SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas State head football coach Chris Klieman, associate head men's basketball coach Ulric Maligi, and other student-athletes made a stop at AJ's at The Alley on Tuesday afternoon.
The stop was one of 16 among the annual Catbacker Tour across the state of Kansas, highlighting accomplishments from the 2022-23 school year and previewing the upcoming season.
The event was emceed by the voice of the Wildcats, Wyatt Thompson, and also had appearances from Willie the Wildcat, and the K-State cheer team.
Head football coach Chris Klieman took the stage to a standing ovation after he led the Wildcats to the Big 12 title this past fall. K-State would come up short in the Sugar Bowl against No. 5 Alabama.
Klieman was asked by Thompson about winning the Big 12 title game over TCU, and what that felt like being apart of.
"Everybody keeps telling me that," Klieman said while laughing. "I didn't watch it, I lived it. I was never uptight, I was never nervous, I was just in the flow of the game."
Klieman also touched on watching his four former players get drafted in the NFL Draft this past month. Felix Anudike-Uzomah (31st overall, Chiefs), Julius Brents (44th overall, Colts), Josh Hayes (181st overall, Buccaneers), Deuce Vaughn (212th overall, Cowboys).
“To have all four guys drafted by their ‘hometown’ teams was awesome,” Klieman said. “Think of it as a mother, to get your sons to come home after all their journeys through college and now they’re going to get to be pampered by their moms at home… what a special feeling for those guys.”
Klieman was asked about hoisting the Big 12 championship trophy and what that meant to him.
"We talked about Gene Taylor and his faith in myself and this staff," Klieman said. "He took a chance on a guy from a small FCS school and believed in me and believed in my staff. For us to have that chance to raise that trophy, there probably isn't a better feeling. When nobody expects you to do that, it's what's happening on the field that's all that matters."
Although the Wildcats did have the four drafted and several other move on after graduating, Klieman is excited about the offense in particular coming to the field in the fall.
"Will Howard is one of the best quarterbacks in college football," Klieman said. "He's coming back, plus we return our top eight offensive linemen to protect him. We've got pretty good wide receivers, and then a guy that's probably forgotten a lot about is Will Sennett, a guy I think is the best tight end in college football."
Associate head men's basketball coach Ulric Maligi spoke on this past season and the trip to the Elite Eight. The same team had been picked dead last in the Big 12 preseason poll.
“When the predictions came out, we laughed at it,” Maligi said. “We knew we had an NCAA tournament team. The goal was to always have a parade in Manhattan, Kansas and win a national championship. This team realized very quickly how good they really could be.”
The team was mostly formed from the transfer portal and came together rather quickly ahead of the season.
“I think all of this journey really started with the recruiting,” Maligi said. “We are very intentional about recruiting guys that have won before. We had eight guys from this last team that won a state championship, and another five or six guys that played in the NCAA tournament, and that wasn’t by accident.”
The goal for the men's basketball program is to improve and take that next step in the tournament this next season.
"We feel way better than we did this time last year," Maligi said of the 10 guys the Wildcats have on campus this spring. "We still want to get a couple more dudes. There are still a lot of moving parts, but we should be in a pretty good position come next season."
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