The RoundHouse | 1/2/2024 4:21:00 PM
By Paul Suellentrop
We will know a lot more – not everything - about the Wichita State's top stories from 2023 in a few months.
The past two years mark a turn in many areas around Shocker athletics – coaches, facilities and in the American Athletic Conference. Whether it's new conference members, new coaches or construction work, the final product is years away in some cases.
Even in the midst of all the change, performances stand out.
You might remember 2023 for a
Brock Rodden home run to beat Oklahoma at Riverfront Stadium, softball wins over top-10 teams Arkansas and Oklahoma State or another track and field championship.
Craig Porter Jr. carried the Shockers with his unique blend of pace and versatility on the basketball court. Volleyball middle
Morgan Stout grew into a dominant force and setter
Izzi Strand and libero
Gabi Maas made immediate contributions as transfers.
Brady Palen and
Destiny Masters earn All-American honors in the high jump.
Wichita State's top-10 stories include many changes and many memories:
1. Wichita State's high-profile sports all changed direction in 2023.
Paul Mills took over the men's basketball team in late March, replacing Isaac Brown. WSU announced the hiring of women's basketball coach
Terry Nooner almost a month later after Keitha Adams returned to UTEP.
In early June, the Shockers hired baseball coach
Brian Green away from Washington State to replace interim coach Loren Hibbs.
The new hires bring different backgrounds.
Mills started as a high school coach and came up through the Scott Drew coaching tree at Baylor. He spent six seasons building his program at Oral Roberts. Nooner played men's basketball at Kansas and worked as a women's assistant there and at Texas, Maryland, Alabama and Southern Illinois.
Green is at his third stop as a head coach after four seasons at Washington State and five at New Mexico State.
What is similar is the three
men's reputation for building relationships. Mills, Nooner and Green are all described as people who connect and serve their athletes. In an unpredictable and changing world of college athletics, those attributes are one way to recruit and retain.
"The student-athlete walks away knowing the coach has their best interests at heart, knowing that coach cares for them at a genuine and authentic level," director of athletics Kevin Saal said in August. "You have to coach the person first. We need connectors. We need leaders of people. Relational folks that can have the hard conversations and do it in such a way where it is a family atmosphere and it's genuine."
2. Another big season for Shocker softball
Wichita State softball owns unprecedented momentum on and off the field, thanks to unprecedented success and the impact of the best player in program history.
The Shockers won the 2023 AAC regular-season title and played in their third straight NCAA regional, their fourth appearance in the past five tournaments.
Sydney McKinney, a shortstop from Norborne, Mo., departed with honors and numbers
that make her the greatest Shocker. She earned All-America honors in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and led the nation in batting average in 2022 (.522) and 2023 (.520). She owns WSU records for career batting average, hits, runs, on-base percentage and more.
"She's going to leave here as the best softball player that's ever played the game in this program and that will never change in my lifetime," coach
Kristi Bredbenner said last season.
The success of recent seasons is fueling a major expansion and renovation of Wilkins Stadium. In September, John and Gail Wadsworth donated $1.5 million for the Softball Team Operations Facility, which includes locker rooms, offices and more. In August, the Board of Trustees voted to invest $3 million to fund the project's indoor practice facility.
3. Another Shocker in the NBA
Wichita State fans can turn on the TV or follow social media almost every night to check on a former Shocker in the NBA. The latest addition is guard
Craig Porter Jr., an undrafted rookie who is excelling with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Porter, third-team All-AAC in 2023, averages 7.5 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds for Cleveland. He has five starts and a season-high 21 points in a November win over Denver.
"He is a very mature basketball player," coach J.B. Bickerstaff told Cleveland media. "He has a game. He isn't hunting and searching. He knows exactly who he is. He knows how to get to his spots and when and how to be aggressive.You have trust and believe in a guy who always seems to be composed."
Porter joins Fred VanVleet, Landry Shamet and Austin Reaves as former Shockers in the NBA. Ricky Council IV played three games for Philadelphia earlier this season and is on a two-way contract with the 76ers. Dexter Dennis was recently waived after playing four games for Dallas.
Former Shocker Toure Murry is a player development associate coach with the 76ers.
4. Shockers show off their depth again
Wichita State's men's track and field team won a second straight AAC outdoor title in May in Tampa. The Shockers totaled 154 points to top Houston by two.
Pre-meet projections installed the Cougars with a 38-point edge. The Shockers did it without winning an event.
Yuben Goncalves placed second in the long jump and triple jump and third in the 400-meter hurdles.
"This is a massive validation for our team," head coach
Steve Rainbolt said. "I am so proud of these guys. Every guy mattered, exactly like a year ago. It took all sorts of terrific efforts on the part of our athletes."
5. Volleyball runs through the bracket
Wichita State volleyball finished the regular season second in the AAC and No. 61 in the NCAA's power ranking. While the Shockers weren't surprised not to earn an NCAA at-large bid, they were disappointed.
They channeled that into an impressive run through the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The Shockers defeated Arkansas State, Tulsa, Drake, Montana State at home before sweeping at UTEP to win the NIVC title.
WSU swept all those matches except a 3-1 win over Tulsa and added wins over the RPI's No. 52 team (Drake) and No. 64 (UTEP).
"This tournament matters, too," Strand said after the semifinal win over Montana State. "Getting to the championship, and hopefully winning, is kind of a like a 'Hey, we should have been in the NCAA Tournament.' It's still showing everyone we got this."
6. Strong in the classroom
Wichita State's student-athletes compiled a 3.45 cumulative grade-point average in the fall of 2023 to set a
department record for a second straight semester. In the spring, WSU totaled a 3.406 GPA.
Forty-six of WSU's 207 student-athletes compiled a 4.0 GPA and 83 percent earned a 3.0 or higher.
Tennis led the way with a 3.87 GPA for the women and 3.55 for the men. Women's tennis, men's basketball (3.48) and baseball (3.52) set program highs for their GPA's.
7. Bowling adds its reputation to roster of NCAA sports
In September, Wichita State announced that
women's bowling will move to NCAA status for the 2024-2-25 season and join the athletic department as the 16
th sport.
Shocker women's bowling owns 10 Intercollegiate Team Championships. Holly Harris will continue as head coach. There is no change for the Shocker men's bowling team because the NCAA does not sponsor the sport.
8. Campus skyline undergoes change
The demolition of the east stands at
Cessna Stadium started in June and is complete and awaits the next steps. Over the coming years, the campus landmark will look dramatically different as new seating, press box, 9-lane track and space for a soccer field are built.
Capacity of the stadium, when completed, is planned for approximately 13,500. Timing of all demolition and renovations will be scheduled to avoid interruption of the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championship in future years.
9. Big year for Brock
Second baseman
Brock Rodden completed a superb two-season career as a Shocker last spring.
In 2023, he became the first Shocker to earn AAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Player of the Year honors. He compiled a 3.77 GPA and hit .371 with 18 doubles and 17 home runs.
The Seattle Mariners picked Rodden in the fifth round of the MLB Draft. He also earned third-team All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball and ABCA/Rawlings.
Two-way player
Payton Tolle also earned second-team All-American honors from ABCA/Rawlings and the NCBWA. Hibbs was named AAC Coach of the Year after the Shockers finished 30-25 and third in the AAC at 13-10.
10. More honors for Grier Jones
Former Shocker men's golf coach Grier Jones added another honor to his resume. In early December, he was inducted into the
Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.
Jones coached the Shockers from 1995-2019 and won 15 conference titles and guided WSU to NCAA competition 17 times.
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
