The Love for K-State Keeps Thompson Going

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Wyatt Thompson has an amazing second-story corner office in the Shamrock Zone. From his east window, he can study the day-by-day progress of the football indoor practice facility construction while his north window faces the Vanier Family Football Complex. He office bleeds purple.

A different type of construction takes place inside Thompson's office. The Voice of the Wildcats sits behind his L-shaped desk. A Lindy's Football Preview magazine and a stack of papers line the right edge, a printer occupies the left side. The middle of the desk features two large computer monitors and a Keurig machine. It's June, and Thompson is already constructing information charts on all the Wildcats' opponents for the 2022 football season. He's been working on the 2022 season for a while, actually. Each day, he gathers nuggets here and there and begins the process of piecing everything together — a process that he'll repeat for each team countless times before September 3.

Oh, and Thompson just completed the final Catbacker Tour event for 2022. The Manhattan Catbackers was a sold-out three-hour ball of purple passion at the Alumni Center. Thus concluded a Catbacker Tour that involved traveling to 15 cities across the state in two weeks.

"It's awesome work," he says. "I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's awesome."

Thompson embarks upon his 20^th season as Voice of the Wildcats. His humility is legendary, as is his career. He has been named Kansas Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association six times, including four times in a row, which ranks second among K-State broadcasters in total awards and fourth all-time among broadcasters in the state of Kansas.

"It means a lot, I'm not going to kid you, and I get emotional talking about it just because it's such a rare thing, I guess," he says. "I'm proud of it."

In recognition of Thompson's 20 years of service as Voice of the Wildcats, Thompson sits down with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen to discuss his path to K-State, his busy schedule, his favorite calls, and what it means to be Voice of the Wildcats.

D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: What has your schedule been like today?

WYATT THOMPSON: Well, my schedule today compared to the last three weeks has been pretty slow. I didn't get home until about 9 p.m. after Manhattan Catbackers, and I didn't really eat last night after the Catbacker event other than I just went home and ate a hot dog, so Karen and I went out to breakfast this morning. This morning, I came into the office and talked to a couple people about how well they thought the event went. I think I'll probably go watch basketball practice a little later. This will be my first day post-Catbacker season, I guess.

FRITCHEN: What a great way to spend the afternoon. How excited are you see the basketball team in practice?

THOMPSON: Really excited. After seeing them as a group at Catbackers, it's such a nice-looking group of guys, well spoken, and really very talented when you look at them on paper. A couple of those kids were Division I players last year and didn't have a ton of opportunity, but they'll have opportunity here. I'm not the world's biggest guy on five-star versus four-star or whatever, but, I mean, to be blunt I'd rather have the Top 150 kids if I can get them, so from that perspective I'm excited to see the building blocks that start on our way to this coming November. But you saw them, they were a really nice group of guys. You can tell they've been here a short time, but I think they were blown away by the fans. Ismael Massoud and Markquis Nowell have been here for a full season-plus and they were even blown away from what they saw from fans at Manhattan Catbackers. I mean, the fans gave Ish and Markquis a long-standing ovation. That was really cool.

FRITCHEN: How successful was this summer Catbacker Tour?

THOMPSON: You and I were together for it. I think you saw what I saw, and people are really excited. They have their concerns about the transfer portal, and NIL, and Big 12 and TV contracts, but away from that, there's a large amount of excitement for football with Adrian Martinez coming in and the people we have back and the additions that've been made through the transfer portal, especially in the defensive secondary, much like those plug-in-play guys from a year ago. I think there's a lot of weapons on this team. I think they could have a really good offense and a really good defense. I think people are starting to notice a little more around the league that maybe K-State isn't all that bad, you know? I think people wanted to push K-State down a little farther like you always do when you lose a guy like Skylar Thompson, but I think people realize they're well coached, and have key people like Deuce Vaughn, Daniel Green, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Cooper Beebe. We have a lot of good football players here.

FRITCHEN: We hit 14 Catbacker stops in two weeks. What did you think about the format with the mini-pep rallies across the cities and towns?

THOMPSON: I think it was really good. It was clearly different than what we've done in the past. I even told some people in Manhattan that the first week from Tuesday noon through Thursday night we basically did eight events. We basically went from Salina to Great Bend to Hays to Colby to Scott City to Liberal to Dodge City to Garden City in that time. I've just always appreciated the Catbacker people, the presidents and volunteers who put it all together, and the fans who come out every time and are long-time Catbacker members. It's fun to see them. They're always excited, but when they perceive that we have a chance to be pretty darned good, the excitement level is even higher. I think you saw that, and I know they saw it. They're pumped about Jerome Tang and should be, and they're pumped about beating LSU and should be. It was a different format, but it was very successful. We were fortunate that first week to take 15 student-athletes out, which was great, and Chris Klieman the first week and Coach Tang the second. Then some of the other guys with Ulric Maligi, Van Malone, Collin Klein and Joe Klanderman — those are pretty good guys going out to speak to fans.

