Kansas State University Athletics
On a Mission
Jul 07, 2025 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Clive Pullen is on a mission. He wants the Kansas State track and field program to be the best in college athletics. Since he was announced as a member of K-State athletics by Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Travis Geopfert on August 2, 2024, Pullen, the track and field assistant coach who oversees jumps, has witnessed individual comebacks and medals and All-America dreams come alive amongst several of his jumpers.
"We had a lot of kids that were unmotivated," Pullen says. "It was cool to see through conversations that all they really needed was a set of people that would really get hands on and really believe in them."
Guess what? Prospective student-athletes have apparently taken note of K-State track and field and Pullen's coaching in year one in Manhattan.
"With the new signees we have, superstars in every corner that you look," Pullen says, "they'll play their respective role in giving us a fair shot at the national title."
It all starts, of course, with Geopfert, who leads a dedicated staff that has re-energized the program. After possessing seven national qualifiers last season, the Wildcats had 10 national qualifiers at this year's outdoor national championship.
That is led by senior Shalom Olotu, who earned two Second Team All-America honors in three days in June at the NCAA Championship at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Pullen spoke with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen about his first year on staff with a K-State track and field program that only appears on its way up:
D. Scott Fritchen: Your athletes really shined during your first year as a coach with K-State track and field. Can you just take a moment and brag on what this first year has been like and the strides you saw your jumpers make over the course of the year?
Clive Pullen: The great thing about this staff is we believe in ourselves as coaches to help young people get better at life, not just track, and holistically, that's where we won the game. We had a lot of kids that were unmotivated and gutted and kind of done with the sport. It was cool to see through conversations that all they really needed was a set of people that would really get hands on and really believe in them. The kids bought in and really did their homework.
Based off our accomplishments and separate resumes, they knew that the stuff they'd be doing where the right things. It wasn't by accident we had the success we had in previous years. I believe it was seemingly a breath of fresh air for them all. I told them all through the year that I wanted for them to take advantage of this year that they have with us. The name of the game in our field is recruiting. We were all able to see the athletes I was able to sign this year. I said, "Guys, I want you into a position that you'll blend in well with the caliber of athletes we're bringing in. It's going to be completely different." That's been the consistent conversation I've had with my group the entire year. The separation between themselves and where they'd like to get it is a matter of being exposed to the right information.
It's not by chance we had kids getting personal bests by over two feet. And we had people hitting personal bests. It was a contagious thing, which began indoors and went on into outdoors.
Shalom Olotu, a fifth-year senior, from her own words, folks never thought she was good enough. To see her be the MVP at the indoor conference meet in getting silver in both long jump and triple jump, I had coaches from other schools come up to me and ask how I revived her from the dead. Those are some of the comments I've received about all my athletes throughout the year. It says a lot about how they've bought into what we're doing here and the culture we've built and the togetherness. We all move as a unit. We had three girls finish in the top eight in the indoor conference meet, and one was a mid-year transfer in Taylor Mayo. We had Tesia Thomas, who was a transfer from Penn State, and then we had Shalom, who's been here the past four years, and she's never had any success of that magnitude.
Watching Shalom in the first weeks of practice, she'd blend in the back, always wore long sleeves and a hoodie tied to a neck and she never looked you in the face. She was on zero. She just never had any confidence. I asked her if she had ever won anything, even in elementary school, and she said she never knew what it felt like to win anything. In the first weeks, we did some rudimentary hops, and I ran to the office and told Travis, "I think I have something to work with here." These were conversations I had with Travis in September. Every month, as I tracked Shalom's progress, I reminded Travis and her of the conversation we had in September. Fast-forward to indoor conference and she gets silver in both long jump and triple jump and is the most valuable player on the whole team at the conference meet.
There's Sharie Enoe, who qualified for indoor national, and she was a young lady who tore her meniscus in October. She was out of training until January and she was in the national meet indoors and became an All-American. That says a lot about her and the way she bought in.
Indoor conference, we got fourth and fifth, respectively, in long jump and triple jump, but the goal for Shalom and myself was to get her to the national meet. Seeing we got double silvers indoors at the conference level, my goal was to surpass that and get to the national meet. For Shalom to have the best marks of her entire career at the regional qualifier, having personal bests in consecutive days was tremendous.
Holistically as a squad I feel like we out-performed everyone's expectations. It just says a lot about K-State track and K-State jumps. We have a lot of things to be proud of and a lot of momentum to build on going into the next season.
Fritchen: What makes you so excited about year two?
