Life of Fitz | A Cancer Warrior's Conversations about Life

Mitch Holthus in Kansas City, Mo. (100th Episode)

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Mitch Holthus (hole-tus) is the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs and is the longest tenured and most decorated play-by-play "voice" in franchise history. He was on the call of Super Bowls 54 & 57 when the Chiefs won their second and third Super Bowl championships. He was also on the call of Super Bowl 55 in February 2021. Holthus is also the host of the Hy-Vee Chiefs Insider television show and the Chiefs rewind postgame show featured on several digital platforms. In addition, he originated the "Minute with Mitch" radio and television series, which is seen and heard in five states. Holthus is a member of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the Kansas State University Athletics Hall of Fame, and, in June 2022, was inducted into the Missouri Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. As a result, he will be one of only three individuals in both the KAB and MBA Halls of Fame, joining his former broadcast partner, Len Dawson, and the late Fred White. After graduating from Kansas State with his second undergraduate degree, Holthus worked in Pratt, Kansas, moving to WIBW radio and TV in Topeka in 1983. There, Holthus began a 13-year stint on the K-State Radio Network as the "Voice of the K-State Wildcats."

Additionally, Holthus was heavily involved in marketing for both the Network and the K-State athletic department. He started the Jr. Wildcat Club in 1989 and was named K-State Catbacker of the Year in 1993. Holthus then became the "Voice of the Kansas City Chiefs" in 1994, making him the longest tenured play-by-play announcer in Chiefs history. Holthus has won five Emmys for his video and online work by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In addition, Holthus is a past recipient of the Kansas City Sports Journalist of the Year. In 2018, he was listed with the Voice of the Royals, Denny Matthews, as one of the top 13 "one-two" play-by-play pairs in America by the Sports Broadcast Journal. He was also named the 2020 Missouri Sportscaster of the Year and has been the Kansas Sportscaster of the Year eight times. He is married to the former Tami Johnson of McPherson, Kansas, a former Kansas State women's basketball player. They have two children.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, appears on TV and radio, produces daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as the publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website focusing on Kansas State sports, for over 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic Stage Four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lie low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Brent Stover in New York City

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Brent Stover joined CBS Sports Network in 2010 as a play-by-play announcer, calling football, basketball, and various other Olympic sports. He also serves as a studio host for the Network's coverage of college basketball and college football. Before CBS Sports Network, Stover served as host, anchor, reporter, and play-by-play voice for the Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Net Midwest/Southwest. He was also the play-by-play voice for the WNBA's Chicago Sky. In addition, Stover hosted and reported for the pre- and post-game shows of the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, as well as the St. Louis Rams post-game radio show. Stover received a degree in journalism from Kansas State University, where he competed in track and cross-country.

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Damion McIntosh in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Damion McIntosh came to Kansas State in 1995 out of McArthur High School in Hollywood, Florida. A native of Jamaica, McIntosh began playing football in high school to maximize the potential of his immense size. Playing both defensive and offensive tackle, McIntosh received recruiting interest from all over the country, but picked Kansas State based on his recruitment by former K-State defensive coordinator Bob Stoops. McIntosh redshirted his first season, and then played defensive tackle his first three years of eligibility, becoming an All-Big 12 performer. Then, in his senior season (1999), Coach Bill Snyder convinced McIntosh to fill a need at left offensive tackle, and his fate was sealed. McIntosh was drafted as an offensive tackle in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. During his 10-year NFL career, McIntosh played for the Chargers, the Miami Dolphins, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Seattle Seahawks. Now 48 years old, McIntosh lives with his family in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, area, where he fills his time as a volunteer high school football coach and manages his varied business interests. *** Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast. *** Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, appears on TV and radio, produces daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as the publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website focusing on Kansas State sports, for over 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic Stage Four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lie low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Joe Tillery in Prairie Village, Kansas

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Recent Kansas State graduate Joe Tillery was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was an infant, and his life expectancy meant he wouldn't live to attend college. He did, benefiting from advances in medicine and a positive spirit to live beyond the years of most patients of this deadly disease. Now 25, Tillery finds himself in the hospital less and living life more, including his passion for sharing his thoughts about Kansas State sports on his YouTube channel. Tillery, like Fitz, is living beyond his life expectancy, so call it stolen, borrowed, or earned extra time; passing that expiration date is liberating. After a year in Minnesota with his fiancée, Lauren, Tillery has returned to the Kansas City area to live a life beyond what medicine expected for most of his life.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, appears on TV and radio, produces daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as the publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website focused on Kansas State sports, for over 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic Stage Four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lie low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Blaine Younger in Nashville, Tennessee

