Ask the AD: April 26, 2024
Apr 26, 2024 | Athletics
Brian Smoller (BS): Welcome to another edition of "Ask The AD". Brian Smoller with Director of Athletics, Gene Taylor. Glad you could join us. And we're glad that you sent in a bunch of questions. I know there are a lot of people are asking about the Ireland football game, we're gonna get to that right from the get-go. We'll have some other news and notes from other sports to get to as well. And of course, our favorite question about beer.
Gene Taylor (GT): Yeah. Always got to have beer.
BS: So we will start with Ireland.
GT: That's kind of a good combination: beer and Ireland.
BS: I didn't want to make that leap. But it is obviously a natural tie-in. The places in Ireland if they're not ready, they better be ready for K-State fans and Iowa State fans coming over. Farmageddon, it's a great rivalry game. What all went in, well the first question we get is from Garrett Reihs from Facebook. And I think it's a good one. The question: "How did this come about? How did this get on the radar for K-State to take the home game against Iowa State and move it to Ireland?"
GT: Well, it kind of goes back quite a ways. John Anthony, who Anthony Travel is one of the main sponsors and promoters behind this game, they've now done several of them. I've known John a long time. And John and I started talking about would there ever be an opportunity for K-State. And I just wasn't sure, you know, how coach would want to do that, and so we really hadn't found a game that worked. And then he presented the idea to me probably four or five months ago and said, "Hey, would you ever consider taking a conference game to week zero?" And he felt just because the fan bases, because that's what they want, they want teams that are going to draw. I'm going to fall on both of our fan bases, we know do a great job of that. And so at first I said, "Let me talk to coach," and I didn't think coach would be all in yet, you know, because it's a conference game, it's across the pond. But when he, Coach Klieman talked to a couple of coaches that had been at the game, he was all in. And so then we just started from there putting it together, you know, we had to go to the Big 12. Because the Big 12 plays a role because we're TV partners, the NCAA, sort of because it's a week zero game. And then we had to get through approvals. And here we are. And so it happened pretty quickly once we actually did talk to the both of coaches to come together. I think it's a great game and a great opportunity for us.
BS: Obviously, decisions being, any of them that we talked about on this Ask the AD, none of them happen overnight. And then there's a lot of contingencies, the what ifs that are all played out. The fact that we'll only have six home games next year. Plus Iowa State, a rivalry game that people forward to having in this stadium. How did you get to the decision to say that this was a better deal?
GT: Yeah, you know, they're all important, right? We hate, well hate is probably strong word. We just don't like not having seven home games. It affects hotels, it affects restaurants, we understand that. You know, a couple years ago, we played Stanford in Dallas, but we still had seven games. This year, just because in 2024 we're only going to have six. And so that was a big factor. Jamie Pollard, the AD, and I talked a great deal about this game and the rivalry. But we both felt that that game on Week Zero is such a massive viewership and an opportunity to sell not only both programs from a football perspective, but from a university perspective. There's some great agriculture tie-ins, there's some great university tie-ins for both our schools. And then just to play a week zero. And then those that have gone over and experienced the game/teams before us, they just can't rave about what a great opportunities for our athletes. Many of these young men, and some of our staff members that are young women, have never been out of the country. And so for them to be able to have this experience. And as John Anthony says, the only people that love Americans more than Americans are the Irish. And so I think the welcoming that they're going to have over there is going to be phenomenal.
BS: It will be a lot of fun. Of course, there are the logistical nightmares that everybody will have to get through here in a year. And again, the game is not until the fall of 2025. But so how does this affect the non-conference schedule? Because this is the question we get now from @scottwildcat: "How does the Week Zero game affect the rest of the non-conference schedule for that year? Is this a week one game getting moved to later in the season and you get two weeks off or two weeks later in the year?" How does that all work?
GT: That's where we'll work with the Big 12. When it comes to scheduling, both coaches have talked about they will just want to come back and keep playing the regular non-conference and finish it just like it's currently scheduled. And so the conference will work with us on that. But that's a year, ironically enough, that has two bye weeks already, just the way the calendar works. So that's where we're going to work with them as to when that bye falls because we don't really necessarily want it to fall where the game was originally scheduled. But that's something we'll have to work with the actual conference from a scheduling perspective. But we hope and we think it'll happen is our current non-conference schedule will stay as is. So we'll come back from Ireland, and then play the remaining non-conferences and then hopefully get a break at that next opportunity.
