.
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.
2020-21
Weber guided K-State through one of the most challenging seasons in its history in 2020-21, as the Wildcats had to navigate COVID-19 protocols on a near daily basis while fielding one of the nation’s youngest teams. The team was able to finish the season on a high note by winning 4 of its last 6 games, including battling eventual national champion Baylor in a 74-68 loss in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
K-State returned just four lettermen for the 2020-21 season, including only one senior (Mike McGuirl), while the team welcomed eight newcomers, including five true freshmen. The four returning lettermen were the fifth-fewest in Division I, while the three upperclassmen (one senior and two juniors) were only surpassed by three other teams. The nine total newcomers (including sophomore Kaosi Ezeagu who sat out the 2019-20 season) were the fourth-most among power-conference schools. The Wildcats’ average age of 19.6 years ranked 336th out of 347 teams that played during the turbulent 2020-21 season.
In addition to its youth and inexperience, K-State saw nine players miss at least one game due to injuries and COVID-19 protocols, including promising sophomore Montavious Murphy missing the last 25 games due to injury.
Freshman Luke Kasubke and Ezeagu were also sidelined for 13 and 10 games, respectively, during the season. The team tied three others nationally (Butler, Miami and Washington State) with nine players missing at least one game, as only Long Beach State (12) had more players miss game action in 2020-21.
In all, the Wildcats had just one player start all 29 games (Mike McGuirl), while it started three true freshmen (Davion Bradford, Selton Miguel and Nijel Pack) in 17 games, including 12 in Big 12 play. The 71 combined starts by true freshmen ranked second nationally to Kentucky’s 72, while the 17 games with at least three true freshmen starters trailed just Duke (19) and Kentucky (18).
The freshman trio of Bradford, Miguel and Pack combined to average 25.4 points, 10.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals this season. In all, freshmen were responsible for 45 percent of the team’s scoring. Pack cracked the freshmen Top 10 in eight categories, including second in 3-point field goals made (60), third in 3-point field goal percentage (40.5) and fourth in free throw percentage (79.4). He became the first true freshman to lead the team in scoring since 2013-14.
2019-20
The trials of 2020-21 came after a rebuilding season in 2019-20 that was cut short after the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship was cancelled due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The non-winning season (11-21) snapped a streak of three consecutive 20-win seasons and was the first since the 2014-15 season.
Narrow losses and injuries defined the 2019-20 season, as K-State lost 13 games by single digits (including 8 in Big 12 play) and seven by 5 points or less, while four players combined to miss 59 games. The 13 losses by single digits were the most since the 2002-03 team also lost 13 such games, while the injuries caused Weber to use 10 starting lineups, including a pair of true freshmen starting in seven Big 12 contests.
Senior Xavier Sneed concluded his career in 2019-20 as the only player in school history with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 150 steals. He ended his career in the Top 15 in 11 career categories, while becoming just the seventh Wildcat to finish in the Top 15 in both career scoring (1,463) and rebounding (612).
2018-19
In 2018-19, Weber led K-State to a 25-9 overall record, which included a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with a 14-4 conference mark, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in his tenure, including the third consecutive season. The school’s seventh 25-win season was highlighted by a nine-game Big 12 winning streak from January 9 to February 12, 2019, which came after the Wildcats started league play 0-2. It was the school’s longest conference winning streak in the Big 12 era and the longest since winning 11 in a row in Big Eight play from January 14 to February 26, 1974. In all, the team won 14 of its last 16 conference games, including season sweeps of Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and West Virginia, and posted a league-best 7-2 mark on the road, which was the best by a Wildcat team in conference play since the 1958-59 season.
K-State finished the 2018-19 season in the Top 25 in both major polls, finishing at No. 18 in the final Associated Press poll and No. 19 in the final USA Today Coaches poll for the second straight year. The squad appeared in the final Coaches poll in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns.
Known for being one of the top defensive coaches in the game, Weber’s 2018-19 Wildcats were one of the top defensive teams in the country, allowing just 59.6 points per game, which ranked fourth nationally. It was the lowest opponent scoring average in school history since the introduction of the shot clock and the lowest since allowing 58.4 points per game in 1982-83. The team held 18 of 34 opponents to 60 points or less, holding foes to an average of 14.5 points under their scoring average.
Weber helped coach four Wildcat players to All-Big 12 honors in 2019, as seniors Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade became the first duo to be named to the All-Big 12 First Team in the same season. Brown was one of three unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First team, while Wade became just the second Wildcat to be named to the league’s First Team in back-to-back seasons, joining Jacob Pullen (2010, 2011). The duo was joined on the All-Big 12 Teams by fellow senior Kamau Stokes and junior Xavier Sneed, who were both honorable mention selections.
The four overall selections tied for the most in the Big 12 era, while the school had two First Team picks for the first time since the Big Seven/Eight/12 began designating various all-conference teams and the first time in any season since Mike Evans and Curtis Redding were both honored to the five-member All-Big Eight Team in 1977.
Brown became the first Wildcat to be named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year since Rolando Blackman earned the honor in consecutive seasons in the Big Eight in 1979 and 1980. He was also a Big 12 All-Defensive Team selection for the second straight season and one of just two unanimous picks.
2017-18
The 2018-19 Big 12 Championship season came on the heels of perhaps the best coaching performance of Weber’s career, in which, he guided a K-State team picked to finish eighth in the Coaches’ preseason Big 12 poll to a second 25-win season in his tenure and its first trip to the Elite Eight in eight years in 2017-18.
Led by All-Big 12 selections Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade, the Wildcats posted a 25-12 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 with a 10-8 mark in 2017-18, which included nine victories over postseason teams and season sweeps of conference foes Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Texas. The 10 Big 12 victories were the most since also winning 10 in 2013-14, while the fourth-place finish was the best since winning the league title in 2012-13. The team finished 19th in the final USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll, which was the program’s highest such final ranking since concluding the 2009-10 season at No. 7.
Weber’s ability to rally his team through adversity was put on full display during K-State’s memorable run to the Elite Eight, as the Wildcats were forced to play the entire NCAA Tournament without their leading scorer and rebounder Wade, who became just the fourth player in school history to be named to the All-Big 12 First Team. Highlighted by special performances from Brown, sophomore Xavier Sneed and freshman Mike McGuirl, the squad knocked off No. 8 seed Creighton, Cinderella and No. 16 seed UMBC and No. 5 seed Kentucky before falling to 11-seeded Loyola Chicago in South Regional Final. It marked the 12th Elite Eight in school history, including just the second in the last 25 seasons.
2016-17
The run to the Elite Eight in 2018 was the second straight NCAA Tournament for Weber’s Wildcats, which tallied a 21-14 overall record to go with an 8-10 mark in Big 12 play in 2016-17. He led K-State to its first postseason victory in five seasons with a 95-88 win over Wake Forest in the First Four in Dayton before falling to Cincinnati in the NCAA South Regional. Among the 21 victories were eight over teams that advanced to the postseason, including NCAA Tournament participants Baylor (twice), Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
Senior Wes Iwundu repeated his selection to the Coaches’ All-Big 12 Third Team, while fellow senior D.J. Johnson, who set school records for both single season (62.3) and career field goal percentage (59.5), nabbed honorable mention accolades. Iwundu became the first player in school history to tally at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals in a career, while then sophomore Barry Brown, Jr., smashed the single-season mark for steals with 82, which included a Big 12-best 45 in league-only games.
Iwundu capped off his impressive senior campaign by becoming the 50th Wildcat selected in the NBA Draft and the first since 2008 when he was taken with the 33rd overall pick in the second round by the Orlando Magic. He was the fourth college senior selected in the 2017 NBA Draft and one of just 10 taken in its two rounds.
2015-16
Playing a schedule that included a school-record 14 Top 25 opponents, Weber guided K-State to a 17-win campaign in 2015-16 which included the fifth over a No. 1 team in school history – No. 1 Oklahoma on Feb. 6, 2016 – to go with wins over NCAA Tournament participant Texas Tech, NIT participant Georgia, 22-win Ole Miss and CIT Champion Columbia. The youthful Wildcats, whose 10 newcomers tied for the third-most in Division I, improved in nearly every category (16 total) from the previous season, surpassing marks for scoring, field goals, 3-point field goals, free throws, points in the paint, second-chance points, rebounds, blocks and steals.
Iwundu became the first Wildcat since 2014 to earn recognition to one of the Coaches’ three All-Big 12 teams when he was selected to the Third Team to go with his All-Defensive Team honor. In addition, K-State was the only school to have two players – freshmen Barry Brown, Jr., and Dean Wade – on the All-Newcomer Team.
