TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — About the only thing the football programs at Kansas and Kansas State have had in common much of the past three decades is the often desolate stretch of Interstate 70 that connects them.

The Jayhawks have the proud tradition of John Riggins and Gale Sayers, yet recent success has been so scant that they’ve churned through five coaches in the past 10 years. The Wildcats had virtually no tradition until Bill Snyder arrived, and he built a consistent winner tucked away in the Flint Hills.

Makes sense the two schools would take vastly different approaches to hiring new head coaches.

Kansas settled on 65-year-old Les Miles, the “Mad Hatter” with Big 12 success at Oklahoma State and a national title at LSU on his resume. The quirky, defensive-minded coach known for nibbling grass and his recent foray into films has personality, energy and experience on his side.

Kansas State went with Chris Klieman, the 51-year-old former North Dakota State coach whose only experience at the Football Bowl Subdivision level came 22 years ago — a single season as an assistant at Kansas. Yet the blue-collar, hard-working Klieman proved his coaching chops at North Dakota State, where in five seasons he went 69-6 and won four Football Championship Subdivision national titles.

Flashy and familiar.

Down-to-earth and largely unknown.

“I don’t know what it was like a year ago. Everybody asks me about what it was,” Klieman told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview. “I know what we’re trying to instill here. Guys taking ownership of the program, guys getting invested in the program. It’s their program. We’re just guiding them. I want them to have input. I want them to have ownership. What was, I don’t know.”

So maybe Klieman and Miles aren’t quite polar opposites.

The new Kansas coach said basically the same thing.

“I think our players anticipated there being a new feeling,” Miles said. “I think it’s going to be a challenge to win games and win championships, but yeah, we’re ready for that challenge.”

To be sure, Miles understands the gargantuan task ahead of him.

Kansas hasn’t been to a bowl game since 2008, the penultimate season of Mark Mangino’s stunningly successful tenure. That was also the last time the Jayhawks won more than five games, let alone had a winning season. Four times in the intervening years they’ve won two games or fewer.

With losses along the way to the likes of Nicholls State, South Dakota State and seemingly every school in the Mid-America Conference, the Jayhawks had become not just the laughingstock of the state or the Big 12, they were the butt of jokes nationwide. Rarely did more than 15,000 fans show up to Memorial Stadium for home games, and even more rarely did anybody stick around for the second half.

Kansas has tried just about every avenue to land a winning coach, too.

There was Turner Gill, the former Big 12 quarterback who had turned around lowly Buffalo. There was the well-known Charlie Weis, who once led Notre Dame to back-to-back BCS bowl games. There was David Beaty, the career assistant with ties to the successful Mangino era.

So when athletic director Jeff Long went searching for the next coach, he settled on an old friend with a record of success in the Big 12 and the kind of gravitas it takes to recruit to Kansas.

“He’s built programs in the past. So when you’re out and you want back in, you can feel the passion in the conversation,” Long said. “From my view, for Les at this point in his career, the opportunity to step in and build a program — and rebuild us — and take us to a level of successful football was exciting to him and made a lot of sense for me to choose him.”

Much like Long tapped a longtime friend, so did Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor. Only he wasn’t replacing a string of failed head coaches. Instead, he was replacing the winningest coach in school history, one whose statue stands outside the stadium that bears his name.

Klieman understands the magnitude of what faces him, too. It may be a different kind of pressure from what Miles is under at Kansas, but it is no less pervasive and likely just as suffocating.

“It’s still about people. It’s still about blocking and tackling and knowing your assignments,” said Klieman, who just over a decade ago was coaching Loras, a Division III school. “I don’t care if you’re that division or the NFL, what you’re trying to do is get guys in position to be successful.”

Klieman did that with aplomb at North Dakota State, where the expectation every fall was to win the national championship. He did that four times, losing in the national semifinals the other year, and along the way beat Power Five schools Iowa and Iowa State on the road.

In a delicious bit of irony, the year before he took over Klieman was on Craig Bohl’s staff when the Bison rolled into Manhattan and beat Snyder’s team to open the 2013 season.

Yet in many ways Klieman is the perfect fit at Kansas State, where hard work and perseverance are valued more than most places. Those are traits Snyder instilled in the program when he first arrived in 1988, and set about rebuilding arguably the worst program in college football history.

“Fundamentally there’s more similarities between them than differences,” said quarterback coach Collin Klein, a Heisman Trophy finalist under Snyder. “I think the style and organization of meetings and walkthroughs during our camp, getting our guys physically ready, that’s all very similar.

“I know Coach Klieman’s approach is being 1-0 today,” Klein continued, “and stacking good days on top of each other is something that has been preached here a long time.”

There have been more good days than bad at Kansas State lately, and Klieman’s job is to sustain and build upon Snyder’s success: 215 wins, 18 bowl games, rarely a losing season.

