MANHATTAN, Kan. – Jeff Mittie, one of the winningest active coaches in NCAA Division I with more than 450 career wins, 15 postseason appearances, nine conference titles and five conference coach of the year honors in 22 years of coaching, has been named the ninth head women’s basketball coach at Kansas State, Athletics Director John Currie announced on Tuesday.

Mittie agreed to a five-year contract approved by the K-State Athletics, Inc., Board of Directors and President Kirk Schulz. Mittie – who was selected after a national search by K-State’s search committee of Currie, Senior Women’s Administrator Jill Shields, Faculty Athletics Representative Dr. Be Stoney and Chief of Staff and Assistant Athletics Director of Administration Clint Dowdle – will be paid $375,000 in the first year of the deal with $25,000 annual increases each year remaining on the contract. He will also receive a $140,000 signing bonus.

“I want to thank President Schulz and Athletic Director Currie for giving me this opportunity. I think this is a great opportunity for Shanna and me and our family. It is a tremendous opportunity at a terrific institution that, I believe, in women’s basketball has proven that the fan base can get excited about. This was the youngest team in the Big 12 this year, so I am excited to work with the players. I am always excited about developing a team and that challenge. I think Kansas State and my family will be a really great fit. I am looking forward to getting recruiting started across the state of Kansas and developing those very important relationships.”

Mittie, 47, has achieved an overall record of 454-234 (.660) in his 22 years as a head coach, which includes stops at Missouri Western, Arkansas State and TCU. His .660 career winning percentage ranks 45th among active Division I head coaches and 21st among active coaches with 20 or more years of experience.

Mittie has averaged 21 wins and 10 losses per season and experienced only one losing season in his 22 years of head coaching. Fifteen times Mittie has advanced his teams to either the NCAA or WNIT Tournaments, in which he has a combined record of 15-13. Over the last 14 seasons, Mittie guided TCU to 13 winning seasons with 11 consecutive postseason appearances, including nine NCAA Tournament berths.

At TCU, Mittie compiled a 303-175 (.634) record while exceeding the win total the program accomplished in the first 22 seasons of existence. Prior to Mittie’s arrival, TCU owned a 208-402 (.340) mark. He recorded his milestone 300th victory at TCU on Feb. 19 of the past season during a home win over Kansas State.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jeff, Shanna, Logan, Madison and Jordan Mittie to Manhattan and the K-State family,” Currie said. “Coach Mittie’s success as a head coach at three different institutions, Midwest background as well as his reputation as a top-notch recruiter make him the ideal fit to lead our women’s basketball program. We set out to find the very best basketball coach for K-State, whose personal values and integrity reflects those of our university and one that appreciates the unique opportunity of being part of our strong basketball tradition and commitment to championship performances, and we are confident that Jeff Mittie is that person. I look forward to the entire K-State Nation having the opportunity to get to know him and his family.”

Mittie has received a number of accolades during his coaching career including: 2010 Mountain West Coach of the Year, 2002 Conference USA Coach of the Year, 2001 WAC Coach of the Year and 1994 and 1995 MIAA Coach of the Year. He has also led his programs to nine conference titles.

In addition to personal honors, Mittie has mentored several of his players who have reached the WNBA (Sandora Irvin and Adrianne Ross) or played overseas (Helena Sverrisdottir and Antoinette Thompson), been honored as an All-American, earned conference player of the year awards, all-league citations and academic all-conference awards. During his time with TCU, Mittie coached 10 of the 12 members of the school’s 1,000-point club and five of the nine members of the 500-rebound club.

Mittie’s success at TCU expanded his coaching tree, as a pair of his former assistants moved on to head coaching positions in Division I. Former assistants Larry Tidwell and Yolanda Wells-Broughton have moved into head coaching positions at Lamar and Texas Southern, respectively.

Prior to his tenure at TCU, Mittie pieced together a 75-42 (.641) mark in his four campaigns at Arkansas State, posting a pair of 20-win seasons and winning 17 or more contests in each of his four years with the Lady Indians. Twice his teams topped the Sun Belt Conference in grade point average as well.

Before taking over the Arkansas State program, Mittie fashioned a 76-17 (.817) mark in three years as head coach at Missouri Western. In 1995, Mittie guided the school to a remarkable 31-3 slate, which included a 15-1 conference record, and he led the club to the Division II Final Four. That squad finished the season ranked No. 3 nationally and captured both the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular-season and tournament championships. For his efforts, he was tabbed league and district Coach of the Year, and was among eight finalists for the national honor.

