IF WSU had football and realignment

[Veritas]

I thought that stadium was done before the plane crash. 1968-69ish. ADTB wouldn’t have had anything to do with it.

You are correct. TB started in ‘72. Bert Katzenmeyer was AD who raised funds for Veteran Stadium expansion into Cessna Stadium. Katzenmeyer was followed by Cecil Coleman and then Ted.
Katzenmeyer and his wife perished in the Shocker Plane crash in 1970.

https://foundation.wichita.edu/gifts/albert-marian-katzenmeyer-scholarship/

[1972Shocker]

Ah yes good ol' Teddy Bear. I think maybe his first name was Peter and his second name was Theodore. Should have been. If the camel races and Shocker Mountain weren't enough to save Shocker football then nothing would.

[shoxlax]

Was K-State football in a better spot, with stronger fan support, than WSU in 1986?

Honest question. Can’t really bring conference affiliation into the discussion because the world was drastically different back then. It was far less of a disparity - light years.

WSU would have been about the same size in enrollment, if not larger, and was an urban university as opposed to nothingville Manhattan back then.

Even as bad as KState was back then, they still averaged about 24k a game, maybe more when OU and Nebraska brought fans to town. Of course then they caught lightning in a bottle.

[Veritas]

Even as bad as KState was back then, they still averaged about 24k a game, maybe more when OU and Nebraska brought fans to town. Of course then they caught lightning in a bottle.

Looked ok at the START of the game against the Wheat Shockers in 1985 which Shox won

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YqVx_viL6HY

[SubGod22]

Was K-State football in a better spot, with stronger fan support, than WSU in 1986?

Honest question. Can’t really bring conference affiliation into the discussion because the world was drastically different back then. It was far less of a disparity - light years.

WSU would have been about the same size in enrollment, if not larger, and was an urban university as opposed to nothingville Manhattan back then.

Not sure if true, but I remember always hearing that the year after we dropped football, we still had a better ranking than KSU.

[1972Shocker]

Not sure if true, but I remember always hearing that the year after we dropped football, we still had a better ranking than KSU.

Fortunately for K-State they had and administration and perhaps more importantly the boosters willing to put the resources into trying to resurrect their program and then hit the lottery with the Bill Snyder hiring (1989). And it's not like Snyder came in with a lot of hype. If anything he was a pretty understated, professorial character.

OTOH, when WSU's administration went to the boosters for financial help they reportedly received very little interest.

[Aargh]

Not sure if true, but I remember always hearing that the year after we dropped football, we still had a better ranking than KSU.

This is true. There was a service that ranked every team . That ranking was published in the Eag;le. The year after WSU dropped football K-State was dead last in that ranking. For some unknown reason WSU, without a team, was ranked ahead of KSU. As I recall, WSU was ranked second-last.

I don't know if WSU was in there due to ignorance or tongue-in-cheek to point out how bad KSU was.

[WuShock16]

Fortunately for K-State they had and administration and perhaps more importantly the boosters willing to put the resources into trying to resurrect their program and then hit the lottery with the Bill Snyder hiring (1989). And it's not like Snyder came in with a lot of hype. If anything he was a pretty understated, professorial character.

OTOH, when WSU's administration went to the boosters for financial help they reportedly received very little interest.

It makes you wonder if Bill Snyder could have turned around WSU's program. Like you said, it's not like he was an obvious choice or that it was even an option (for either side)...but in an alternative universe where Bill Snyder went to WSU instead of Ron Chismar, could Snyder have pulled the same magic in Wichita that he did in Manhattan?

[1972Shocker]

It makes you wonder if Bill Snyder could have turned around WSU's program. Like you said, it's not like he was an obvious choice or that it was even an option (for either side)...but in an alternative universe where Bill Snyder went to WSU instead of Ron Chismar, could Snyder have pulled the same magic in Wichita that he did in Manhattan?

Anther thing we will never know. In fact this thread probably should titled: Things About Shocker Football We Will Never Know.

[Aargh]

It makes you wonder if Bill Snyder could have turned around WSU's program. Like you said, it's not like he was an obvious choice or that it was even an option (for either side)...but in an alternative universe where Bill Snyder went to WSU instead of Ron Chismar, could Snyder have pulled the same magic in Wichita that he did in Manhattan?

It's easier to turn a program around in the B8/B12 than in the MVC. Do recruits want to play against OU, Texas, Nebraska, etc. or do they want to play against Indiana State, Drake, Southern Illinois, etc.?

Forgive me if some of those schools weren't in the MVC yet when WSU yanked their program. The schools may have been different, but the perception of recruits would have been the same.

[WuShock16]

It's easier to turn a program around in the B8/B12 than in the MVC. Do recruits want to play against OU, Texas, Nebraska, etc. or do they want to play against Indiana State, Drake, Southern Illinois, etc.?

Forgive me if some of those schools weren't in the MVC yet when WSU yanked their program. The schools may have been different, but the perception of recruits would have been the same.

Fair point. You can get better players to come in, for sure. Counter argument is that there is not nearly as high of a mountain to climb in the MVC.

But yeah, Manhattan probably had more going for it at the time. More traditional campus setting. Access to better competition. More desired support for football.

It was just a food-for-thought question.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Another separate thread about WSU and football?? Yikes.

[1972Shocker]

I suppose this question is somewhat rhetorical but would Wichita State have been a more or less attractive candidate to join the AAC if we had MVC level football vs the Wichita State/Navy pairing that was invited to join the AAC?

[SubGod22]

I suppose this question is somewhat rhetorical but would Wichita State have been a more or less attractive candidate to join the AAC if we had MVC level football vs the Wichita State/Navy pairing that was invited to join the AAC?

That's also assuming we wouldn't have gotten out of the MVC since they'd dropped to what is now FCS and we were still playing what is now FBS. It's just as likely that we would have found another home long before the AAC invite and who knows what that would have looked like. We may have already found ourselves in the MWC or been a part of the initial AAC anyway.

[1972Shocker]

That's also assuming we wouldn't have gotten out of the MVC since they'd dropped to what is now FCS and we were still playing what is now FBS. It's just as likely that we would have found another home long before the AAC invite and who knows what that would have looked like. We may have already found ourselves in the MWC or been a part of the initial AAC anyway.

I don't agree that is just as likely we would have found another home. I think it is more likely we would have dropped to what is now FCS. We will never know for sure but that is what our history suggests would have happnened.