BS: Maybe a little bit of jet lag coming back from Ireland.
GT: Yeah. But it'll be fun. I mean, it's gonna be I was over there years ago with the with Navy/Notre Dame game, and it was quite the experience.
BS: All right, so our next question from @ConnorBalthazor, who asks from Twitter: "Can we expect any more future football non-conference game announcements anytime soon?"
GT: You know, nothing that I can talk about it. We've never really talked about any other games, you know, again, these things just kind of come up sometimes on the last minute or at least just a thought, you know. There's always, you know, folks that have wanted us to move a game. But again, we have to be really, really careful as to when, and how that impacts our regular schedule. So, you know, again, our goal is to have as many home games as seven every year. But if the right opportunity comes along, but I'd say probably for a while, we're going to be probably set where we are.
BS: Oregon State is the most recent announcement.
GT: Right. The recent announcement, yes. Yeah, that's correct.
BS: All right. So, speaking of football and staying on that theme, here's our weekly or monthly beer question. It comes from @BPHampton from X: "With the new two-minute warning" (with that new rule being in place now for football) "and no beer sales in the seats, people" (in his opinion) "are going to head for the beer gardens in the parking lot. Should we revisit the beer policy now?"
GT: Well, it's an interesting question. But really that two-minute warning doesn't really we've always had timeouts, right, you still get the timeouts in the first half and in the second half. And that two minutes probably going to fall where a lot of timeouts happen to fall typically in the fourth quarter, the second quarter, or the fourth quarter. Obviously, this is more of the second quarter. So I don't know that it's really going to affect on people's day. If it's a good first half, they're going to stay if we're up by a lot, then they're probably going to leave anyway before the two-minute warning. But not sure it's going to spur beer sales in the stadium. There's a lot more to that one, then.
BS: The beer policy gets revisited every year.
GT: It does.
BS: Regardless of the two-minute warning or not. Next question from @Joe_Bagley90 and this is a baseball question. The baseball team heading towards postseason, we hope. "Are there any plans to pad the gates at Tointon Family Stadium after this past weekend?" Joe's referencing a play as we'll see here, David Bishop, first baseman for K-State, kind of a free play. Just racing down the first base side runs into where the concrete wall juts out just a little bit. There's a beautiful metal gate there and he caught the gate just wrong. And there are some temporary pads on there.
GT: Yeah, we're gonna pad that up. Obviously, it was unfortunate. It was unfortunate, but we're very fortunate that it wasn't more of a serious injury. I'm sure he's gonna recover. But yeah, we'll pad that up and make sure that hopefully they don't run into the wall again.
BS: The one thing that people ask about facility stuff from time to time, right? Are we are we done doing facilities, the big projects are done. But this is an example of small little projects that will happen across the athletic department footprint.
GT: We're always looking at facilities and upgrades and you know, regular maintenance. Just trying to make sure you stay on top of major, you know, issues that might pop up. So yeah, there's always little things that could go on every year.
BS: Speaking of other things that go on every year. It's always off-season of portal not only just for student-athletes, but also for coaches, people coming after coaches. We've got great coaches here at K-State. One of them was Jerome Tang this off-season. This question comes from @kriley111 on X, who asks: "What is the new wording in the Jerome Tang contract?" That kept Coach Tang here?
GT: Well, you know, a lot of it, there really is not a lot of new wording, it's just an addendum or amendment to his contract that just readjusted some of this financial stuff that we agreed to to keep him there. It was certainly I think a fair number and we've added a year or two I can't remember the actual number, it was two years. And then we've adjusted some of his salary will go up a little bit and some opportunities for a little bit more money for his assistant coaches as well.
BS: The battle for coaches, do you see it never-ending with the two that we have in Jerome Tang and Chris Klieman?
GT: You know, good news, bad news, right? They have success, and people recognize the success and they want to maybe have that opportunity at their institution. And, you know, there may come a point where somebody is going to offer dollars that we can't match. And if that's the case, we'll have to, you know, pat him on the back. But our goal is to keep him here and do everything we can to keep him here as long as we can keep him here.
BS: One of the things that the athletic department has embraced in efforts to try and help coaches is NIL. We've talked about Wildcat NIL on this show and elsewhere throughout our time. Ahearn Fund recently announced that they're in their 60th year sales celebration and 60 Days of Giving during this time. Why is the Ahearn Fund also important to give to in addition to Wildcat NIL?