Mittie garnered league Coach of the Year honors for the first time in his career in 1994 when his Griffons posted a 29-3 overall and 16-0 league record and captured the MIAA regular-season title. His club also made a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight. Before assuming the head coaching duties, Mittie served one season as assistant basketball and baseball coach at the school.

A native of Blue Springs, Mo., Mittie earned his undergraduate degree in sports management from Missouri Western in 1989 and his master’s in sports management from the United States Sports Academy in Mobile, Ala., in 1992.

Mittie and his wife, Shanna, who is a native of Junction City, Kan., and a graduate of Chapman High School, are the proud parents of three children, daughters Logan and Madison and son Jordan.

Coaching Experience
Head Coach, Missouri Western (1992-95; 76-17, .817)
Head Coach, Arkansas State (1995-99; 75-42, .641)
Head Coach, TCU (1999-2014; 303-175, .634)
Head Coach, Kansas State (present)

Education
Bachelor’s in Sport Management, Missouri Western, 1989
Master’s in Sports Management, United States Sports Academy, 1992

Personal
Wife: Shanna
Children: daughters – Logan and Madison; son – Jordan

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Kansas State freshman Wesley Iwundu is already quite familiar with Kentucky, even though he’s never played the Wildcats, his team’s opening opponent in the NCAA tournament.

You see, he played AAU ball with Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Kentucky’s talented freshmen. And the rest of the team he’s seen plenty of times on television.

It raises the question: Has some of the mystery of the NCAA tournament been stripped away in this era of traveling AAU programs and wall-to-wall games and highlights easily found on TV and online?

Some coaches say yes, there are far fewer secrets than there were years ago.

 

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Mike Moustakas went 3 for 3 and Yordano Ventura struck out six in six dominant innings, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers 6-0 on Monday night.

Moustakas, who leads the Cactus League with a .486 batting average and 15 RBIs, doubled home Alex Gordon in a three-run second inning.

Ventura was consistently throwing 97-99 miles per hour and reaching 100 occasionally. Manager Ned Yost announced after the game that Ventura is in Kansas City’s rotation for the regular season.

Matt Harrison, who was making his first Rangers start after being hampered by back and neck issues, gave up three runs, two earned, and three hits in 1 2-3 innings.

Norichika Aoki, Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain had two hits apiece for Kansas City.

Kansas State will play Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament Friday night in St. Louis.

Here are the Kansas State comments, provided by k-statesports.com.

Kansas State Head Coach Bruce Weber
On being selected to play in the NCAA Tournament…
“You feel good about it, but if you are an SMU or St. John’s or Georgetown, there are a lot of teams that did not get in and that was the message to our players that they should be proud of themselves. The senior group, four in a row for Will (Spradling) and Shane (Southwell), which is a nice thing, and even as a school we are in the top 10 as far as the streak goes of consecutive appearances in the NCAA (Tournament). So that is a nice honor for our guys, for our program and for our university, and then we get a chance to play one of the top schools in the history of college basketball, It should be fun. I hope our guys are fired up.”

On drawing Kentucky in the first round…
“We were just looking at the eight-nine matchups, you have got a lot of very good teams, like Colorado and Stanford. You can analyze it a lot of different ways. We know Baylor beat Kentucky early in the year. They had some struggles two or three weeks ago but they did play better down the stretch and they had a good game today. We were just upstairs watching it, just as basketball fans watching the games and they have some talent, there is no doubt about it. We are going to have to play. But it does not matter who you play, you have to play good basketball. The important thing for us is we have to do all of the little things that made us successful, whether it was in that stretch in December or when we had some big wins in Big 12 play.  That is just playing hard, guarding the heck out of people, just doing all of the little things that make the difference. If we can do that, I think we will be fine. My message has been ‘compete’ since last week and I think that has got to be the message going into Friday and if we get to play Sunday.”

On his initial thoughts on Kentucky…
“Talent is the number one thing. Youth, they are pretty young. It starts with (Julius) Randle. You have got a big-body guy who can do a lot of things and I have watched him through high school. They have got some size and they have athletes but we are going to have to guard them. Randle is a tough matchup. Any team that has a four-man who can do some things, that makes it tough. Maybe we can exploit some of their weaknesses, maybe he does not get the ball quite as much.”

