MANHATTAN, Kan. – On the heels of K-State’s 2022 Big 12 football championship and 2023 men’s basketball run to the Elite Eight, Athletics Director Gene Taylor has been named the 2022-23 Cushman & Wakefield FBS AD of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
Taylor’s K-State program has taken the college athletics world by storm in 2022-23 as Chris Klieman’s football team won the 2022 Big 12 Championship and played in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and Big 12 Coach of the Year Jerome Tang and his men’s basketball squad made a remarkable run to the Elite Eight following a preseason poll that picked the Wildcats to finish last in the league. Both coaches were hired at K-State by Taylor, who also currently serves on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and the LEAD1 Board of Directors.
Taylor will be recognized in conjunction with the 58th Annual NACDA & Affiliates Convention at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Fla., at the beginning of the Association-Wide Featured Session on Tuesday, June 13, starting at 4 p.m.
“I am very thankful and appreciative to be honored by my peers,” Taylor said. “The success that we have had at K-State is the direct result of the passion and hard work that our entire staff puts forth each and every day, and I am blessed to be a part of such a special place, at a special university, filled with very special people.”
Named the eighth-best Athletic Director among FBS programs by Stadium in 2020, Taylor was named the Director of Athletics at K-State in April 2017. During his tenure, K-State has also seen the football program qualify for four bowls, the men’s basketball team win a Big 12 Championship, earn two Elite 8 appearances and advance to three NCAA tournaments, the women’s basketball team advance to two NCAA tournaments and the women’s track and field team win back-to-back Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
Additionally, Taylor and staff have fundraised and begun to implement a department-wide facility master plan that will benefit all Wildcat teams, including the baseball and soccer projects in addition to Building Champions, an initiative focused on the South End Zone of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the new Morgan Family Arena for volleyball, an Olympic training Center and the Shamrock Practice Facility for football.
From a fundraising perspective, overall pledges and cash gifts to the department during the 2022 fiscal year totaled $58.9 million, of which $20.4 million was designated for the Ahearn Fund annual giving program and surpassing its budgeted goal previous record of $18.9 Million in FY19. The department also received $42.6 million in cash giving, marking only the third time in history it has eclipsed the $40 million mark.