FRITCHEN: So many people hear you solely on the radio and then you come out from behind the curtain and you're able to serve the people in person. How gratifying is it to be able to be around the people as the Voice of the Wildcats?

THOMPSON: It's humbling in a lot of ways. I've been doing it a while, and I've made a lot of friends over the years doing the Catbacker Tour, and that's why it means so much. Whether we go from stop A to stop whatever, it's just lots of friendly faces. Those people spend a lot of time and money coming here and they love their school, first and foremost, they love their team always and they're just invested in this place. I so appreciate that when I know that they're driving in here from Pittsburg or Colby or Liberal or Dodge City, or whatever that might be, when they drive here six or seven times for football and a handful of times in basketball season. That's a pretty big commitment and I love them for it.

FRITCHEN: When you hear "Voice of the Wildcats" what comes to mind?

THOMPSON: That's a really good question. If I'm being perfectly honest, I'd probably say Dev Nelson, because he was the guy when I first really started being interested in sports and thought about maybe in the back of my mind doing something along those lines. But it isn't just Dev, it's who he was, his style. I mean, people still talk about him today. And it's 2022. That's pretty impactful. All K-Staters know some of the people who've walked through here holding that title. It's hugely impressive. Mitch Holthus and Greg Sharpe, some of the latest guys, they could work, and have worked, anywhere. Even 20 years ago when nobody really knew that much about me, I said Voice of the Wildcats was the coolest thing. It just is.

FRITCHEN: Does it feel like you've been Voice of the Wildcats for 20 years or does it sometimes feel like it's just been two years?

THOMPSON: I guess a little of both. I think from the perspective of people knowing me better now and me being exposed to them over the long term has helped, and certainly that has more to do with the great kids we've had come through here, and the coaches, and the results, and bowl games and NCAA Tournaments, more than anything else. It doesn't take you long to be in the broadcast business to know you're going to be a lot more popular the more you win. It's just kind of what it is. After this long of time, it's really interesting when you go to those Catbacker events and meet somebody new who instantly knows that it's me after they hear me talk. I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.

FRITCHEN: At some point, something clicked, and you had this dream and decided to get into sports broadcasting. Walk me though this path and how you ended up at K-State.

THOMPSON: Well, when I first started in college, I was an animal science major and was on the livestock judging team. After a semester, I gave up a scholarship and borrowed some money and went back and decided I wanted to give broadcasting a try. My roommate was a broadcast major and I followed him around and thought, "This is pretty cool, I'll try this." I didn't think about it the first few weeks, and then it became more and more on the forefront of my mind. Then once you get into the business, and fight your way through school, I was so fortunate in the early days to work with such professional people, even though it was small-market radio and television. One job led to another job and Fort Hays State led to Colorado State and Colorado State led to Kansas State. But I'm basically here because of Tim Weiser and Casey Scott, who knew me during my Colorado State days. That's good fortune.

FRITCHEN: What's been the most challenging time in your sportscasting career?

THOMPSON: On a professional level, just the fight to try and get to the Division I level. I think back on my days in Hays, and I spent five years in Hays before I got the Colorado State position, and I loved it there. Fort Hays State was a NAIA school, but they'd won a national championship in basketball while I was there in 1985, and I was doing so many games with the two high schools and Fort Hays State, and I loved it. But you still have that itch and desire to try and get to Division I. At that time, when you're young and energetic, you think you can do anything, and send out a resume and tape, and at some level you're going to get down when you're told "no" many times. Most people don't like being told "no." Then you finally know somebody or get a break and hopefully you can take advantage of it.

The lowest part personally was those early days going through a divorce, which was hard, as you learn over time that doing this is a pretty heavy-duty commitment with nights and weekends and all that, so those early days and the divorce was probably the hardest time for me from a personal standpoint.

FRITCHEN: Your first season at K-State came at a memorable time in K-State football history. How exciting was that first season for you?

THOMPSON: My first football season in 2002, I couldn't believe how talented they were the first practice I went to. Where I'd been previously, they'd had a very, very nice run of bowl games and championship-type teams, but it really stood out watching Darren Sproles and Ell Roberson and Terence Newman, and Rashad Washington, and all of the people — I hate starting to name guys — but I mean, the starting linebackers were Josh Buhl, Terry Pierce and Bryan Hickman. It just jumped off the page to me. That season was challenging, certainly, but it was so much fun because we played – and this was also true in 2003 – we played a lot of games, the bowls, and it was — I look back on it now and realize maybe more now than back then how special those guys were. I mean, I didn't even mention Nick Leckey and Ryan Lilja and they're two of my all-time favorite guys. They'll do anything for K-State and K-State football, and you know that. That was just a real special time for me.

FRITCHEN: It was a special time, for sure. And for 20 years now you've been a part of many special teams and special moments. What are some of your personal favorite calls you've made at K-State?

THOMPSON: I think the call that most people bring up is the middle screen to Darren Sproles in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game, so that's probably No. 1. It's hard to think because there've been so many. It's hard to rank them, but maybe we can just throw some out there. There was the Ell Roberson-to-James Terry earlier in the Big 12 title game was probably good because of the timing and significance of the play. Terence Newman returning the extra-point for a score was spectacular just because it was against USC and how he did it. He zig-zagged all the way across the field from one side to the other. That was crazy. There was the last-play touchdown pass from Skylar Thompson to Isaiah Zuber (against Iowa State). The four-overtime win over Texas A&M. One that I really liked that a lot of people don't bring up is the Brandon Archer pick-six against Missouri during the final game of Coach Snyder's first tenure in 2005. Those are a few that really stand out.

In basketball, beating KU for the first time at Bramlage Coliseum with Michael Beasley, Frank Martin and that group. One that most don't bring up is Jim Wooldridge's team beating KU in Allen Field House. I don't know if there were any great calls, but that was one of my better days. Everybody would think about the double-overtime win against Xavier in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. That was classic. It's hard to forget about Jacob Pullen breaking the school scoring record, too. Then there's Barry Brown's shot to beat Kentucky. This one kind of hurts because I think he actually hurt his foot on the play, but Dean Wade's over-the-head stuff against Oklahoma on Senior Day was pretty big. That was a Big 12 Championship kind of moment.

In baseball, I remember the final call for the 2013 Big 12 Championship. That was crazy. The hard part and the great thing is that you think about all those games and memories and play calls, and that's what's so awesome about my job. I've gotten to see so many great moments.

FRITCHEN: People always hear you on the radio and have no idea what goes into preparation for that sportscast. You undoubtedly have your weekly routine down and schedule memorized during football season. Can you take us through a football week for Wyatt Thompson?

THOMPSON: Well, you work ahead a lot and update as you go. I mean, I've already started outlines for probably half of the 2022 season already. There'll be changes and adds and subtractions, what have you, but it starts with that. Once the season starts, after that first game on Saturday, you're back in here on Sunday morning. I'm usually here five or six hours on Sunday, for sure, trying to get a jump on the week ahead. Monday is a very interesting day because you lay out everything you need to do. I have the Wildcat Insider show (on KMAN) on Monday. There are lots of interviews during the course of the week, whether I'm doing the interviews, or people are interviewing me. I do several radio stations across the state each week during the fall and winter.

You have your press conference day on Tuesday with Chris Klieman, and on Thursday everybody meets with the coordinators, and Thursday night is the coach's show, and everything every day is a full day. You come in Sunday and the next thing you know you look up and you're in the booth on Friday setting up for a game day on Saturday, and it's like, "Here we are. Ready to go again." But I love the process.

I need to talk about the actual game and charts. Each week, we make a chart for K-State players and the opponent's players. The chart includes a great deal of other information as well. I learned a long time ago that you work on the chart and put all the numbers and trends in there and you probably end up using less than a third of the information, but putting it from the fingers to the computer and what you use on gameday, it kind of goes through your brain, and when you need it, it's there. That's what those depth charts are for. You look down and refresh a little bit. I also watch a great deal of film. I tape a lot of games. If we're playing Oklahoma, by the time we play them, I will have watched their games at least a couple times each. It eats up your week pretty quickly, but it's awesome work. I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's awesome.

FRITCHEN: What was it like working with Bill Snyder and what did you learn most working with him?

THOMPSON: By the time I first met Coach, he had already accomplished so much here, and he was established, and you think you know what he's accomplished, but until you're here and learn his ways and the K-State way, you don't fully know. I admired his passion for his job, for football, for this place, and for all the people that make up the university and athletic department setting. I always felt like – and this is probably the wrong way to say it – but looking at Coach Snyder, you had to know the broad scope of people who worked for him and with him, those people within the program, and the personnel — everyone from the early days like Del Miller, his first hire, and the late, great longtime secretary Joan Friederich, and Hall of Fame video coordinator Scott Eilert. It doesn't take long to understand this is a pretty special thing. With Coach, it was a process of learning over time about how he cared about his program, the young people in it, and the people who worked for him and with him, and that's how he built it. That'll always stay with me. Always.