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Blaine Younger is a singer-songwriter originally from Victoria, Kansas. It was in his home state, near his alma mater, Kansas State, where he toured and released several projects throughout the 2000s. In 2016, Blaine won the Nashville Songwriters Association International song contest with his song "PatiOasis," which introduced him into the Nashville songwriting community. Younger's first studio album since 2010 was recently released, and he has since reformed The Blaine Younger Band, which is touring their home state of Kansas and beyond throughout the year. Blaine currently resides in Nashville with his wife and children, where he writes songs daily for himself and other artists, including more than 30 independent cuts.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, appears on TV and radio, produces daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as the publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website focused on Kansas State sports, for over 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic Stage Four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lie low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Chad Weiberg in Stillwater, Oklahoma

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Chad Weiberg assumed the role of Oklahoma State Vice President and Athletic Director in July of 2021 after having spent the previous four years as OSU's Deputy Athletic Director. The timing of his promotion to athletic director lined up with seismic shifts in the national landscape of college sports. Realignment within the Big 12 Conference and the emergence of Name, Image and Likeness both occurred within a month of Weiberg's start date. With that as the backdrop, in the modernized world of college athletics, Weiberg's four years in charge at OSU have piled up team and individual NCAA Championships. Weiberg has made three head coach hires, successfully recruiting Jacie Hoyt (women's basketball), Steve Lutz (men's basketball) and David Taylor (wrestling) to Stillwater. Oklahoma State hosted NCAA Championship events in men's and women's cross country (2022), wrestling (2023) and men's and women's tennis (2024) under Weiberg, providing the Cowboys and Cowgirls with added visibility on the national level. During his tenure as Deputy Athletic Director, he played a pivotal role in successfully navigating OSU Athletics through the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, he developed a partnership with the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences that helped produce the planning and resources to keep Cowboy and Cowgirl student-athletes healthy, safe, and ready for competition. Weiberg was a key figure in several important initiatives that benefited both student-athletes and fans. A little more than a year after Weiberg's arrival, OSU added a director of counseling and sport psychology position within the athletic department to serve the mental health needs of student-athletes better. Weiberg is a 1994 graduate of OSU with a degree in business administration. He earned a master's in business administration from OSU in 2002. After earning his undergraduate degree, he served as the director of corporate sales and donor relations for OSU Athletics until 1999. He served as senior director of field operations for the OSU Alumni Association from 1999-2002 before becoming the director of development for the OSU Foundation/College of Business Administration from 2002-03. He held a similar role for OSU Athletics from 2003-04 before moving to Kansas State. At K-State, Weiberg served the KSU Foundation as Director of Corporate Relations for a year before becoming the Director of Major Gifts for K-State Athletics in 2005. Weiberg assumed the lead role for K-State Athletics' Ahearn Fund in 2009 and, for his team's efforts, was recognized as the National Fundraiser of the Year by the National Association of Athletic Development Directors in 2014. Weiberg was the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development when he left K-State in 2015 to become the Deputy Director of Athletics at Texas Tech University, a role he served in for two years before returning to his alma mater in 2017. College athletics have played a key role in Weiberg's life from an early age. His father, Mick, and brother, Brett were both college basketball head coaches and his brother, Jared, played basketball at OSU under Eddie Sutton for a year before moving into the role of team manager. Weiberg's uncle, Kevin, served as commissioner of the Big 12. Weiberg and his wife, Jodi, have two children, Ella and Grant.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic Stage Four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Erick Harper in Las Vegas

