K-State Q&A: Was this the best year ever for Wildcats in basketball and football?

It’s been a long time since Kansas State had a more successful athletic year than the one we just witnessed.

The Wildcats won the Big 12 in football and then reached the Elite Eight in men’s basketball. Those teams combined to win 36 games compared to just 14 losses.

Not too shabby.

There are obviously many other sports going on in Manhattan, but those are the two big ones that everyone focuses on. With that in mind, some have asked if 2022-23 was better than 2012-13 when the Wildcats claimed conference championships in baseball, football and men’s basketball.

It’s a fascinating debate that has no wrong answer.

Please allow me to share my opinion: I think this was the “funnest” year that K-State athletics has produced in recent memory. But the 3MAW season was probably the “best” year.

Let’s quickly compare the two.

Best Year

In 2012-13, the Wildcats had more wins in football and fewer losses in basketball.

Football won 11 games that season, men’s basketball won 26 games that season and both teams hoisted trophies before the postseason arrived. Adding a baseball trophy to the collection was a cherry on top.

Bill Snyder also guided that football team to the No. 1 spot in the BCS rankings and Bruce Weber led the basketball team to 14 wins in Big 12 play.

If we’re blindly comparing resumes, 2012-13 gets the nod for those reasons.

Alas, that year also came with a downer ending for both football and men’s basketball. The football team got dismantled at Baylor when a trip to the BCS championship game was within reach. The men’s basketball team lost three times to KU, including in the Big 12 Tournament final, and then lost to La Salle in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

There was no dramatic victory in Arlington, Texas. There was no dream March Madness run to Madison Square Garden. There was no court storming at Bramlage after a win in the Sunflower Showdown.

That is why I think this past year deserves the title of...

Funnest Year

There were so many wild celebrations in 2022-23 that I don’t know where to start.

I heard the two loudest K-State cheers of my life this season.

The first happened at AT&T Stadium when Deuce Vaughn juked a TCU defender out of his shoes and then scampered into the end zone in the fourth quarter of the Big 12 championship game.

The second was at the Sugar Bowl when Vaughn broke free for a long touchdown run against Alabama. The Wildcats led the mighty Crimson Tide 10-0 ... and what more needs to be said? It didn’t last, but, my goodness, everyone wearing purple was excited at that moment in time.

I didn’t even mention a thrilling win at Oklahoma or an epic seal-clubbing of Oklahoma State.

Flip to basketball, and K-State won three games with lob dunks from Markquis Nowell to Keyontae Johnson. The Wildcats vanquished KU inside Bramlage Coliseum. They scored 116 points at Texas. They beat Kentucky and Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament.

It felt like there was more to celebrate this year.

Now, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

Biggest strength: It has to be the offensive line. Not only do the Wildcats return all five starters from a unit that helped Deuce Vaughn score in every way imaginable last season, but they also have quite a few up-and-coming players who seem ready for meaningful action.

Cooper Beebe might be the best blocker in the entire Big 12. He will have depth behind him with coaches raving about Andrew Leingang and John Pastore. Don’t forget that Taylor Poitier is coming back from injury, too.

Now, I do wonder how much Vaughn helped K-State’s offensive line the past two years. Just about anyone could block for that guy, after all. But there is undoubtedly talent and depth at this position right now.

Biggest concern: I’m a little worried about the wide receivers. Phillip Brooks is back, which is nice. The Wildcats can pencil him in for 50 catches and 550 yards right now. But I’m not sure he’s a legit No. 1 target in the Big 12.

If he can’t turn into that guy, who will? Maybe Iowa transfer Keagan Johnson can do it. He should put up good numbers now that he has escaped the Hawkeyes and their dreadful offense. R.J. Garcia seems poised for a bigger role after he caught a touchdown in the Big 12 championship game last season. Perhaps Sterling Lockett is ready to play like his older brother.

But I haven’t heard anyone raving about those guys behind the scenes like I did in years past with Malik Knowles and Byron Pringle. That doesn’t mean they won’t be good. Maybe Will Howard is ready to make them all like look All-Americans. I’m just not sold on that yet.

Keep an eye on this player: Jacob Parrish is going to make a big impact at cornerback. So is Omar Daniels. There will be an abundance of playing time at that position with Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe off to the NFL. I’m expecting both of them to step in as starters and hold their own.

Parrish looked good while playing in all 14 games as a true freshman last season. He made 14 tackles and defended three passes. His numbers would have been much higher if not for having two veteran cover guys in front of him.

I have got three answers for you on this fun topic.

1. Harlem Globetrotters: How sweet would it be to know the team is going to win every single time it takes the court against the Washington Generals? I could have those game stories done in seconds.

2. Dallas Cowboys: When you say work “for” a pro team, you could mean that I’m employed by the club and not a media outlet. In that case, I would want a large salary. I don’t see many other teams paying more than Jerry Jones.

3. FC Barcelona: This would finally give me an excuse to become fluent in Spanish. I also wouldn’t hate living in Barcelona.

Last week we got a question about the possibility of Bill Snyder turning into a KU football spy who attends all of K-State’s practices next season and funnels secret information to his son, who is now working as a special assistant to Lance Leipold.

This week we have the exact opposite question, which implies that Sean Snyder only took a job working at KU to sabotage the Jayhawks by funneling secrets to his father in Manhattan.

I can’t wait to see what Snyder family question we get next week, or a month from now.

What if this is all some kind of smoke screen and they’re actually undercover agents who fight crime as father and son?

Look, it’s not uncommon for a college football coach to work for a rival school.

It’s actually very uncommon for a college football coach to work for his alma mater. Bob Huggins and Mike Gundy are the only two major coaches in the Big 12 who still wear their college colors.

You have to be a professional in this business, and sometimes that means competing against friends and family.

Jerome Tang beat Baylor twice this season. Bill Self goes head-to-head with Oklahoma State twice a year. Chris Klieman used to coach in the same conference as Northern Iowa. Brent Venables played for K-State before he went to Oklahoma. Mark Mangino worked for both KU and K-State. So did Tom Hayes and Chris Dawson and Joe Bob Clements.

It really isn’t that awkward once you’ve been doing it for a few years.

Strange as it may be for a Snyder to wear crimson and blue, I’m not expecting any funny business.

That being said, I would like to see them team up as a crime fighting duo.

E-MAIL QUESTION: With the two best coaches in the Big 12 on the verge of new contracts at Kansas State, I say we pay Chris Klieman and Jerome Tang a billion dollars each. But that’s probably not realistic. What do you think their new salaries will be? - Andrew B.

The goal is probably for Gene Taylor to pay both coaches a little more than Kansas is currently paying Lance Leipold and Iowa State is paying T.J. Otzelberger.

For Chris Klieman, that means more than $5 million next season (up from $3.3 million).

For Jerome Tang, that means more than $2.5 million next season (up from $2.1 million).

Those schools have set the market.