FRITCHEN: And now you're headed into year four with Chris Klieman. What do you appreciate the most about Coach Klieman?

THOMPSON: One of the first things I noticed was how comfortable he was in his own skin. I carried the perception that following Coach Snyder would be remarkably difficult on so many levels, and I'm sure it was, but because of Coach Klieman's success at North Dakota State — he believes in his ways and system and so on and had great success — it probably made the transition fairly simple. He really did a good job of respecting the greatness that was Coach Snyder and yet knew that he had to be who he was, and who he was, was fine.

There are similarities with the two, certainly, like with all coaches, and there are differences, but I think the differences might not be as monumental as some might think. Some things with success boil down to a few things, the little things, Coach Klieman is a very fine football coach. I'd say one other aspect of his success is that he really hires good people and lets them work and he seems to do a really nice job of getting young people, plug-in-play players, that would be able to understand K-State and hit the ground running here. He's done a nice job of that.

FRITCHEN: You're probably in somewhat rare company because you've covered a very successful quarterback who's become offensive coordinator. Tell me about the journey with Collin Klein as a player and seeing him mature into this role.

THOMPSON: This one is a really good question because Stan Weber and I have lots of conversations over the years and we'd both agree that Collin is one of the most unique talents that we've had the opportunity to know and work with as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach, or as a coordinator — all of the above. He's a special individual. We've had a lot of special players here, but I think he's absolutely one of the very best natural leaders of a team as a player, and I think that's carried over into his career as a professional coach. There's the bowl against LSU, and the job he did for that in 30 or 35 days, and for the offense to play like that, it was so satisfying to see him accomplish that, and it just seemed like it was done perfectly and with ease, and we know that's not necessarily the case. I'm just trying to make the point of how good I think he is, and potentially can be. I've been very lucky with a lot of the people that I've been around, but there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be a head coach someday, and probably sooner rather than later. It won't surprise me when that day comes, I'll say that. He's a special, special human being.

FRITCHEN: Right now, the K-State football team is working out over the summer. What do you do over the summer?

THOMPSON: Again, with the change in the Catbacker Tour, it's not the stretch through the end of June that it normally was, so here in about a week and a half, I'm going to take a little time off and actually do a baseball trip with a couple of other couples, and I'm looking forward to that. Karen's birthday is in July, our anniversary is in July, and most of my time off is in July, so that's when you kind of decompress a little bit. I'll spend probably the rest of June trying to get that trip in, but also work ahead on football as much as possible, and basketball, too, just because of the newness and so many new faces, but then get away some in July. By the time the first of August rolls around, for guys like you and me, it's work time. By then, you talk about the people around the state being so excited for this upcoming season, just think the excitement surrounding K-State sports then. That's that process that I love. I can't wait for Big 12 Media Days, and I can't wait for the first of August for the guys to report back, and for fall camp to start.

FRITCHEN: And then before long you'll be in the booth again, your second home. You're a six-time Kansas Sportscaster of the Year and have earned the honor four times in a row. How meaningful are those honors to you?

THOMPSON: It means a lot, I'm not going to kid you, and I get emotional talking about it just because it's such a rare thing, I guess. I'm proud of it. I think there's so much more to it — it's like winning the Heisman almost. Every Heisman winner ever has said, "I couldn't do this without my team," and I think about it that way. I'm beyond fortunate with Stan Weber and Matt Walters, and Learfield Sports, and Ben Boyle, and Kenny Lannou and Ryan Lackey in sports information. There are so many people who make your job one you can accomplish at a decently high level. Does that make sense? It's hard to put this into perspective, but I'm honored and thrilled with that organization because it's a great group. You are nominated by your peers, which also means a lot. That's really, I think for me, the most special part of it.

It's a lot of guys around the state having respect for your work and in this particular state there are some really good ones at the three major colleges, and some of the really good ones also work in other places across the state. I've got a buddy at Pitt State, a buddy at Fort Hays and Emporia, and I know all those guys and there are a lot of good ones in this state. Brian Smoller and Matt Walters right here, I can't tell you how many people tell me about the job they do in baseball. It helps to be doing this here, because we all love it. It's just what it is. If I'm even in the vicinity of the other Voice of the Wildcats, I'm OK with that. When this is all said and done, if the fans appreciate my effort, and think that I'm a pretty good guy, and I love K-State, I think that's pretty good, you know? With the respect to the other guys, if you're in that conversation, I think I'm smart enough to know that's pretty good. The lineage of Voice of the Wildcats is pretty breathtaking, when you think about it, and seriously, that's very cool. That's an awesome thing.

Kansas State University Athletics

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