GT: Well, the Ahearn Fund, as we know, is really our operational dollars and our scholarship dollars primarily. And so those numbers are big for us. The Ahearn Fund funds about, you know, $25 million a year of our revenue, and that's a big number in terms of our ability to stay competitive. So we've asked all our donors to consider both that they don't take from the Ahearn to give to NIL that both are important. We kind of couched it as the NIL is our new facility capital campaign, which it really isn't a facility, but that's kind of what donors have done in the past. They've given to Ahearn and they've helped us with our facilities. So now we're asking the same thing. Continue to give to Ahearn but also if you want to give to NIL, just don't take one from to give to the other. Most everybody has been really, really good of understanding that and participate in that way.
BS: It's been a fun spring season to this point already. Some sports have already wrapped up postseason play, and others are getting ready for their stretch. Right, track and field is just around the corner beginning their last home meet and then off to the postseason. Baseball, we hope this year seems to be in a good spot as well.
GT: You know, they got to finish strong. And like Pete, I think he's scheduled aggressively this year, to make sure they are in a position that you know, the committee once they get down to that, it's out of their hands. They just look at the body of work and they get on with that body work. And maybe even though the Big 12 Championship.
BS: That'll be all on the table for them to here down the stretch. Thank you, as always, for doing these. I know it assures people a little bit and reassures them. There is no big news right now from the conference, which is a good thing.
GT: That's a good thing.
BS: And from that standpoint. And I get a question a lot, just like, 'Hey, are we going to be okay?' Yes, it will be okay. You're gonna be
GT: We're going to be fine. You know, but big, big event this weekend.
BS: That's right, Powercat Auction coming up this weekend. Auction items already available on the website through kstatesports.com and get to the Ahearn Fund, that's where you can find all those items. And you'll be there coming up this weekend.
GT: It might be some. There's some really fun items on the live auction that I think if you don't have a ticket, if there's still tickets available, you might want to at least certainly go online and look at those opportunities.
BS: Not just items, but also experiences that you get with K-State teams and behind the scenes stuff as well. Thanks as always for doing this.
GT: Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it.
BS: Gene Taylor, Director of Athletics, the nation's best joining us here on Ask the AD. Keep those questions coming through social media channels. We'll be back in about a month or two and put a bow on the 23-24 campaign. Until then, for Gene, I'm Brian Smoller and thank you for watching.
Gene Taylor (GT): Yeah. Always got to have beer.
BS: So we will start with Ireland.
GT: That's kind of a good combination: beer and Ireland.
BS: I didn't want to make that leap. But it is obviously a natural tie-in. The places in Ireland if they're not ready, they better be ready for K-State fans and Iowa State fans coming over. Farmageddon, it's a great rivalry game. What all went in, well the first question we get is from Garrett Reihs from Facebook. And I think it's a good one. The question: "How did this come about? How did this get on the radar for K-State to take the home game against Iowa State and move it to Ireland?"
GT: Well, it kind of goes back quite a ways. John Anthony, who Anthony Travel is one of the main sponsors and promoters behind this game, they've now done several of them. I've known John a long time. And John and I started talking about would there ever be an opportunity for K-State. And I just wasn't sure, you know, how coach would want to do that, and so we really hadn't found a game that worked. And then he presented the idea to me probably four or five months ago and said, "Hey, would you ever consider taking a conference game to week zero?" And he felt just because the fan bases, because that's what they want, they want teams that are going to draw. I'm going to fall on both of our fan bases, we know do a great job of that. And so at first I said, "Let me talk to coach," and I didn't think coach would be all in yet, you know, because it's a conference game, it's across the pond. But when he, Coach Klieman talked to a couple of coaches that had been at the game, he was all in. And so then we just started from there putting it together, you know, we had to go to the Big 12. Because the Big 12 plays a role because we're TV partners, the NCAA, sort of because it's a week zero game. And then we had to get through approvals. And here we are. And so it happened pretty quickly once we actually did talk to the both of coaches to come together. I think it's a great game and a great opportunity for us.
BS: Obviously, decisions being, any of them that we talked about on this Ask the AD, none of them happen overnight. And then there's a lot of contingencies, the what ifs that are all played out. The fact that we'll only have six home games next year. Plus Iowa State, a rivalry game that people forward to having in this stadium. How did you get to the decision to say that this was a better deal?
