His 1961 and 1962 teams had an 18-game losing skid, which matched for the 20th longest in collegiate football history. Weaver's finest season at K-State was 1964, when his team finished 3-7, with three victories by a combined six points, but he kept his sense of humor. When one reporter asked him if he were disappointed by his team's performance, he replied, "No, I'm not disappointed. I'm amazed."
Weaver coached at K-State from 1955 to 1969, going 51-57-1. His overall record is 95-79-3.
Kansas State has had only two other coaches who have won more than 50 games in their first 10 seasons: Dana X. Bible in 1995 and Bill Snyder in 2000.
Weaver's 1951 Kansas State Wildcats played in the Bluebonnet Bowl, defeating Texas A&M, 21-6. The following year they went 9-0-1 and ranked No. 4 in the country, but they were upset by Missouri, 7-0, in the Cotton Bowl. That was their only loss during Weaver's second season as coach. He was voted Coach of the Year by the Associated Press.
Weaver's career winning percentage of.542 is the highest of any Kansas State coach with more than five years experience.
Kansas State concluded the regular season unbeaten (11-0) and ranked first in the country, and the school appeared in the AP Poll for 108 consecutive weeks from 1995 to 2001, the 15th-longest stretch in college football history. The Wildcats were ranked No. 1 every week of that period except for one week when they were second to Oklahoma in the AP Poll.
In fact, no other team has gone undefeated during that span, but there are two programs that came close: Nebraska finished the 1994 season with a victory over Colorado (34-32) and Illinois lost just once during the 1995 season. Both teams were prevented from playing for the national championship by losses to Michigan State - Nebraska in the Big Ten Championship Game and Illinois in the Holiday Bowl.
K-State has won at least 10 games each year since 1995 and has made at least one appearance in the College Football Playoff each year since its creation in 2014. This is also the longest streak in college football.
The only other team to go 11-0 during this span was Florida State in 1999. FSU defeated Virginia (9-1), Miami (OH), North Carolina (11-1), and Maryland (12-1) before losing to Tennessee 12-13 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Kansas State achieved its last consistent run of success on the football field in 60 years with this mix of coaches and players. The football team was on pace for a possible bid to the Rose Bowl, the country's only bowl game at the time, until Ralph Graham got injured. Graham had been the star halfback for Kansas State since coming out of retirement after one season away from football. He returned just in time to help his team win its first eight games before he was killed in an automobile accident near his home in Topeka, Kansas. The Wildcats finished the season 9-0-1, their best record ever.
Before Ralph Graham came along, Kansas State had not had much success on the gridiron. The team had gone 3-6-1 in 1947 and 1948 under head coach Bob Voigts. In 1949, they turned things around completely under new head coach Bud Wilkinson. From then on, the Wildcats won nine or more games every year except for 1953 when they went 8-3-1. Their last trip to the Rose Bowl came in 1960 when they lost to California 14-7. Since then, they have never made it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Kansas State basketball team has had more success than the football team over the years. They have made the NCAA Tournament ten times, winning two National Championships in 1945-46 and 1946-47.
Kansas has the all-time straight conference title record with 14 titles, which is still alive. James Naismith, the game's creator, was the Jayhawks' first coach. Naismith is the only coach in Kansas basketball history to have a losing record. He finished with a mark of 19-4.
Nate Mason is the most recent coach to lead Kansas to a championship. He won his second title in 2019 after coming back from a 3-1 series deficit against Louisville. The last time Kansas lost three games in a row to end a season was in 1984 when Larry Brown led the team to a 27-3 record and its first of three consecutive national championships.
Before Brown came along, KU had no previous wins over top 10 teams. The Jayhawks' first victory over a ranked opponent came on December 6, 1963 when they beat Iowa State 91-70 in Ames. First-year coach Ned Irish started the game but left after suffering from chest pains. He was replaced by his assistant, Lester Smith, who went on to lead Kansas to a 17-0 record and its first National Championship. Smith died in a car crash a month into the 1964-65 season. His death was felt greatly by the Jayhawks as they struggled to find their rhythm without him. They ended up finishing 16-5 that year.
Nebraska's 77-game Big 12 winning streak ended in 2003 with a defeat at Kansas State, and the Cornhuskers failed to advance beyond the regional round. Nebraska received the top overall seed in the 2004 NCAA tournament, kicking off an NCAA-record 88 straight weeks of the Cornhuskers being rated first in the AVCA weekly poll. The Huskers lost in the first round that year.
Kansas State's loss to Nebraska ended what was then a school record 33rd consecutive season undefeated conference play campaign. The Wildcats had not been defeated during their run until that year when Nebraska dropped a 3-point decision to Kansas State in Manhattan. This marked the first time since 1992 that K-State had won a game against a ranked team.
Before the 2003 season, Nebraska fans were excited about the potential of this team which was loaded with talent. As it turned out, this squad fell short of expectations at 4-14 in its only season under head coach Nancy Howard. Two players (Kaitlyn Burke and Jordan Hoerner) accounted for more than 10 points per game while seven others scored between four and nine points per contest.
Burke and Hoerner were both All-Americans after they led Nebraska to its first No. 1 ranking in nearly 20 years. Despite losing their two leading scorers, people still expected big things from this team which included a return trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight years.
On January 30, 1988, Mitch Richmond scored 35 points to lead Kansas State to a 72-61 victory, snapping KU's then-record 55-game home winning run. On February 18, KU flipped the tables, winning 64-63 at Ahearn Field House in Manhattan to deprive K-State a victory in the last year of the old field house. The new Barnhill Arena was opened that fall.
Richmond had been unstoppable during K-State's undefeated regular season, and he didn't disappoint in his debut as a Wildcat. The 6'1" guard went 7 for 7 from the free-throw line and helped himself greatly with seven rebounds and five assists. After going 1 for 8 from the charity stripe in the first meeting between these two schools, Richmond evened the score with a pair of foul shots before leaving with about three minutes remaining in the first half. He returned to the court just over 10 minutes into the second half and didn't leave again until nearly 40 minutes had passed. During that time, K-State outscored Kansas 36-18 and took its first lead of the game with 9:43 left when Richmond hit a jumper to make it 63-61. But Kansas responded with an 11-0 run of its own to take back the lead, and with 4:47 remaining, the Wildcats regained the lead on a Richmond triple before the Jayhawks pulled away for good with 3:20 left in the game.
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