Pullen: The momentum. For everybody in the track world that's following, they all know what we're capable of. Our K-State administration believes in us. It shows in our recruiting. We're winning battles against steep opponents in the SEC. They're going over the top in recruiting battles and still losing to us. It just speaks volumes to our caliber as coaches and the culture we're building here, and everybody wants to be associated with winning, and we're winners. That's just the flat-out truth. We've won at every level there is. We've coached collegiate record-holders, we've coached Olympic gold medalists. I mean, the proof is in the pudding, you know? The system works and it's proven.
For any young individual that's out there that has the potential and we have shared interest, you'd be coo-coo to not take the opportunity to be a part of something special here. The momentum that we got going... having that same team produce 10 qualifiers, I mean, that in itself is a selling point. And now, with the new signees we have, superstars in every corner that you look, they'll play their respective role in giving us a fair shot at the national title.
Fritchen: Travis gives you the initial phone call to join him as a coach at K-State. What's your immediate reaction?
Pullen: Yes! It was a no-brainer, you know? Travis is way more than a coach to me. Travis took me from Jamaica, where I came from very humble beginnings, and just wanted an opportunity. At the time, I was highly-ranked as a recruit, got 20-plus full-ride offers from the entire SEC and ACC and Big 12 conferences and Oregon and USC, and Travis, I believed in him as a guy that built a rapport with my family for years ahead of me signing with any school. I get asked a lot why I picked Arkansas when I was being recruited, and my answer has been the same and it'll continue to be the same — I never chose Arkansas because it was Arkansas. I chose Arkansas because Travis happened to be at Arkansas. If Travis was at Idaho or Nevada, that's where I would've ended up.
To see how my life tremendously changed ever since we joined forces, being a 19-year-old Olympian while in college, and making the world championship team while in college, ending my collegiate career as the No. 10 all-time collegiate triple-jumper, and qualifying for the Olympics to become the first Jamaican to do so in 45 years, and being a trailblazer in so many facets, our relationship goes way beyond just track. Travis changed my life, and I'm so grateful for him and the way he's played a role in my development as an athlete, coach and human. It was a no-brainer. In life, you have very few people who you can call your people. Family to me means a lot more than being related. Travis is family to me. I'll go to war for that guy any time. I knew we'd be back on the same staff, but I didn't know it'd be this soon. God was in the midst of all of it and it happened. I'm here.
Fritchen: What was the first order of business when you came to K-State?
Pullen: Being all over in the SEC, honestly, Arkansas and Tennessee, and just being recruited by the entire SEC, I never came to K-State on a recruiting visit, and I didn't know anything about K-State. Even when I was coaching at KU, K-State was never on my radar for whatever reason. I think we all as a staff can say the same, that the location never really matters. The people are what matters. That's what K-State has right at this point in time. We have the right people at the right place at the right time. That supersedes location, color, jersey, anything.
We have a good family-oriented group of people in the K-State athletic department that I've never seen before. The support, seeing football staff show up at practice just to hang out, I've never seen that before. To be on recruiting visits and men's basketball staff come out and hangs out with us on a recruiting visit, I've never seen that before. To be in conversation and at dinners and around other staff from the big-revenue sports, I've just never seen anything like it before. For me, that was unique, and it was clear it was something special here.
The first order of events, to be honest, was to hit the ground running on recruiting. It's a big part of our industry. You're as good as your athletes. At this level, you need a certain caliber of athletes to take it to the next level. We do a good job of that. If we have someone who comes in at a certain level already, just know it's going to be something crazy once we get our hands on them. And we've proven that over and over and year in and year out for the past decade. I'm just super excited. K-State athletics should be beyond excited right now.
Fritchen: How have you noticed the dividends from the fruits of your labors this year on the recruiting trail?
Pullen: Oh, man. The way I look at it is recruiting is easy for me, and hear me out, all that I do in my recruiting pitch is talk about my experience. I talk about my experience, the way Travis has changed my life, and I talk about the different people that along the way we've been able help and help change their lives. Young, sensible, talented people are able to see that. It goes beyond a dollar amount that another institution can cough up.
When people are able to see proof, I think where a lot of people go wrong is that they completely negate the part where they show the kid how they can help them and help their lives — not this instant lump sum of money. If at the end of the year, the kid sees no progress, that's how you lose kids. That's how the portal becomes handy, because all these institutions come in and talk about a monetary gain you can receive right this second if you sign, and to us, we don't need any of that, because if we're going to lose in a recruiting battle because a kid took the money, and completely negated the fact that they're not going to get better at that institution, we'll get the kid on the rebound.
Our recruiting is easy, we're low-pressure to people, I say how it is, and I never lie, and I never overpromise, and I'm fair. We're not going to go over the top because another institution is pushing the envelope. The proof is here. No one can argue with stats. When you're able to be straight forward, it's easy. It really forces these kids to put some thought into what they're doing. If money is what you're chasing, maybe we're not for you. Being transactional, I don't think that's what it should be. If a kid wants to be great, go where greatness is produced.
Fritchen: Why is the K-State track and field program dangerous today?
Pullen: Because we're here. And we're not here for a year or two years, we're here to stay, and for as long as we're here, you already know Travis, the track, and the history.
Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself in your first year at K-State?
Pullen: These past couple years my transition from professional athlete to coach, I underestimated how much of an impact I had on young people, but the more I'm in this profession, the more I'm realizing that the impact is real. I'm thankful for the mentorship I got through my athletic career and as a professional athlete, and all the feats that I was able to accomplish. I give all the kudos to Travis, he's been my guy through it all, been my dad away from home. Through him, I'm now able to give back to my set of kids in that same fashion.
Being such a recent success story, being in the gap between a current student-athlete and an older coach, and being in the position to hold the hands of these young individuals in a process that I've been through, and letting them know I've been through every single process that you're about to go through, I can literally hold their hand, and I can tell them everything will work out because I've done it. I know every ache and pain that you might feel at any point in the season. Being able to demonstrate and break it down in such a way because I recently encountered it. Then there's just the way I articulate, it's a swagger, and for me, when it's all said and done, beyond everything, it's the impact that I've really come to gain a full understanding that, yeah, I really do have a strong impact. When you're climbing and at the top, everybody wants to bring you down – and it comes with the territory – but I've learned to keep my head down and continue to grind, and that's all I really know.
I came from humble beginnings and had to go after everything I wanted because nothing was ever given. I knew I was a hard worker and had a work ethic, but to see how this year played out from a recruiting front and coaching front, I superseded any of my expectations. I knew I was good, but geez, this year was one for the history books, and I know there's going to be way more in very short order, and it starts with the athletes that I've been able to help become a part of the Wildcat Family.
Clive Pullen is on a mission. He wants the Kansas State track and field program to be the best in college athletics. Since he was announced as a member of K-State athletics by Director of Track and Field/Cross Country Travis Geopfert on August 2, 2024, Pullen, the track and field assistant coach who oversees jumps, has witnessed individual comebacks and medals and All-America dreams come alive amongst several of his jumpers.
"We had a lot of kids that were unmotivated," Pullen says. "It was cool to see through conversations that all they really needed was a set of people that would really get hands on and really believe in them."
Guess what? Prospective student-athletes have apparently taken note of K-State track and field and Pullen's coaching in year one in Manhattan.
"With the new signees we have, superstars in every corner that you look," Pullen says, "they'll play their respective role in giving us a fair shot at the national title."
It all starts, of course, with Geopfert, who leads a dedicated staff that has re-energized the program. After possessing seven national qualifiers last season, the Wildcats had 10 national qualifiers at this year's outdoor national championship.
That is led by senior Shalom Olotu, who earned two Second Team All-America honors in three days in June at the NCAA Championship at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Pullen spoke with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen about his first year on staff with a K-State track and field program that only appears on its way up:
D. Scott Fritchen: Your athletes really shined during your first year as a coach with K-State track and field. Can you just take a moment and brag on what this first year has been like and the strides you saw your jumpers make over the course of the year?
Clive Pullen: The great thing about this staff is we believe in ourselves as coaches to help young people get better at life, not just track, and holistically, that's where we won the game. We had a lot of kids that were unmotivated and gutted and kind of done with the sport. It was cool to see through conversations that all they really needed was a set of people that would really get hands on and really believe in them. The kids bought in and really did their homework.
Based off our accomplishments and separate resumes, they knew that the stuff they'd be doing where the right things. It wasn't by accident we had the success we had in previous years. I believe it was seemingly a breath of fresh air for them all. I told them all through the year that I wanted for them to take advantage of this year that they have with us. The name of the game in our field is recruiting. We were all able to see the athletes I was able to sign this year. I said, "Guys, I want you into a position that you'll blend in well with the caliber of athletes we're bringing in. It's going to be completely different." That's been the consistent conversation I've had with my group the entire year. The separation between themselves and where they'd like to get it is a matter of being exposed to the right information.
It's not by chance we had kids getting personal bests by over two feet. And we had people hitting personal bests. It was a contagious thing, which began indoors and went on into outdoors.
Shalom Olotu, a fifth-year senior, from her own words, folks never thought she was good enough. To see her be the MVP at the indoor conference meet in getting silver in both long jump and triple jump, I had coaches from other schools come up to me and ask how I revived her from the dead. Those are some of the comments I've received about all my athletes throughout the year. It says a lot about how they've bought into what we're doing here and the culture we've built and the togetherness. We all move as a unit. We had three girls finish in the top eight in the indoor conference meet, and one was a mid-year transfer in Taylor Mayo. We had Tesia Thomas, who was a transfer from Penn State, and then we had Shalom, who's been here the past four years, and she's never had any success of that magnitude.
Watching Shalom in the first weeks of practice, she'd blend in the back, always wore long sleeves and a hoodie tied to a neck and she never looked you in the face. She was on zero. She just never had any confidence. I asked her if she had ever won anything, even in elementary school, and she said she never knew what it felt like to win anything. In the first weeks, we did some rudimentary hops, and I ran to the office and told Travis, "I think I have something to work with here." These were conversations I had with Travis in September. Every month, as I tracked Shalom's progress, I reminded Travis and her of the conversation we had in September. Fast-forward to indoor conference and she gets silver in both long jump and triple jump and is the most valuable player on the whole team at the conference meet.
There's Sharie Enoe, who qualified for indoor national, and she was a young lady who tore her meniscus in October. She was out of training until January and she was in the national meet indoors and became an All-American. That says a lot about her and the way she bought in.
Indoor conference, we got fourth and fifth, respectively, in long jump and triple jump, but the goal for Shalom and myself was to get her to the national meet. Seeing we got double silvers indoors at the conference level, my goal was to surpass that and get to the national meet. For Shalom to have the best marks of her entire career at the regional qualifier, having personal bests in consecutive days was tremendous.
Holistically as a squad I feel like we out-performed everyone's expectations. It just says a lot about K-State track and K-State jumps. We have a lot of things to be proud of and a lot of momentum to build on going into the next season.
Fritchen: What makes you so excited about year two?
Pullen: The momentum. For everybody in the track world that's following, they all know what we're capable of. Our K-State administration believes in us. It shows in our recruiting. We're winning battles against steep opponents in the SEC. They're going over the top in recruiting battles and still losing to us. It just speaks volumes to our caliber as coaches and the culture we're building here, and everybody wants to be associated with winning, and we're winners. That's just the flat-out truth. We've won at every level there is. We've coached collegiate record-holders, we've coached Olympic gold medalists. I mean, the proof is in the pudding, you know? The system works and it's proven.
For any young individual that's out there that has the potential and we have shared interest, you'd be coo-coo to not take the opportunity to be a part of something special here. The momentum that we got going... having that same team produce 10 qualifiers, I mean, that in itself is a selling point. And now, with the new signees we have, superstars in every corner that you look, they'll play their respective role in giving us a fair shot at the national title.
Fritchen: Travis gives you the initial phone call to join him as a coach at K-State. What's your immediate reaction?
Pullen: Yes! It was a no-brainer, you know? Travis is way more than a coach to me. Travis took me from Jamaica, where I came from very humble beginnings, and just wanted an opportunity. At the time, I was highly-ranked as a recruit, got 20-plus full-ride offers from the entire SEC and ACC and Big 12 conferences and Oregon and USC, and Travis, I believed in him as a guy that built a rapport with my family for years ahead of me signing with any school. I get asked a lot why I picked Arkansas when I was being recruited, and my answer has been the same and it'll continue to be the same — I never chose Arkansas because it was Arkansas. I chose Arkansas because Travis happened to be at Arkansas. If Travis was at Idaho or Nevada, that's where I would've ended up.
To see how my life tremendously changed ever since we joined forces, being a 19-year-old Olympian while in college, and making the world championship team while in college, ending my collegiate career as the No. 10 all-time collegiate triple-jumper, and qualifying for the Olympics to become the first Jamaican to do so in 45 years, and being a trailblazer in so many facets, our relationship goes way beyond just track. Travis changed my life, and I'm so grateful for him and the way he's played a role in my development as an athlete, coach and human. It was a no-brainer. In life, you have very few people who you can call your people. Family to me means a lot more than being related. Travis is family to me. I'll go to war for that guy any time. I knew we'd be back on the same staff, but I didn't know it'd be this soon. God was in the midst of all of it and it happened. I'm here.
Fritchen: What was the first order of business when you came to K-State?
