Scott Fritchen

Redshirt sophomore transfer middle blocker Jordyn Williams, one of the newest additions for Kansas State volleyball, is no stranger to head coach

Kelvin Gilkey is one hour from speaking with a roomful of Kansas State football newcomers at the Vanier Family Football Complex. He spoke with the football team numerous times this spring, conducting what he called, "Wellness Wednesdays," where he provided information about mental wellness and performance in athletics. But speaking with newcomers? This is new. Gilkey, a native of Lewisville, Texas, arrived in Manhattan in January. He and wife Ellie have four-year-old Nola and seven-week old Kora, and he's ready to lay down some roots in the Little Apple, because, as he puts it, "This is a natural fit to where I am right now in my life," and sure he's a little bit sleep deprived, but he's a happy, proud father — and during the day he's a guiding force in the lives of young people.

On a steamy Thursday afternoon in June, the day after the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft, Coleman Hawkins steps out of the Kansas State basketball locker room and walks up a flight of stairs to the coaches' offices in the Ice Family Basketball Center. He attempts to punch a numerical code into the door lock pad to gain access to the long hallway leading to a spacious conference room.

The Kansas State women's basketball team experienced a once-in-a-lifetime adventure when players, coaches and staff visited Rwanda, Africa, in mid-May. The six-day excursion included the construction of a basketball court bearing a Powercat at midcourt. But the experience was simply so much more.

Actually, no, K-State has never been here before. Never in the history of the Big 12 Conference has K-State been picked so high in the league preseason poll and done so without a single player earning a spot on the Preseason All-Big 12 team.

"Give me a yell and then flex your biceps!" the videographer says inside a dark makeshift studio at Allegiant Stadium.

There stood Austin Moore in his suit, looking like a CEO on his way to a meeting. He stood near the 50-yard line at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Big 12 Football Media Day. He politely spoke to one sportswriter. And then another. And then one of the sportswriters asked the sixth-year senior linebacker, the team captain, the two-time All-Big 12 selection, the man who arrived at Kansas State as a walk-on with zero recruiting stars, and the man who is now entering the twilight of a remarkable career, a simple question: Has any of this sunk in yet?

He's wearing a black cut-off hoodie with a large gray Powercat, silver shorts and black-and-purple Jordan shoes the size of Maine. He has a cellphone pressed to his left ear, talking, encouraging, advising a young prospective NBA player, and in a few hours, Jordan Henriquez-Roberts will watch Purple Reign scrimmage the current K-State men's basketball team here in Manhattan. He carries the same carefree smile that brightened Bramlage Coliseum for four years, the contagious bellowing laugh that echo long hallways. He's just taught a children's basketball camp at Manhattan Christian College and in a matter of days will serve as general manager and head coach of the Wildcats' alumni basketball team. It's a love of his — no, a passion, no, an obsession of sorts — what with his eight years of guiding the ship and navigating the path of the The Basketball Tournament with a $1 million prize dangling like a ripe tomato in a western Kansas garden.

Matt Wells enters the office and immediately starts to clean. The large black leather chair in the far corner needs to be rotated just slightly and the papers upon the desk, all eight of them, need to be stacked. "The guys have been in here," Wells says, as he appears content with his housecleaning and returns to his venti Pike Place with a splash of almond milk that he sips at about this time each morning.

Kansas State has a gem in Al Cerbe. This summer, the rest of the nation formally learned it as well, as the Kansas State head football equipment manager earned the highest achievement from the Athletic Equipment Managers Association (AEMA) and was presented with the Glenn Sharp Award at the organization's annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia.