Kansas State University Athletics
Men's Basketball
Wooldridge, Jim
Jim Wooldridge
- Title:
- Head Coach
When Jim Wooldridge was hired as K-State’s head coach in 2000, he brought with him the reputation as a builder of programs. After all, he spent 16 years mastering the art at places like as Central Missouri, Texas State and Louisiana Tech.
Hired after a stint coaching with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, alongside Tim Floyd and coaching icon Tex Winter, Wooldridge rebuilt a program that had won just nine games the year before he arrived to double-digit wins in each of his six seasons (2000-06) at the helm. His 83 wins ranks eighth on the all-time coaching wins list.
After slowing but steadily improving the K-State program, Wooldridge guided the Wildcats to their first winning season in six years in 2004-05 with a 17-12 record. The team started the year with eight wins in a row, which represented the best start by a squad since the 1979-80 team also started 8-0 en route to the school’s best non-league record (10-1) since 1993-94. The Wildcats went on to tally six wins over teams that advanced to the postseason. The squad had a number of near misses, as seven of their Big 12 losses came by 10 points or less, including two on last-second shots and two in overtime. Despite 17 wins, including a sweep of Missouri, the team did not advance to the postseason.
Wooldridge again had the Wildcats off to quick start in 2005-06, as the team won seven of its first eight games and ended non-league play with a 9-2 mark. However, his tough luck continued as the Wildcats set a school-record by losing nine games (including seven in Big 12 play) by five points or less. Two of these defeats came in overtime and two came in back-to-back one-point losses to No. 7 Texas and No. 20 Oklahoma.
Wooldridge returned to the coaching ranks at UC Riverside in 2007, posting a 70-112 record before retiring from coaching in 2013 to become the school’s athletics director. He moved two years later to become athletics director at Riverside City College before retiring in 2020. He finished his coaching career with a 382-349 (.537) overall record in 25 seasons.
Hired after a stint coaching with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, alongside Tim Floyd and coaching icon Tex Winter, Wooldridge rebuilt a program that had won just nine games the year before he arrived to double-digit wins in each of his six seasons (2000-06) at the helm. His 83 wins ranks eighth on the all-time coaching wins list.
After slowing but steadily improving the K-State program, Wooldridge guided the Wildcats to their first winning season in six years in 2004-05 with a 17-12 record. The team started the year with eight wins in a row, which represented the best start by a squad since the 1979-80 team also started 8-0 en route to the school’s best non-league record (10-1) since 1993-94. The Wildcats went on to tally six wins over teams that advanced to the postseason. The squad had a number of near misses, as seven of their Big 12 losses came by 10 points or less, including two on last-second shots and two in overtime. Despite 17 wins, including a sweep of Missouri, the team did not advance to the postseason.
Wooldridge again had the Wildcats off to quick start in 2005-06, as the team won seven of its first eight games and ended non-league play with a 9-2 mark. However, his tough luck continued as the Wildcats set a school-record by losing nine games (including seven in Big 12 play) by five points or less. Two of these defeats came in overtime and two came in back-to-back one-point losses to No. 7 Texas and No. 20 Oklahoma.
Wooldridge returned to the coaching ranks at UC Riverside in 2007, posting a 70-112 record before retiring from coaching in 2013 to become the school’s athletics director. He moved two years later to become athletics director at Riverside City College before retiring in 2020. He finished his coaching career with a 382-349 (.537) overall record in 25 seasons.
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