It’s a much different challenge than the new coach at rival Kansas faces, but one no less daunting.

“There’s nothing that surprises me anymore with the number of years and the head coaching opportunities I’ve had,” Miles said. “I know what’s coming. I know what to expect from my players and coaches. I kind of anticipated where we would be, and to be honest, so far I’ve been pleased.”

 

kstatesports.com

MANHATTAN, Kan. – For a third-consecutive season, Kansas State senior defensive end Reggie Walker was named to the watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award, which honors the top defensive end in college football, the Ted Hendricks Foundation announced Wednesday.

Walker, who is joined on the 2019 watch list by 36 other players in the country and two others from the Big 12, is the second player in school history to earn consideration for the award three times. Ian Campbell was a semifinalist in 2006, preseason candidate in 2007 and midseason candidate in 2008. Prior to Walker, Jordan Willis was a midseason candidate for the award in 2016.

A product of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Walker has 16.0 career sacks to sit two away from entering the school’s top-10 list, while his 30.0 career tackles for loss are nine shy of entering the record book. He is also closing in on the school record for forced fumbles as the eight in his career are tied for third in school history and one shy of the record.

As a junior in 2018, Walker tallied 35 tackles, 12.5 TFLs and 7.5 sacks. He finished sixth in the Big 12 in sacks and tied for eighth in TFLs. Additionally, Walker carded four forced fumbles, which led the Big 12 and ranked 10th nationally.

The 2019 Wildcats will have a chance to interact with fans and sign autographs this Saturday as the program will hold a “Meet the Cats” autograph session from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., on the concourse of Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The West Stadium Center box office and the K-State Super Store will be open for the event.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Listen to updates from Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp in St. Joseph, Mo. with the “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus. The reports originally air weeknights at 5:25 p.m. on KWBW Radio 1450 am/98.5 fm.  Brought to you locally by Egbert Liquor.

 

by Steve Carpenter – Hutchinson CC Sports Information

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer team will move its entire season-opening week schedule from the Salthawk Sports Complex to Don Michael Field.

The move was prompted by the potential of more than an inch of rain forecast for the Hutchinson area over the next few days. The Salthawk Sports Complex has a new natural grass surface that may not be ready to take that much rain and have three games played on it in three days.

Don Michael Field has an artificial surface, which was installed last spring. Don Michael Field is located near the corner of 17th Avenue and Severence.

The Blue Dragons open the season on Thursday night at 6 o’clock against Trinidad State. Then on Friday at 2 p.m., Trinidad State and Indian Hills will play. Opening week will be closed out by Hutchinson and Indian Hills playing at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

There is no admission to any of the games.

Fans can park in two areas near Don Michael Field. There is the Graber Grade School parking lot just to the west of the field. There is also parking that runs along 17th Avenue to the north of the field. Fans must cross a pedestrian bridge to gain entrance to Don Michael Field.

All fans will sit on the west side in the main seating area. No fans will be allowed to sit on the bench side of the field.

 

Wednesday Morning Sports with KWBW’s Rob Dreher.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dexter Fowler hit a bases-loaded double and drove in four runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals past the Milwaukee Brewers 9-4. Tyler Webb earned his first major-league victory with one-third inning of work in his 79th career game. The Cardinals have won nine of their last 11 games, while the Brewers have lost six of their last eight. St. Louis remained in first place by a half-game over the Chicago Cubs. Third-place Milwaukee is four games back.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Hanser Alberto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles ended an eight-game losing streak by beating the Kansas City Royals 4-1. Royals reliever Jacob Barnes sandwiched a pair of walks around two outs before Alberto hit a 1-1 pitch into the Baltimore bullpen for his eighth home run. Baltimore had lost 13 of 14.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Rookie running back Darwin Thompson is quickly climbing the depth chart of the Kansas City Chiefs, even though the sixth-round pick has plenty going against him. Not only is Thompson a bit undersized at 5-foot-8, he only played one season of Division I football and did it at Utah State, where the competition level was lower than most major colleges.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs placed Marcus Kemp on injured reserve with a torn ACL and signed fellow wide receiver De’Anthony Thomas as part of a series of roster moves made as training camp resumed. The Chiefs also signed former offensive lineman Jeff Allen, who had stayed in touch with the club all offseason, and wide receiver Jalen Tolliver to provide additional depth. Wide receiver Davon Grayson and offensive lineman Abdul Beecham were released.