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Former Kansas State safety Erick Harper is in his fourth year as athletics director at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, or UNLV, after being promoted to serve as UNLV's 14th permanent Director of Athletics on Jan. 1, 2022. Harper served as UNLV's Interim Director of Athletics from August 16, 2021, to December 31, 2021. As UNLV's AD, Harper oversees all aspects of the athletics department and the Thomas & Mack Center, including general operations, fiscal affairs, facilities, strategic planning, and external relations. Prior to becoming Director of Athletics, Harper served nine years as UNLV's senior associate athletics director for development. Harper has been in university athletics administration for more than 30 years. He joined UNLV as associate athletics director for development in 2012. In that role, he oversaw fundraising efforts for the department and served as a sports administrator for multiple sports, including football and women's golf. Prior to joining UNLV, Harper served as associate athletics director for football operations at the University of Arizona from 2003 to 2011. He began his athletics administrative career at Kansas State University (1990-2003), where he served in development, marketing, and compliance roles, as well as in a sport administrator capacity for multiple sports. Harper earned his bachelor's degree in 1992 from Kansas State, where he was a four-year starter and standout defensive back for the Wildcats football team. He later earned a master's in organizational management and leadership from Ashford University in 2013. Harper and his wife, Dr. Patrice Hester-Harper, who holds three degrees (bachelor's, master's, PhD) from UNLV and is currently associate vice president for development and principal gifts for the university, have two daughters, Sydney (17) and Avery (8)..

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Matt Wells in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Known as a great offensive mind and developer of quarterback talent, Matt Wells boasts over 25 years of coaching experience. He is in his second season at K-State, serving as the offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and associate head coach since 2025. Last season, he served as co-offensive coordinator. Wells hit the ground running in his first season on staff, tutoring Avery Johnson to a school-record 25 touchdown passes, while his sophomore signal caller ranked fifth in school history in passing yards (2,712) and completions (217). Additionally, Johnson was one of only five players in the nation and one of three from Power 4 schools to record at least 2,700 passing yards and 600 rushing yards. He was also one of nine signal callers nationally with at least 25 passing touchdowns and seven rushing touchdowns. Under the direction of Wells, Johnson guided an offense that finished in the top 15 nationally in four offensive categories, including rushing yards per carry (second, 6.08) and rushing yards per game (11th, 215.5). K-State also ranked in the top 10 in school history in 15-game or season categories. Among those were school record for offensive yards per play (6.57) and rushing yards per carry (6.08), while the Wildcats tied for third in passing touchdowns (25), ranked fourth in offensive yards per game (426.8), fifth in total offense yards (5,549), sixth in rushing yards (2,801), seventh in completions (222) and 10th in both passing yards (2,749) and pass attempts (383). Wells, who boasts nine years of head coaching experience, came to Manhattan after spending the previous two seasons at Oklahoma as an advisor to the head coach and offensive analyst. Prior to that, he served as the head coach at his alma mater, Utah State, from 2013 through 2018 and at Texas Tech from 2019 to 2021. In addition to coaching quarterbacks during his 27-year coaching career, he has also spent time tutoring wide receivers and tight ends. In total, Wells has been a part of 13 bowl teams and two conference championships. Wells earned his bachelor's degree in business marketing from Utah State in 1996, graduating cum laude. He and his wife, Jen, have two daughters, Jadyn and Ella, and one son, Wyatt.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Shanele Stires in San Luis Obispo, California

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Shanele Stires graduated from Salina Central (Kan.) High School in 1990. That is not only Fitz's alma mater, but he also covered high school sports for his hometown newspaper that year, watching Stires excel in multiple sports for the Salina Central Mustangs. After high school, Stires attended Kansas State on a track scholarship but then headed to Cloud County Community College after a year so she could try her hand at college basketball. It worked out perfectly, with Stires returning to Manhattan the next three years (1992-95) to play hoops for the Wildcats, averaging 16.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. Stires scored 1,344 career points, grabbed 701 career rebounds, and earned Kodak All-America honorable mention, First-Team All-Big Eight honors, and runner-up in Conference Player of the Year voting as a senior in 1995. After that was a 10-year run as a professional player, including a stretch in the recently formed WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx before entering coaching. Stires' career has led her to San Luis Obispo, California, where she is preparing to start her fourth season as the head women's coach for the Cal Poly Mustangs. Stires, 53, received her bachelor's degree in social science from Kansas State in 1995 and a master's degree in collegiate athletics from San Francisco in 2016.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Hunter Woodhall in Wamego, Kansas