2014-15
Despite a trying season in 2014-15 that saw K-State drop 10 games by 10 points or less, including seven by 5 points or less, Weber still helped the Wildcats collect five Top 25 wins, including back-to-back over Top 15 foes Kansas and Iowa State. The victory over the Jayhawks marked the first time in 32 seasons that the Wildcats posted consecutive wins over their archrivals at home. In addition, the squad posted double-digit wins at home for the 14th consecutive season, including five over eventual NCAA Tournament teams.
2013-14
Weber’s second season included his 10th NCAA Tournament appearance and 12th 20-win campaign, as K-State compiled a 20-13 record to go with a 10-8 mark in Big 12 play in 2013-14. The season was highlighted by a 10-game winning streak from November 24, 2013 to January 7, 2014, which tied for the ninth-longest in school history, and a 15-game home court winning streak that was the longest in Bramlage Coliseum history and the longest since a 20-game streak at Ahearn Field House from January 28, 1981 to January 30, 1982.
2012-13
Weber’s record-setting inaugural season is considered one of the best in school history, as the Wildcats tallied a 27-8 overall record and a 14-4 mark in league play en route to its first-ever Big 12 regular season championship and a school-record fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The 27 wins remain the second-most in school history, while the 14 in league play tied the school record held by the 1958-59 team (and again tied in 2018-19). The league championship was the 18th in school history and the first since the 1976-77 season.
For his efforts, Weber was named the 2013 Big 12 Coach of the Year by both the league coaches and The Associated Press and District Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). He has now been named conference Coach of the Year in three different times in three different leagues, the Missouri Valley (2003), Big Ten (2005) and Big 12 (2013). He is one of three coaches to win the Big 12 title in his first season since the inception of the league in 1997, while his 27 wins are third-most by a first-year head coach in Big 12 history.
Overall
Weber, 64, has compiled a 483-285 (.629) record in his 23 seasons as a head coach, which includes stints at Southern Illinois (1998-2003) and Illinois (2003-11). His teams have participated in postseason play 15 times, including 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. He has won 15 NCAA Tournament games, including trips to the Sweet 16 in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2018 and the Elite Eight in 2005 and 2018, while his 2004-05 Illinois squad played North Carolina for the NCAA Championship.
Weber's teams have won a combined seven conference regular season and tournament championships, including the 2002 and 2003 Missouri Valley Conference, 2004 and 2005 Big Ten Conference and 2013 and 2019 Big 12 Conference regular-season titles. He has won 20 or more games in 15 of his 23 campaigns, including an Illinois school-record 37 wins in 2004-05, and has averaged 21.0 victories a season in his head coaching career.
Weber has won numerous Coach of the Year honors in his career, including consensus National Coach of the Year accolades in 2005. Among the National Coach of the Year awards earned by Weber in 2005 were the Naismith Award, The Associated Press, Adolph F. Rupp Cup, U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Henry Iba Award, National Association of Basketball Coaches, Chevrolet/CBS, The Sporting News and Basketball Times. He was also selected as the 2003 Missouri Valley Conference, 2005 Big Ten Conference and 2013 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
In all, Weber has 40 years of college coaching experience, which includes 19 seasons as an assistant coach for coaching legend Gene Keady, a native of Garden City, Kansas and a 1958 K-State graduate. Weber spent his entire assistant coaching career with Keady, first at Western Kentucky (1979-80) and then Purdue (1981-98). The coaching duo helped the Hilltoppers to the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles and a trip to NCAA Tournament in 1980 before moving to West Lafayette the following season. In Weber's 18 years at Purdue, the Boilermakers won six Big Ten titles, played in 14 NCAA Tournaments and made three NIT appearances.
All told, he has been a part of more than 900 victories, 28 NCAA Tournament appearances and 14 conference championships in coaching stints at Western Kentucky, Purdue, Southern Illinois, Illinois and K-State.
Weber earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1978 and a master's degree in education administration and physical education from Western Kentucky University in 1981.
Weber was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 19, 1956. He and his wife, Megan, have three daughters, Hannah (husband Taylor), Christy (husband Trent) and Emily (husband Spencer) as well as four grandchildren (Chipper, twins June and Clayton and Foster Brett).
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