Kansas State Officially Introduces Bruce Weber As New Head Coach

Following the reports from earlier in the day that Bruce Weber would replace the departed Frank Martin as the head men’s basketball coach for the Kansas State Wildcats, the University officially announced Weber as their new coach. Athletic director John Currie introduced Weber on Saturday afternoon. Weber spent nine years as the head coach at Illinois before he was fired at the conclusion of the season, and was unsurprisingly happy to find new employment at a major conference program.

Currie is banking on Weber’s early record at Illinois being more indicative of his coaching abilities than his recent record, and like most athletic directors, pointed to the fact that his hire was made on the basis of both basketball and character.

The Kansas State Wildcats have been on the search for a new head coach ever since Frank Martin left for the South Carolina head coaching job. The Wildcats have found their new coach in former Illinois Illini coach Bruce Weber, according to a report by Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports.

Before landing the Kansas State job, Weber had also interviewed for the vacant SMU head coaching job according to a report Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas News. Weber met with the SMU athletic director Steve Orsini on Thursday in New Orleans, according to Hariopoulos, but ultimately decided to ink a deal with Kansas State.

Gottlieb would join the likes of Steve Lavin and Mike Gottfried as former broadcasters turned sideline-pacers. Lavin and Gottfried took over, and have been successful, at St. John’s and N.C. State, respectively.

While face recognition helped with recruiting, it should also be noted that both of those men had been head coaches of college programs before. Gottlieb would be trying to do something unprecedented, and so far there hasn’t been any indication that the Wildcats are even warm to the idea.