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Hunter Woodhall is an American track and field Paralympian and the first double amputee to earn a Division I NCAA track scholarship, and is married to fellow Olympian and Kansas State assistant track and field coach Tara Davis-Woodhall. In 2024, Woodhall won his first Paralympic gold medal in the men's 400m T62 event in Paris. He also won a bronze medal in the same event at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Born in Georgia while his father was serving in the military. Woodhall's parents decided to amputate both of his legs at 11 months old due to fibular hemimelia. He was raised in Syracuse, Utah, Woodhall was initially given prosthetic lower legs as a child but switched to carbon fiber "blades" while still in grade school, which unlocked his live for running. Hunter and Tara were wed on October 16, 2022.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Scot Pollard in Carmel, Indiana

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Scot Pollard grew up in San Diego, and after considering Arizona as his college basketball destination, he chose Kansas so he could play for Coach Roy Williams. After a stellar college career, Pollard was selected as the 19th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, going to the Detroit Pistons. Pollard played for five NBA franchises during his 10-year professional career, with the bulk of his career spent with the Sacramento Kings and the Indiana Pacers. Except for his first season, Pollard appeared in the NBA Playoffs, including in the 2007 NBA playoffs with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won a championship in his final season (2007–08) with the Boston Celtics. Pollard appeared as a contestant on the TV show Survivor in 2016. All of those life accomplishments are now overshadowed by the victory he claimed in 2024, when a genetic failure of his heart led to the need for a donor heart, which seemed doubtful at the time. A heart, however, was found, and Pollard continues to recover from the successful surgery at his home in Carmel, Indiana, where he lives with his wife Dawn and their four children.

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Blueville Nursery in Manhattan, Kansas, sponsors the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Chris Klieman in Manhattan, Kansas | Season 6 Premiere

Mon, 26 May 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Chris Klieman followed the legendary Bill Snyder as Kansas State's football coach in 2019. In less than three months, Klieman will kick off his seventh season as head coach of the Wildcats. The K-State program has played in a bowl five of Klieman's first six seasons, with only the chaotic pandemic season in 2020 being the exception. Overall, he is 48-28 as K-State's coach and has won nine or more games each of the last three seasons, winning a Big 12 championship and two bowl games in that stretch. Klieman appeared on Life of Fitz in 2023, and since then, much has changed about college football and more. Welcome to the premiere of Season 6 of the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Troy Hartman in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 15:00:00 -0000

Troy Hartman's story is full of tragedy and hope. His story of alcoholism and the horror it brought to his life is powerful, and it's one he shares so people can understand the darkness in which he traveled until the power of forgiveness changed his life. That forgiveness grew from the death of a close friend while attending College of the Ozarks in Branson, Missouri, where he went to a local church and began to serve. In 2003, Troy had the opportunity to help start North Point Church in Springfield, Missouri, and met his wife, Lacey, while serving. The Hartmans were on staff at NPC for 11 years but felt God asking them to leave a place they loved to start a new church. Troy and Lacey and their daughters Jovi and Jade moved to Manhattan in 2015, knowing one person. In the first few months, they lived in Manhattan, a team of 40 people committed to the launch of Rock Hills Church. Rock Hills officially started September 13, 2015, at the Boys and Girls Club of Manhattan, and over the years, the church has welcomed thousands of men, women, children, military personnel, and college students to find and follow Jesus. Rock Hills relocated to the former Seth Child Cinema in Manhattan in 2017, and after several years of month-to-month rent, the church was able to purchase its "Nine Acres of Hope." The remarkable growth of Rock Hills has now led the church to renovate two theaters into one larger auditorium for their three services per Sunday, which are typically packed with a wonderful congregation of believers of many ages and different backgrounds. That congregation now includes Tim and Becky Fitzgerald, as well as Tim's older sister, Amy, who recently moved to Manhattan to teach at Kansas State.