GT: Yeah, you know, they're all important, right? We hate, well hate is probably strong word. We just don't like not having seven home games. It affects hotels, it affects restaurants, we understand that. You know, a couple years ago, we played Stanford in Dallas, but we still had seven games. This year, just because in 2024 we're only going to have six. And so that was a big factor. Jamie Pollard, the AD, and I talked a great deal about this game and the rivalry. But we both felt that that game on Week Zero is such a massive viewership and an opportunity to sell not only both programs from a football perspective, but from a university perspective. There's some great agriculture tie-ins, there's some great university tie-ins for both our schools. And then just to play a week zero. And then those that have gone over and experienced the game/teams before us, they just can't rave about what a great opportunities for our athletes. Many of these young men, and some of our staff members that are young women, have never been out of the country. And so for them to be able to have this experience. And as John Anthony says, the only people that love Americans more than Americans are the Irish. And so I think the welcoming that they're going to have over there is going to be phenomenal.
BS: It will be a lot of fun. Of course, there are the logistical nightmares that everybody will have to get through here in a year. And again, the game is not until the fall of 2025. But so how does this affect the non-conference schedule? Because this is the question we get now from @scottwildcat: "How does the Week Zero game affect the rest of the non-conference schedule for that year? Is this a week one game getting moved to later in the season and you get two weeks off or two weeks later in the year?" How does that all work?
GT: That's where we'll work with the Big 12. When it comes to scheduling, both coaches have talked about they will just want to come back and keep playing the regular non-conference and finish it just like it's currently scheduled. And so the conference will work with us on that. But that's a year, ironically enough, that has two bye weeks already, just the way the calendar works. So that's where we're going to work with them as to when that bye falls because we don't really necessarily want it to fall where the game was originally scheduled. But that's something we'll have to work with the actual conference from a scheduling perspective. But we hope and we think it'll happen is our current non-conference schedule will stay as is. So we'll come back from Ireland, and then play the remaining non-conferences and then hopefully get a break at that next opportunity.
BS: Maybe a little bit of jet lag coming back from Ireland.
GT: Yeah. But it'll be fun. I mean, it's gonna be I was over there years ago with the with Navy/Notre Dame game, and it was quite the experience.
BS: All right, so our next question from @ConnorBalthazor, who asks from Twitter: "Can we expect any more future football non-conference game announcements anytime soon?"
GT: You know, nothing that I can talk about it. We've never really talked about any other games, you know, again, these things just kind of come up sometimes on the last minute or at least just a thought, you know. There's always, you know, folks that have wanted us to move a game. But again, we have to be really, really careful as to when, and how that impacts our regular schedule. So, you know, again, our goal is to have as many home games as seven every year. But if the right opportunity comes along, but I'd say probably for a while, we're going to be probably set where we are.
BS: Oregon State is the most recent announcement.
GT: Right. The recent announcement, yes. Yeah, that's correct.
BS: All right. So, speaking of football and staying on that theme, here's our weekly or monthly beer question. It comes from @BPHampton from X: "With the new two-minute warning" (with that new rule being in place now for football) "and no beer sales in the seats, people" (in his opinion) "are going to head for the beer gardens in the parking lot. Should we revisit the beer policy now?"
GT: Well, it's an interesting question. But really that two-minute warning doesn't really we've always had timeouts, right, you still get the timeouts in the first half and in the second half. And that two minutes probably going to fall where a lot of timeouts happen to fall typically in the fourth quarter, the second quarter, or the fourth quarter. Obviously, this is more of the second quarter. So I don't know that it's really going to affect on people's day. If it's a good first half, they're going to stay if we're up by a lot, then they're probably going to leave anyway before the two-minute warning. But not sure it's going to spur beer sales in the stadium. There's a lot more to that one, then.
BS: The beer policy gets revisited every year.
GT: It does.
BS: Regardless of the two-minute warning or not. Next question from @Joe_Bagley90 and this is a baseball question. The baseball team heading towards postseason, we hope. "Are there any plans to pad the gates at Tointon Family Stadium after this past weekend?" Joe's referencing a play as we'll see here, David Bishop, first baseman for K-State, kind of a free play. Just racing down the first base side runs into where the concrete wall juts out just a little bit. There's a beautiful metal gate there and he caught the gate just wrong. And there are some temporary pads on there.
GT: Yeah, we're gonna pad that up. Obviously, it was unfortunate. It was unfortunate, but we're very fortunate that it wasn't more of a serious injury. I'm sure he's gonna recover. But yeah, we'll pad that up and make sure that hopefully they don't run into the wall again.
