Winners and Losers: Coach Tru helps Kansas State produce NFL players

KSO covers the biggest winners and losers in the world of Kansas State and college athletics.

Winners

1.) Coach Tru: Nobody has had a better few days than Kansas State strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll. Every time the Wildcats send someone to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, they light up the testing portion of the event. This is going on three years, too. Last year it was Cooper Beebe and Ben Sinnott. The year before saw Julius Brents blow up, and the K-State trio of Marques Sigle, Jacob Parrish and DJ Giddens did the same this year.
2.) Benefactors: A settlement has been reached between Florida State and Clemson and the ACC. They now will use unequal revenue sharing to disperse the money the league makes moving forward. Not only that, the exit fee number decreases each year and becomes much more reasonable about the same time the Big Ten television contract expires. Hmmm. And guess what, all the legal fees from the challenges were spent and undertaken by the Seminoles and Tigers. North Carolina and Miami will get to revel in these new perks and get to do so without spending a dime.
3.) Expediency: Speaking of the Hurricanes, they have wasted no time in hiring a new coach to replace Jim Larranaga. The new hire is Duke assistant Jai Lucas. Likewise, Utah hasn’t waited until the offseason, either. Their new basketball coach is Dallas Mavericks assistant Alex Jensen.
4.) Sweep: Drew Galloway of KSO can rejoice. Kansas State sweeps Cincinnati, which also may kick the Bearcats out of the NCAA Tournament for good.
5.) March: It is March, as Jon Rothstein of CBS would say. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. The weather gets a little warmer. College basketball tournaments are on every day. Baseball is getting fired up, too. I just wish the K-State men were in the NCAA Tournament this year, but maybe they can make the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City fun to watch, and perhaps the Kansas State ladies can make the second weekend this time around.

Losers

1.) Questions in Indianapolis: Someone had the nerve to ask Giddens about being used incorrectly at K-State. Another person requested that Parrish describe the color purple. Weirdos!
2.) Math in Austin: Texas players Isaiah Bond and Jaydon Blue both bragged beforehand and stated that they might run the 40-yard dash in 4.1 seconds and defeat the record set by Xavier Worthy the year before. And then both had a slower time than even Parrish and Sigle from Kansas State. Parrish was clocked at 4.36 and Sigle 4.37. Blue ran a 4.40 flat and Bond a 4.39. Is the set-up in Austin only 38 yards or something?
3.) ACC: I’m afraid the end is near for the ACC as we know it. The new settlement, as outlined above, ensures a path forward for schools like Clemson, North Carolina, Miami and Florida State to bolt around 2030 if they so choose.
4.) Pollard: He may have gotten a contract extension recently, but Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard is a dweeb. He videoed himself talking to a Tyrese Haliburton bobblehead and then called Cyclone fans “fat slobs” in an article about the difficulties of having stadium-wide beer sales.
5.) Injuries: The injury bug hit K-State rather hard. Though he returned in the win over Cincinnati, Coleman Hawkins missed action, Mobi Ikegwuruka has been dinged up and played just two minutes versus the Bearcats and Ayoka Lee is out for the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.