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech has added another graduate transfer with former Utah State cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram joining his former coach in the Big 12 Conference. Ingram went through his first practice with the Red Raiders on Tuesday. He is immediately eligible to play for Texas Tech after earning a degree from Utah State in three years. He started 15 games the past two seasons while playing for new Red Raiders coach Matt Wells. Ingram is the sixth graduate transfer to join Texas Tech this summer.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Oklahoma graduate transfer Austin Kendall has been named West Virginia’s starting quarterback for the Aug. 31 season opener against FCS James Madison. West Virginia coach Neal Brown announced the choice of Kendall, who beat out three others. At Oklahoma, Kendall backed up Baker Mayfield in 2016 and Kyler Murray last season. For his career, Kendall has completed 28 of 39 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

National Headlines

UNDATED (AP) — Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence highlights The Associated Press preseason All-America team. He has two teammates from the top-ranked Tigers on the first team with him. Lawrence, the first freshman to quarterback to lead a team to a national championship in more than 30 years, was joined on the first-team offense by Clemson running back Travis Etienne. Tigers linebacker Isaiah Simmons made the first-team defense. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa heads the second team.

CLEVELAND (AP) _ Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber has been shut down for two weeks with an abdominal strain suffered while continuing his rehab from a broken arm. He was pulled from a minor league start for Triple-A Columbus at Charlotte on Sunday after one inning because of abdominal tightness. Kluber hasn’t pitched for the Indians since May 1, when he was struck by a line drive at Miami.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) _ Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais says pitcher Félix Hernández will rejoin the Seattle Mariners’ starting rotation this weekend. Hernandez has missed three months with right shoulder stiffness. He pitched 3-plus innings last night for Triple-A Tacoma in his fourth rehab appearance, giving up one run on four hits and three walks while striking out five.

NEW YORK (AP) _ New York Mets reliever Robert Gsellman has a partially torn lat muscle that puts the rest of his season in jeopardy. The injury was confirmed in an MRI, a blow to the Mets’ bullpen as the team tries to earn a playoff berth. Gsellman is 2-3 with a 4.66 ERA and one save in 52 appearances covering 63 2/3 innings.

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A judge has set a May 5 trial date for the gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the women’s national team against U.S. Soccer, just over 2 ½ months before the Tokyo Olympics. The players sued U.S. Soccer in March, alleging institutionalized gender discrimination that includes inequitable compensation when compared with their counterparts on the men’s national team. The federation claims that compensation for each team is the result of separate collective bargaining agreements, and that the pay structures are different as a result.

Tuesday Scores

INTERLEAGUE
Final N-Y Mets 9 Cleveland 2
Final Philadelphia 3 Boston 2
Final L-A Dodgers 16 Toronto 3

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final L-A Angels 5 Texas 1 (1st game)
Final Baltimore 4 Kansas City 1
Final Seattle 7 Tampa Bay 4
Final Minnesota 14 Chi White Sox 4
Final Houston 6 Detroit 3
Final Texas 3 L-A Angels 2 (11 Innings, 2nd game)
Final Oakland 6 N-Y Yankees 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Pittsburgh 4 Washington 1
Final Cincinnati 3 San Diego 2
Final Atlanta 5 Miami 1
Final Chi Cubs 5 San Francisco 3
Final St. Louis 9 Milwaukee 4
Final Arizona 8 Colorado 7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Patrick Mahomes addresses the media as the Chiefs prepare for the next preseason game on Saturday, August 24th vs San Francisco at Arrowhead Stadium.

 

By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer

BALTIMORE — Hanser Alberto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles ended an eight-game losing streak by beating the Kansas City Royals 4-1 Tuesday night.

Royals reliever Jacob Barnes (1-2) sandwiched a pair of walks around two outs before Alberto hit a 1-1 pitch into the Baltimore bullpen for his eighth home run. As the ball cleared the wall, Alberto raised his right arm in the air and smiled broadly approaching second base.

Hunter Harvey (1-0) worked a perfect eighth to earn his first major league win and Mychal Givens got three outs for his 10th save.

Baltimore had lost 13 of its previous 14 games, including the series opener to Kansas City on Monday.

Both starters were very sharp, and neither factored in the decision.

Dylan Bundy allowed the Royals one run and five hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts.

Brad Keller didn’t let a runner get past first base until the sixth, when Chance Sisco drew a leadoff walk and went to second on a single. With one out, right fielder Bubba Starling ran far to his right to make a diving catch of a sinking liner by Anthony Santander, and Keller finished his outing by retiring Renato Núñez on a fly ball.

Keller gave up three hits and left with a 1-0 lead, but his bid to earn his first win since July 24 ended when reliever Richard Lovelady allowed a game-tying single to Rio Ruiz in the seventh.

Kansas City’s lone run came in the second inning, when Meibrys Viloria hit a sacrifice fly following singles by Alex Gordon and Ryan O’Hearn.

RUTSCHMAN ON RISE
Catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft, is moving quickly up Baltimore’s minor league chain.