Pullen: Being all over in the SEC, honestly, Arkansas and Tennessee, and just being recruited by the entire SEC, I never came to K-State on a recruiting visit, and I didn't know anything about K-State. Even when I was coaching at KU, K-State was never on my radar for whatever reason. I think we all as a staff can say the same, that the location never really matters. The people are what matters. That's what K-State has right at this point in time. We have the right people at the right place at the right time. That supersedes location, color, jersey, anything.
We have a good family-oriented group of people in the K-State athletic department that I've never seen before. The support, seeing football staff show up at practice just to hang out, I've never seen that before. To be on recruiting visits and men's basketball staff come out and hangs out with us on a recruiting visit, I've never seen that before. To be in conversation and at dinners and around other staff from the big-revenue sports, I've just never seen anything like it before. For me, that was unique, and it was clear it was something special here.
The first order of events, to be honest, was to hit the ground running on recruiting. It's a big part of our industry. You're as good as your athletes. At this level, you need a certain caliber of athletes to take it to the next level. We do a good job of that. If we have someone who comes in at a certain level already, just know it's going to be something crazy once we get our hands on them. And we've proven that over and over and year in and year out for the past decade. I'm just super excited. K-State athletics should be beyond excited right now.
Fritchen: How have you noticed the dividends from the fruits of your labors this year on the recruiting trail?
Pullen: Oh, man. The way I look at it is recruiting is easy for me, and hear me out, all that I do in my recruiting pitch is talk about my experience. I talk about my experience, the way Travis has changed my life, and I talk about the different people that along the way we've been able help and help change their lives. Young, sensible, talented people are able to see that. It goes beyond a dollar amount that another institution can cough up.
When people are able to see proof, I think where a lot of people go wrong is that they completely negate the part where they show the kid how they can help them and help their lives — not this instant lump sum of money. If at the end of the year, the kid sees no progress, that's how you lose kids. That's how the portal becomes handy, because all these institutions come in and talk about a monetary gain you can receive right this second if you sign, and to us, we don't need any of that, because if we're going to lose in a recruiting battle because a kid took the money, and completely negated the fact that they're not going to get better at that institution, we'll get the kid on the rebound.
Our recruiting is easy, we're low-pressure to people, I say how it is, and I never lie, and I never overpromise, and I'm fair. We're not going to go over the top because another institution is pushing the envelope. The proof is here. No one can argue with stats. When you're able to be straight forward, it's easy. It really forces these kids to put some thought into what they're doing. If money is what you're chasing, maybe we're not for you. Being transactional, I don't think that's what it should be. If a kid wants to be great, go where greatness is produced.
Fritchen: Why is the K-State track and field program dangerous today?
Pullen: Because we're here. And we're not here for a year or two years, we're here to stay, and for as long as we're here, you already know Travis, the track, and the history.
Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself in your first year at K-State?
Pullen: These past couple years my transition from professional athlete to coach, I underestimated how much of an impact I had on young people, but the more I'm in this profession, the more I'm realizing that the impact is real. I'm thankful for the mentorship I got through my athletic career and as a professional athlete, and all the feats that I was able to accomplish. I give all the kudos to Travis, he's been my guy through it all, been my dad away from home. Through him, I'm now able to give back to my set of kids in that same fashion.
Being such a recent success story, being in the gap between a current student-athlete and an older coach, and being in the position to hold the hands of these young individuals in a process that I've been through, and letting them know I've been through every single process that you're about to go through, I can literally hold their hand, and I can tell them everything will work out because I've done it. I know every ache and pain that you might feel at any point in the season. Being able to demonstrate and break it down in such a way because I recently encountered it. Then there's just the way I articulate, it's a swagger, and for me, when it's all said and done, beyond everything, it's the impact that I've really come to gain a full understanding that, yeah, I really do have a strong impact. When you're climbing and at the top, everybody wants to bring you down – and it comes with the territory – but I've learned to keep my head down and continue to grind, and that's all I really know.
I came from humble beginnings and had to go after everything I wanted because nothing was ever given. I knew I was a hard worker and had a work ethic, but to see how this year played out from a recruiting front and coaching front, I superseded any of my expectations. I knew I was good, but geez, this year was one for the history books, and I know there's going to be way more in very short order, and it starts with the athletes that I've been able to help become a part of the Wildcat Family.
Players Mentioned
/ Track & Field
/ Track & Field
/ Track & Field
/ Track & Field
K-State Football | Joe Klanderman press conference - Oct. 30, 2025
Thursday, October 30
K-State Football | Matt Wells press conference - Oct. 30, 2025
Thursday, October 30
K-State Football | Game 8 ⚒️ KU Victory Highlight
Wednesday, October 29
K-State Volleyball | Cinematic Recap vs #14 KU
Tuesday, October 28