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Jareem Dowling in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0000

Jareem Dowling is entering his third season at Kansas State after being the first announced member of head coach Jerome Tang's inaugural coaching staff on March 29, 2022. Dowling was part of a coaching staff that helped reenergize a K-State program in 2022-23, guiding the Wildcats to their third-highest win total (26) and a thrilling run to the Elite Eight despite being picked last in the Big 12 preseason poll after three consecutive losing seasons. The 26 wins are the third-most in school history, trailing the school-record 29 in 2009-10, the 27 in 2012-13, and just the eighth 25-win campaign. An assistant coach with 17 years of experience as well as 12 years of international head coaching experience, Dowling came to K-State after spending six seasons (2016-22) on staff with current Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland at both Arkansas State (2016-17) and North Texas (2017-22). In addition to his time with the Red Wolves and Mean Green, he has also been an assistant at the NJCAA level at Cecil College in Maryland (2005-08), the Division II level at Slippery Rock (2008-11) as well as Morehead State (2011-12) and Southern Miss (2012-15). Dowling also has extensive international experience having served as the head coach for the U.S. Virgin Islands Junior National Team and as an assistant coach on the Senior National Team since 2007. A native of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dowling moved to Wilmington, Delaware, during high school. Dowling earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from UMES in 2005, while he added a master's degree in Sports Management from California University of Pennsylvania in 2011. Dowling and his wife, Cierra, have a daughter, Laiya.

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Pete Mundo in Kansas City, Missouri

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 13:00:00 -0000

Pete Mundo is currently the morning show host and assistant program director at 710AM KCMO in Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, Mundo owns and operates an independent Big 12 sports digital media outlet, Heartland College Sports. Mundo, a graduate of Villanova University, had previous stops at CBS Sports Radio, Fox News Radio, and Sports Illustrated, and even spent time in Oklahoma, where he gained a love for Big 12 Conference sports.

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Bud Elliott in Orlando, Florida

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0000

Bud Elliott graduated from Florida State University in 2007 and then proceeded to law school at the University of Alabama, graduating in 2010. After that, Elliott quickly took a career turn into sports, launching an independent Florida State site that quickly joined the SB Nation network. His time running Tomahawk Nation led him into the world of college football recruiting — acting as SB Nation's recruiting analyst until his eventual departure in 2020. Elliott moved to 247Sports Network in 2020, and he's worked with the national recruiting staff and created content for 247's college football coverage. Elliott is part of the CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast panel, one of the top college sports podcasts in the nation.

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Jill Shields in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 16:12:00 -0000

Jill Shields, a 23-year veteran of the K-State Athletics Department, was promoted to Deputy Athletics Director in 2017 after serving as Executive Associate Athletics Director for Student Services since 2015. In her role, Shields oversees the daily internal operation of the entire athletics department and also serves as the department's senior woman administrator. She oversees the day-to-day operation of the football program while also serving as the sport administrator for women's basketball and volleyball. In fall 2019, Shields was appointed to a five-year term on the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee. She will also serve as the Big 12 Chair of the Senior Woman Administrators for the 2022-23 academic year. Shields had previously worked as Senior Associate, Associate and Assistant Athletics Director and Associate Director of Student Services with stints directing the support services for football, women's basketball and volleyball, as well as Life Skills programming. Shields came to K-State after working at Wichita State for six years, including the final year as a senior admissions representative in the University's admissions office. She spent the previous five seasons as an assistant women's basketball coach for the Shockers. She also had coaching stints at the University of Central Florida, North Georgia College and Florida Southern. She earned her bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Central Florida in 1990. A member of the Golden Knights basketball team, Shields was named most valuable player her senior year. She earned her Master's degree in education from North Georgia College in 1992. Shields, a native of Assaria, Kansas, and her husband, Mark, have two children, Sydney and Sam. Sam is a sophomore offensive lineman for the Wildcats.

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Travis Geopfert in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:15:00 -0000

Travis Geopfert was named K-State's seventh full-time Director of Track and Field/Cross Country by Director of Athletics Gene Taylor on July 11, 2024. Geopfert was a four-time National Assistant Coach of the Year during two stints at Arkansas across 12 years, with 22 total years of experience also at Tennessee, Northern Iowa and Central Missouri. At Arkansas with the men's team, he was a part of two NCAA Championship teams (2013 indoor and 2023 indoor), 21 top-10 NCAA team finishes and 25 SEC Championships. Geopfert has coached 15 Olympians, including eight who have advanced to this summer's Paris Games. Geopfert was born on August 20, 1978, in Panora, Iowa. He is married to Nicole and they have three children — sons Jones and Jax, and daughter Ellyn.