Less than 24 hours after going 5 for 5 for short-season Class A Aberdeen, Rutschman received a promotion to Class A Delmarva on Tuesday. He is expected to join the Shorebirds on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Rutschman began his pro career in the Gulf Coast League and concluded his brief stint with Aberdeen on a 10-game hitting streak.

TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: RHP Danny Duffy (left hamstring strain) threw 65 pitches in a simulated game Tuesday. “We’ll see (Wednesday) how he feels and we’ll evaluate after that,” manager Ned Yost said. Duffy hasn’t pitched since Aug. 3. … SS Adalberto Mondesi (shoulder) began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha by playing DH and striking out his first three trips to the plate.

Orioles: OF Mark Trumbo has missed the entire season while recovering from knee surgery but still has hopes of returning when rosters expand in September. “Probably have to send him out to play some (rehab) games prior to that, but as of right now everything is one track,” manager Brandon Hyde said. … OF Dwight Smith Jr. (left calf strain) went 3 for 5 for Triple-A Norfolk on Monday to open his rehab assignment. “There’s no problem at all. He came out healthy,” Hyde said. Smith went 1 for 2 at the DH Tuesday night and will move to the outfield Wednesday.

UP NEXT
Royals: Mike Montgomery (3-5, 4.63 ERA) pitches in the series finale Wednesday night. He’s 2-1 with a 1.00 ERA in his last three starts and 2-3 with KC after being traded from the Cubs.

Orioles: Aaron Brooks (2-7, 6.49) remains in search of his first win since April 11, when he beat Baltimore for Oakland. The right-hander is winless in seven starts with the Orioles since being claimed on waivers on July 6.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs placed Marcus Kemp on injured reserve with a torn ACL and signed fellow wide receiver De’Anthony Thomas as part of a series of roster moves made Tuesday when training camp resumed.

The Chiefs also signed former offensive lineman Jeff Allen, who had stayed in touch with the club all offseason, and wide receiver Jalen Tolliver to provide additional depth.

Wide receiver Davon Grayson and offensive lineman Abdul Beecham were released.

The team returned to its practice facility in Kansas City this week to prepare for its third preseason game Saturday night against San Francisco. It had been training in nearby St. Joseph.

Defense end Breeland Speaks missed the workout with a knee injury and tight end Deon Yelder was out with a sprained ankle. Safety Tyrann Mathieu was a partial participant with a shoulder injury while wide receiver Tyreek Hill was excused for personal reasons.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — (Tiana Mangakahia is a former Hutchinson Community College student that never played for the Blue Dragons but contributed in practice and from the bench.  She qualified to attend Syracuse after Hutchinson.)

The question “Why me?” has entered her mind, but Tiana Mangakahia knows these things happen all the time.

The 24-year-old star point guard for the Syracuse women’s basketball team was diagnosed with breast cancer about two months ago, and now she is halfway through chemotherapy.

Mangakahia spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday since acknowledging on July 1 she had the disease. The announcement by the red-shirt senior sent shock waves through the Syracuse program.

The Australian is one of the nation’s top women’s players. She said her condition has caused her to think more about life’s simpler things, but she maintains she’s still the same person.

″There are certain things you can’t control ,” she said. “You just have to kind of handle it and get through it.”

In early June, Mangakahia noticed a lump on her left breast, and things progressed quickly. She received a biopsy in mid-June and a mammogram. On June 18, her doctor called her and told her she had Grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma.

When she asked the doctor to explain what it was she couldn’t comprehend it. She had stage 2 breast cancer. When the shock subsided, she called coach Quentin Hillsman to ask if they could meet.

Hillsman said the two cried for 30 seconds. Hillsman said that after wiping away the tears they started thinking of a plan: how to fight this. Managakahia met with numerous members of the athletic department. She decided to go public because of all the backing she gets from fans.

#Tough4T trended on Twitter. An outpouring of support came from all over.

“When you recruit a kid and you tell their parents, ‘Have them come here. We’re going to take care of them. I’m going to look out for them. I’m going to make sure nothing happens to them,’” Hillsman said. ”…We have an obligation as coaches, as a university to make sure that our student-athletes are well taken care of.”

She has completed four of eight treatments. Mangakahia said the feedback from doctors has been good, and she will have a better understanding of her status after more tests Friday. She will apply for an extra year of eligibility and hopes to return to Syracuse for one last year in 2020-21.

There are bad days, of course. Hillsman can only think of one, but in the days following her chemotherapy treatments Mangakahia said she feels fatigued and remains mostly immobile. But everything otherwise feels pretty normal, she said, and now she envisions a day when her fight will end, and she’ll win.

Nowadays, support comes from many places: family, the Syracuse program, fans. On a good day now, she’ll wake up, have something to eat, shoot around and in the afternoon and spend time with friends. That’s when things are good.

“It’s just a part of the process,” she said. “I know I need to go through more bad days to get to the better days.”