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2025 Visionary Plan

As K-State's 2025 strategic plan comes to a close, our strategic planning efforts continue as Next-Gen K-State. See the latest updates on the Next-Gen K-State website.

Theme 7: Athletics

Goal

Strengthen the interconnectivity between intercollegiate athletics and the campus community, prepare our student-athletes for success in school, in sport and after graduation, and benefit our university, community and state.

Strategic Action Plan (pdf)

Latest news

Read more K-State 2025 news

Activities and Accomplishments

  • Our student-athletes continue to lead on and off the field, continuing to rank among the top schools in the Big 12 in Academic Progress Rating, or APR, scores and graduation success rates.

  • On the field successes included Big 12 Championships in football in 2012, men's basketball in 2013 and 2019, baseball in 2013, and women's track and field in 2017 and 2018.

  • Over the last decade, K-State has averaged five student-athlete Big 12 individual champions, 20 All-America selections, 34 All-Big 12 selections, three Academic All-Americans, and 205 Academic All-Big 12 selections per year.

  • Academic-athletic partnerships and collaborations were strengthened to benefit students through programs such as Powercat Mentor, the Powercat Positioning Athletes for Lifelong Success, or P.A.L.s, Snyder Leadership Legacy Fellows, KSUnite and Wildcat Dialogues.

  • The K-State Athletics Diversity and Inclusion program continues to grow with implementation of annual action items and goals.

  • The Ike and Letty Evans Student-Athlete Success program was launched to provide enhanced staffing, technological advances and programming for all student-athletes and academic services staff.

  • The university is home to outstanding athletic facilities, enhanced by the completion of more than $280M in overall facility renovations and new construction since 2012. Projects included Tointon Family Stadium for baseball, Ice Family Basketball Center, Intercollegiate Rowing Center, Mike Goss Tennis Stadium, Buser Family Park for soccer, Shamrock Zone, Vanier Family Football Complex, and West Stadium Center.

  • Total giving to K-State Athletics during the past decade reached nearly $349M. The Ahearn Fund, K-State's national fund for student athletic excellence, reached record membership.

  • The elimination of direct and indirect university funding for supporting K-State Athletics enabled the university to redirect that funding to critical university needs. Today, K-State Athletics is one of only eight programs nationwide operating without state, tuition or student fee funding.

  • K-State HD.TV, an online high-definition network, was launched to provide worldwide access to athletic and academic content.

  • The Pride of Wildcat Land, the Kansas State University Marching Band, received the prestigious 2015 Sudler Trophy, given every two years to recognize the top marching band in the U.S.

Leading the Way

Kansas State University student-athletes aren’t just committed to their respective sports, they also work to give back to the community that supports them as students and young adults. 

Over the last five years, student-athletes across all sports have averaged more than 1,500 hours of community service per year.

The following are the four largest service initiatives that are managed, planned and executed by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee:

Cats for Cans

Student-athletes collect nonperishable food items, canned goods and monetary donations for the Flint Hills Breadbasket. Past events have averaged nearly $12,000 collected and more than 4,000 pounds of food items donated.

Cats in the Classroom

Student-athlete volunteers visit local elementary schools to spend time in the classrooms, read stories and serve as Breakfast Buddies. 

Adopt-a-Family

Student-athletes work with Junior League of the Flint Hills and collect dollars to fulfill Christmas wish lists of families and youth in and around the Manhattan community. The athletes go shopping, wrap the gifts and deliver the items. 

Special Olympics sports clinic

100 student-athletes volunteer and host a sports clinic for 100 Special Olympic athletes from all over Kansas. The clinic includes lunch and a baseball game, where a Special Olympian is pre-selected to throw out the first pitch.