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Amy Button Renz in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:00:00 -0000

K-State Alumni Association president and CEO Amy Button Renz '76, '86 retired on June 30, 2023, from the K-State Alumni Association after more than 45 years of service to Kansas State University. Renz began her career with the Alumni Association in 1977. She was named president and CEO in 1994, becoming the first female alumni director in the Big Eight and later the Big 12 conference. Renz was instrumental in the creation of many programming efforts, including the Student Alumni Board and the K-State Student Ambassadors. She served as the lead fundraiser for the Alumni Center building campaign. The $12.7 million facility was dedicated in October 2002. Under her leadership the Alumni Association has raised more than $6 million for student scholarships and recognition through the K-State License Plate program. Since 1996, the program has expanded to include four states. Additionally, the Alumni Association has raised more than $3.7 million for student scholarships through Wabash CannonBall galas in Kansas City, North Texas, Houston and Colorado. Renz is a third-generation K-Stater. She earned two degrees from K-State, a bachelor's degree in political science in 1976 and master's degree in public administration in 1986. Her husband, Allen Renz '87, is also a graduate of K-State, as are their three children. They have three grandsons and four granddaughters — including one K-State graduate and one current K-State student.

***

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Tim Weiser in Dallas, Texas

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -0000

Tim Weiser served as the Director of Athletics at Kansas State University from 2001 to 2008. During his tenure, K-State became the first Big 12 institution to win conference championships in three top-tier sports in a single year (2003-04; football, volleyball, women's basketball). The athletic department generated record revenues in the areas of fundraising and corporate sponsorships under Weiser's direction. Weiser then joined the Big 12 as Deputy Commissioner in 2008. He serves as the Chief Operations Officer (COO) in the day-to-day functions of the Conference office and is also the primary liaison to the board of directors in conjunction with the Big 12 legal counsel. Weiser served as Athletics Director at Colorado State University from 1997 to 2001. He began his career in collegiate athletics administration in 1983 at Wichita State. In 1988, he was named athletics director at Austin Peay before taking the same post at Eastern Michigan in 1993. The Great Bend, Kansas native is a graduate of Emporia State with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in counseling. Weiser has been active on the national level, where he was president of the Division I-A Athletic Directors' Association, in addition to serving on the NCAA's Championships/Competition Cabinet and Division I Baseball Committee. He was inducted into the Emporia State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

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Tim Barr in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 05:00:00 -0000

The National Bio and Agro-defense Facility (NBAF) will soon be in operation in Manhattan, Kansas. Its construction, which took more than 10 years, was recently completed. The facility was turned over to the USDA, which will operate NBAF. NBAF enhances the U.S. government's research, development, testing, and evaluation countermeasure capabilities by establishing a modern, integrated foreign animal and zoonotic disease research, development, and testing facility.

Overseeing the construction was a Kansas State graduate who returned to Manhattan to continue his work for the Department of Homeland Security. Tim Barr was eventually given the title of program manager to lead the facility through the construction process and into the handoff to the USDA. Barr and his wife, Cathy, also happen to be Tim and Becky Fitzgerald's neighbors. When the two couples gather, talk usually surrounds family, music, and their shared interest in landscaping, but Barr's work was rarely brought up because of its nature. Now that his job is complete — the project returned more than $10 million to the state of Kansas after coming in under budget — Barr received permission to discuss the project in depth.

Designed and built in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the new facility provides modern, safe, and secure biocontainment laboratories for licensing animal vaccines, defending against high-consequence diseases in livestock, and providing the essential infrastructure for threat characterization, forensics, and detection. NBAF sits on a forty-eight-acre lot in close proximity to the KSU Biosecurity Research Institute to allow for shared learning and research and costs $1.25 billion to build. Replacing and expanding upon the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, NBAF enhances the DHS's and USDA's capabilities to meet mandated national biological and agricultural defense mission requirements by creating an integrated and comprehensive system to rapidly recognize and characterize biological agents in animal populations, food, water, agriculture, and the environment.

