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Wooldridge won't burn bridge built at K-State
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Wooldridge won't burn bridge built at K-State
Quote:Jim Wooldridge. You remember him. Don't you? If not, I suppose it's understandable, since during his six seasons as Kansas State's basketball coach he failed to move the Wildcats off the mark.

I won't say the hiring of Bob Huggins, and the resulting fervor, has made people forget Wooldridge.

OK, maybe I will.

For those of you who have forgotten, Wooldridge is alive and well and living in San Marcos, Texas, working in the athletic department at Texas State, where he had success as a coach from 1991-94.

The familiar territory is nice, Wooldridge said in a telephone interview.

"When you're changing careers or moving or doing both, there's a lot of uncertainty and turbulence that goes along with that," he said. "We've landed in a place here where we have friends, and they have been helpful and supportive."

Wooldridge is a major gifts development officer at Texas State, so he's shaking as many hands as he did at K-State. But now he can do so without the sweaty palms of a losing basketball coach.

"There's really no time to think about what happened at Kansas State," Wooldridge said. "And when I do reflect back, it's all positive. That wasn't a negative place in my mind, concerning my career. I don't think of it that way and never will."

Wooldridge always thought the Wildcats were close to becoming successful but admits they were never quite able to cross over. He inherited a program in disarray and while he left it in a better place, there was still massive apathy.

Meanwhile, Huggins has not coached a game at K-State. But all of that apathy has disappeared, replaced by a level of enthusiasm not seen in Manhattan since the 1980s.

Wooldridge, who lived in Manhattan until taking the job at Texas State in early July, witnessed the hysteria first-hand for a while.

"I don't know Bob (Huggins) personally, I've met him a couple of times," Wooldridge said. "I know people who do know him and I think he's going to do a very good job there. That's my honest opinion. I hope he can take that thing to another level and get them to the tournament and win games and so forth."

Wooldridge, you can see, is no bridge-burner. He insists he has no hard feelings for K-State and that he still keeps in touch with school president Jon Wefald.

"He calls to check on me," Wooldridge said. "We have a good relationship and one that will continue forever."

Wooldridge said he also remains close to former K-State football coach Bill Snyder, though they haven't talked recently.

"The relationships I had with people there at Kansas State made those six years good years for me," Wooldridge said. "That doesn't go away. The job went away, but those relationships don't."

Wooldridge said he needed time away from coaching, which is one reason he returned to San Marcos. He led Texas State to a 25-7 record and its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1993-94 (as Southwest Texas State).

Asked about whether he missed coaching, Wooldridge thought for a moment.

"That's a good question," he said. "I'll give you an answer a year from now. Right now, I just don't know. Coaching is all I've ever done, and yet both what I did as a coach and what I'm doing now involve people. I hope that's what I am -- more of a people person who can flow from one career to another."

Wooldridge said his wife, Ann, was especially excited to get back to San Marcos, a place she enjoyed.

Or maybe it was just that she was happy to get away from basketball for a while.

"I know she enjoys getting acclimated and getting the house in order and all those things she loves to do," Wooldridge said. "I don't know how many basketball games she's going to go to this season. I'll go to them, but I'm not sure I could drag her to another game. I think she's had enough."
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/sports/15616208.htm
09-28-2006 10:32 AM
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