On learning from last year’s loss to La Salle…
“I do not think we respected them as much as we needed to and that was obvious by the way we started the game. We went into the locker room at halftime and turned it on. You have got to realize that you have to play every game. It does not matter how good you are or what league you are from. If a team gets hot and gets going like La Salle did to us, we were playing in Kansas City and we were on our heels and they were taking it to us. This time, I think it is a little different. It is Kansas State and Kentucky. This will be the eighth time that we have played Kentucky. Ernie (Barrett) called me already and he is still mad about the (1951) National Championship, so he wants us to get some revenge for him. Last year, we were the hunted, the name team. We are the underdog this year and I hope we play like LaSalle did last year, with great heart, loose and free and go at them.”

On the players’ mindset going into the NCAA Tournament as compared to last year …
“It was not that they were not excited to be in the tournament last year, I just do not know if they got mentally ready to play La Salle. I do not know what is in their head or in their heart. The first thing that Coach Lowery asked after I did my speech was if anyone was scared. A lot of Texas guys have played with their Texas guys. The kid from Kansas City (Willie Cauley-Stein), a lot of our guys have played with or against him, so they all know each other. It is so different than years ago, pre-AAU, when those kids were shell-shocked by that. We play Kansas every year, Kansas and Kentucky are two of the top programs, and we beat Kansas. We are capable. We just have to do it on Friday, whatever time they set.”

 

Senior Forward Shane Southwell
On his thoughts when he found out K-State would face Kentucky…
“My face just lit up. I was ecstatic because I love playing against great teams and great players. When you are a high school player, you think about certain programs. You thing about Kentucky, Duke and Kansas, honestly and it would be a great opportunity to beat a team of that nature. We played against Kansas, I played against Duke my freshman year, it did not end up the way I wanted it to, but it was something that I looked forward to.”

On Kentucky’s style of play…
“I have a little bit of sense about how they like to play. We still have to scout them. We still have to watch a lot of film. They are a good team and they have a lot of talent but we have played against a lot of teams with the same amount of talent. Kansas has five or four pros on the court at all times. Oklahoma State has three NBA players, Baylor has two or three NBA players and Iowa State has three NBA players. Everyone is kind of making that a big deal of how much hype they have but we just want to go out there and play against them the way we played against those other teams in our league.”

On looking ahead to a possible matchup with Wichita State…
“As the eight of nine seed, to think about the one seed, you are foolish. Honestly with the eight and nine seed, it means that you both had the same type of year. To think about the one seed is foolish. This is going to be a big game for both of us. It will be a hard game for both teams. I do not even know who we would play if we win the first game.”

On watching Kentucky play this season…
“They play a lot on TV and I like to analyze teams when I watch them on TV. I do not think the other guys on the team analyze them the same way they analyze Kansas or Baylor when they are on TV. But I have watched them a lot and I pretty much have an idea of what they do on offense and defense. But we still have to watch a lot of film on them to get a better understanding of them.”

Senior Guard Will Spradling
On making it to the NCAA Tournament…
“It is just exciting to be in the NCAA Tournament four years in a row. It is something that only a few players in school have done.”

On Kentucky’s style of play…
“They have a lot of big guys. We like to play small so we have to try to use that to our advantage. We have really got to get on the glass because that is something that we have been struggling with.”

On the benefits of D.J. Johnson and Nino Williams playing in their hometowns…
“Every time I went back to Kansas City, I had a little extra boost of energy just knowing that I was home and that everyone was able to come out to the game. I think they will have the same thing.”

 

Junior Forward Thomas Gipson
On the experience of this season has prepared the team for Kentucky…
“I think we have beaten eight or nine teams that made it into the tournament. That being said, we are still young and we have to lead them and I feel like we are doing a good job of that right now. I think the excitement overall will make them take that extra step of playing hard.”

On playing in the NCAA Tournament…
“It is a blessing. Unfortunately, the two times that I have been there we lost in the first or second round. I know our young guys are excited for it and I think everybody is going to be ready to play.”

On how K-State matches up with Kentucky’s interior size…
“We do not have a lot of height but we have girth and depth on our roster, so that helps us.”

 

 

Kansas State ( 20-12 ) has drawn Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Friday in St. Louis.  Kansas State is a nine seed and Kentucky an eight seed.