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Joe Klanderman in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 05:00:00 -0000

Spearheading a defense that has been one of the best in the Big 12 over the last three seasons, Joe Klanderman enters his sixth season at Kansas State in 2024 and his fifth as the defensive coordinator. In addition to running the defense, Klanderman also tutors the Wildcat safeties as he has done so since arriving in Manhattan in 2019. Leading a dynamic shift in defensive philosophy before the 2021 season, Klanderman implemented a three-man front for the first time in his career, and the returns paid off as the Wildcats have ranked in the top four of the Big 12 in both total yards and points allowed each of the last three seasons, K-State's longest streak since doing so the 2000 through 2003 campaigns. K-State has averaged 21.3 allowed points per game over the last three seasons – a span of 40 games – to rank 20th nationally, 15th among Power 4 teams and second in the Big 12, the latter being just 0.1 points per game behind the leader. K-State has allowed fewer than 22.0 points per game each of the last three seasons, the first time doing so since 1991 through 2003. Turnovers are a key factor in the limited points surrendered. The Wildcats have ranked in the top 20 nationally each of the last two seasons, doing so for the first time since 1999 and 2000. The K-State defense has forced 47 combined turnovers in the last two seasons to rank first among returning Big 12 schools. A 2001 graduate from Minnesota State with a degree in social studies, Klanderman also obtained his master's degree in sports administration from MSU in 2004. Klanderman and his wife, Amanda, are the parents of four children: Elle, Corryn, Jarrett, and James.

***

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Col. Greg McLean in Fort Moore, Georgia

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 15:45:00 -0000

Colonel Greg McLean serves in the United States Army as an Armored Cavalrymen. McLean was commissioned as an Armor officer in 2001 at OCS after three years prior service as a 19K Armor Crewman. After attending Kansas State, McLean graduated from the Armor Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Cavalry Leaders Course, Command and General Staff College, the School of Advanced Military Studies. Col. McLean most recently attended the U.S. Army War College. Before he arrived at Fort Moore in Georgia, where he oversees the training of all scout and tank personnel for the Army, he was assigned to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, where he served as the Senior Cavalry Trainer for Europe. Colonel McLean holds a Master of Military Arts and Sciences degree from the School of Advanced Military Studies. His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star with 2OLC, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal with 5 OLC, the Joint Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with Valor, the Army Commendation Medal with 5 OLC, the Army Achievement Medal with 2 OLC, and the Combat Action Badge. COL McLean has also been awarded the Orders of St. George, St. Maurice, and St. Barbara. McLean has been married to Jacque since 2001 and they have two sons and one daughter: Gunnar, Colt, and Grier. Gunnar is a current Kansas State student who recently suffered serious injuries while working on a vintage car. Both Greg and Gunnar are friends with GoPowercat publisher Tim Fitzgerald.

***

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Conor Riley in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:00:00 -0000

One of the top offensive line coaches in the country, Conor Riley, is in his sixth season at K-State in 2024, tutoring the Wildcats' offensive front and first serving as the program's offensive coordinator. He was the interim coordinator for Kansas State's victory over NC State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl before being elevated to the full-time role in early January. A 2003 University of Nebraska Omaha graduate, Riley began his collegiate coaching career at UNO as a student and graduate assistant from 2003 to 2005. He left his alma mater to become the offensive line coach at Concordia University-St. Paul in 2006. The Omaha native enjoyed a standout high school career at Creighton Prep. He began his collegiate playing career at the U.S. Air Force Academy, then transferred to Kansas before heading to UNO in 1999. After redshirting his first season, Riley was named the North Central Conference's outstanding lineman twice in his three-year career. Following his senior year, he earned 2002 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and Daktronics All-America first-team honors. Riley was a second-team Division II All-American as a junior in 2001. He and his wife, Christy, are the parents of two daughters, Cate and Claire.

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Dr. Felipe Rosso in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 03 Jun 2024 17:00:00 -0000

GoPowercat publisher Tim Fitzgerald was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018, with his original prognosis predicting death before age 60. On the day of his 60th birthday, Fitz recorded the first episode of his Life of Fitz podcast's fifth season with the doctor who performed his prostatectomy on July 3, 2018. Rosso has expertise in treating surgical removal of the bladder, kidney removal surgery, and prostate cancer, among other conditions. Dr. Rosso graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2008 and is a partner at Associated Urologists in Manhattan, Kansas. In addition to his doctor and surgeon skills, Rosso is an accomplished musician.