BS: The one thing that people ask about facility stuff from time to time, right? Are we are we done doing facilities, the big projects are done. But this is an example of small little projects that will happen across the athletic department footprint.
GT: We're always looking at facilities and upgrades and you know, regular maintenance. Just trying to make sure you stay on top of major, you know, issues that might pop up. So yeah, there's always little things that could go on every year.
BS: Speaking of other things that go on every year. It's always off-season of portal not only just for student-athletes, but also for coaches, people coming after coaches. We've got great coaches here at K-State. One of them was Jerome Tang this off-season. This question comes from @kriley111 on X, who asks: "What is the new wording in the Jerome Tang contract?" That kept Coach Tang here?
GT: Well, you know, a lot of it, there really is not a lot of new wording, it's just an addendum or amendment to his contract that just readjusted some of this financial stuff that we agreed to to keep him there. It was certainly I think a fair number and we've added a year or two I can't remember the actual number, it was two years. And then we've adjusted some of his salary will go up a little bit and some opportunities for a little bit more money for his assistant coaches as well.
BS: The battle for coaches, do you see it never-ending with the two that we have in Jerome Tang and Chris Klieman?
GT: You know, good news, bad news, right? They have success, and people recognize the success and they want to maybe have that opportunity at their institution. And, you know, there may come a point where somebody is going to offer dollars that we can't match. And if that's the case, we'll have to, you know, pat him on the back. But our goal is to keep him here and do everything we can to keep him here as long as we can keep him here.
BS: One of the things that the athletic department has embraced in efforts to try and help coaches is NIL. We've talked about Wildcat NIL on this show and elsewhere throughout our time. Ahearn Fund recently announced that they're in their 60th year sales celebration and 60 Days of Giving during this time. Why is the Ahearn Fund also important to give to in addition to Wildcat NIL?
GT: Well, the Ahearn Fund, as we know, is really our operational dollars and our scholarship dollars primarily. And so those numbers are big for us. The Ahearn Fund funds about, you know, $25 million a year of our revenue, and that's a big number in terms of our ability to stay competitive. So we've asked all our donors to consider both that they don't take from the Ahearn to give to NIL that both are important. We kind of couched it as the NIL is our new facility capital campaign, which it really isn't a facility, but that's kind of what donors have done in the past. They've given to Ahearn and they've helped us with our facilities. So now we're asking the same thing. Continue to give to Ahearn but also if you want to give to NIL, just don't take one from to give to the other. Most everybody has been really, really good of understanding that and participate in that way.
BS: It's been a fun spring season to this point already. Some sports have already wrapped up postseason play, and others are getting ready for their stretch. Right, track and field is just around the corner beginning their last home meet and then off to the postseason. Baseball, we hope this year seems to be in a good spot as well.
GT: You know, they got to finish strong. And like Pete, I think he's scheduled aggressively this year, to make sure they are in a position that you know, the committee once they get down to that, it's out of their hands. They just look at the body of work and they get on with that body work. And maybe even though the Big 12 Championship.
BS: That'll be all on the table for them to here down the stretch. Thank you, as always, for doing these. I know it assures people a little bit and reassures them. There is no big news right now from the conference, which is a good thing.
GT: That's a good thing.
BS: And from that standpoint. And I get a question a lot, just like, 'Hey, are we going to be okay?' Yes, it will be okay. You're gonna be
GT: We're going to be fine. You know, but big, big event this weekend.
BS: That's right, Powercat Auction coming up this weekend. Auction items already available on the website through kstatesports.com and get to the Ahearn Fund, that's where you can find all those items. And you'll be there coming up this weekend.
GT: It might be some. There's some really fun items on the live auction that I think if you don't have a ticket, if there's still tickets available, you might want to at least certainly go online and look at those opportunities.
BS: Not just items, but also experiences that you get with K-State teams and behind the scenes stuff as well. Thanks as always for doing this.
GT: Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it.
BS: Gene Taylor, Director of Athletics, the nation's best joining us here on Ask the AD. Keep those questions coming through social media channels. We'll be back in about a month or two and put a bow on the 23-24 campaign. Until then, for Gene, I'm Brian Smoller and thank you for watching.
K-State Football | Freshmen Move-In Day
Thursday, May 28
K-State Football | Nothing like Field Day in your hometown 💜
Thursday, May 28
K-State Baseball | Special delivery for Dee Kennedy from the Golden Spikes 🌟📦
Tuesday, May 26
K-State Volleyball | Top 10 Aces of the Spring
Tuesday, May 26