If Kansas State wins they could meet the top seed in the Regional, Wichita State. The Shockers open Friday against the winner of a First Four matchup between Cal Poly and Texas Southern.

Other teams in the Midwest Regional include Saint Louis, North Carolina State, Louisville, Manhattan, Massachusetts, Duke, Mercer, Texas, Arizona State, Michigan and Wofford. Two of the other First Four matchup winners involving Iowa vs. Tennessee, and North Carolina State vs. Xavier would advance into the Midwest Regional against Saint Louis and Massachusetts.

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Kansas earned a relatively short trip for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

The Jayhawks (24-9) received the No. 2 seed in the South Region and will play 15th-seeded Eastern Kentucky (24-9) on Friday in St. Louis in the second round of the tournament.

With star freshman Andrew Wiggins, Kansas captured its 10th-straight Big 12 regular-season title but lost to eventual champion Iowa State in the tournament semifinals to dash any hopes of a No. 1 seed.

The Jayhawks will likely be without 7-footer Joel Embiid until the tournament’s second weekend. The Big 12 defensive player of the year has a stress fracture in his lower back.

Eastern Kentucky beat Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference final to earn its eighth NCAA tournament appearance and first since 2007.

 

The Manhattan girls basketball team finished fourth in the Class 6A State Basketball Tournament.

After losing to Maize in the semifinals Manhattan fell to Olathe South in the third place consolation game 56-53.

MHS, was captured the Centennial League championship, finished the season with a final record of 22-3.

Wichita South defeated Maize in the 6A girls state championship game 47-35.

In the boys Class 6A state title game Blue Valley Northwest defeated Blue Valley North 73-46.

Kansas State has been selected as the No. 9 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Kansas State will play the No. 8 seed Kentucky Friday in St. Louis, Missouri.

Wichita State is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional. The Shockers will play Friday against the winner of the first round game between Cal Poly and Texas Southern.

Kansas is the No. 2 seed in the South Regional. The Jayhawks have drawn 15th-seeded Eastern Kentucky in the first round on Friday.

 

Wichita State still had something to be angry about on Selection Sunday.

The second-ranked Shockers landed the first No. 1 seed in school history and will start their pursuit of a second straight Final Four on Friday in St. Louis, where they ran their record to 34-0 by winning the Missouri Valley tournament last weekend.

That’s where the reward for their season ended, though. They landed in a loaded region that includes second-seeded Michigan, third-seeded Duke and fourth-seeded Louisville, the defending national champion.

Relying on their motto of “play angry,” the Shockers are the first school to reach the NCAA tournament unbeaten since UNLV in 1991. They’ll open against the winner of a game between Big West champion Cal Poly and SWAC champion Texas Southern.

 

Micah Felton has been named the MVP of the 2013-2014 Blue Jay wrestling team. He finished in the 170 pound weight class competition in the Class 6A State Wrestling Tournament.

That honor was announced by Coach Bob Laster Friday night.

Laster said Gavin Kroeger ( 132 pounds ) was the Most Improved Wrestler for the Blue Jays. The co-captains for next season will be Gabe Padilla and Jake Bazan.  JV Kingpin honors went to Keegan Hernandez, who had a total of seven pins. There was a tie for the Varsity Kingpin honor between Kayne Hutchinson and Devonte Wilson, who both finished with 28 pins.

The wrestling team held their postseason banquet Friday night, with Laster noting Junction City captured the Centennial League championship for a second consecutive season, went undefeated in dual matches, and seventh in the Class 6A State Tournament.  The Blue Jays finished third in their 6A Regional Tournament.

Laster noted this wrestling team faced adversity this past season, including the fact they never had the same lineup, but said the team overcame the obstacles, and that’s what made this Blue Jay squad strong this year.  He said it was the best freshman group he had coached in awhile, and probably the best group of seniors he’d had. Laster observed at the Centennial League Tournament half the lineup for Junction City consisted of freshmen.

“Nobody can take your pride away from you. We know what we did so nobody can take that away. So what I’m saying for next year, we have an opportunity next year to win it all. We have a total of eight guys coming back that went to state. Five of those eight guys are state medalists. So, things look bright for Junction City next year. We were real close to winning state this year, and I’m definitely putting a lot of pressure on these guys that we can do it next year for sure.”

Laster stressed the importance of offseason work in wrestling and the weight room as necessary factors in development of skills.