***

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Dennis Dodd somewhere in Arizona

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Dennis Dodd has covered college football for CBS Sports since it was CBS SportsLine in 1998. Prior to that, Dodd worked alongside Fitz publishing college sports magazines for Kansas State, Missouri and Kansas. In 1998, they both sought a different direction, with Fitz and his wife, Becky, establishing Spirit Street Publishing (the publishing company behind GoPowercat.com and formerly Powercat Illustrated), and since joining CBS, Dodd has covered nearly every BCS/CFP postseason in the championship era. He is one of only seven media members to cover all 16 BCS title games. Dodd has chronicled conference realignment as well as the start of the College Football Playoff. He's dabbled in March Madness, NFL, MLB, and Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he believes the College World Series is severely underappreciated. A Missouri graduate and former award-winning FWAA president, he previously worked for numerous outlets including The National and the Kansas City Star. Dodd lives in Kansas City but also owns a vacation home in Arizona, where he was wrapping up his final vacation before the college football season kicks off.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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John Kurtz in Kansas City, Missouri

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -0000

John Kurtz went directly from being a Kansas State student to joining the media covering Kansas State athletics as a member of the KMAN 1350-AM sports staff, covering K-State and Manhattan area sports. John eventually moved up to sports director and established himself as one of the leading voices in the K-State sports media. Everyone recognized John's talent and knew he would move on, but after 10-plus years in Manhattan, the breaks never fell his way. So, John Kurtz left traditional media and took a corporate PR job in Kansas City. He had, however, started a YouTube channel on the side, and his coverage of Big 12 expansion and conference realignment ballooned his channel into a force in the marketplace. Now, more than ever, Kurtz is at the forefront of covering K-State sports via YouTube. Kurtz left the traditional media to find even great success in an emerging area of the sports media world.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Marleah Campbell in Kansas City, Missouri

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 05:00:00 -0000

A Lenexa native who grew up watching channel 5, Marleah Campbell has been with KCTV5 since the summer of 2022. She returned to her hometown after starting her TV career at WIBW, the CBS affiliate in Topeka, where she served as sports director, where she and Fitz quickly became friends. Prior to that, Marleah played Division I basketball at the University of Wyoming. A four-time Academic All-Mountain West team member, her passion for equity in sports led her to write an award-winning master’s thesis on Title IX in her final year of NCAA eligibility. She’d use that framework to create a year-long weekly feature series at WIBW highlighting the pioneers who came before her, titled “IX at 50: The Trailblazers of Women’s Sports in Kansas.” Outside of KCTV5, you can listen to Marleah’s Chiefs coverage on 101 The FOX, 94.9 KCMO and 95.7 The Vibe. She’s a host for KC Sports Network and leads their storytelling channel. In her free time, Marleah enjoys yoga, reading, and spending time with her family, friends, and her cat, Dolly. At least that's her official bio. She also loves living her best life as a young professional living in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Dr. Adam Walker in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 17:50:00 -0000

Earlier this summer, the K-State Alumni Association board of directors named Adam Walker, Ed.D., ’04, ’09 as the Association’s next president and CEO. Walker began his duties on July 24. In this role, Walker is responsible for the overall management and strategic planning of the Alumni Association. Walker is the staff liaison for the Association’s board of directors and serves as secretary of the board. Additionally, he is a part of the Association’s fundraising team. Prior to returning to his alma mater, the former K-State track athlete served as executive associate athletic director for administration at the University of Memphis.

In this role he provides leadership, oversight, and management to various units within the Memphis Athletic Department, working in all phases of departmental management including communications with coaches, administration, Name, Image and Likeness, game and personnel contracts, corporate sponsorships, scheduling, budget, capital projects and policy and strategic planning, and he manages and directs all external units. He also is the sport administrator for the nationally ranked and prominent Memphis men’s basketball program and men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs. Additionally, Walker serves as the department's liaison to University Advancement and the University of Memphis Alumni Association while working collectively on external engagement for Memphis Athletics. Walker also previously worked as associate athletic director for development at the University of Central Florida. During his tenure, he fundraised several six- and seven-figure gifts for athletics. Walker and his wife, Rebecca, have two daughters, Addison Kay and Landree Adele. Rebecca, also a K-Stater, earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations in 2008.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Mike Clark in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Mike Clark, former Kansas State baseball coach, retired from his duties in the K-State athletics department at the end of June. Clark coached K-State baseball from 1986 until 2003, winning 432 games for a program that was barely funded. For 16 of Clark’s 17 seasons, K-State baseball only had a field. Tointon Stadium was built prior to his final season, but for those first 16, there was no stadium, no locker rooms, so plumbing and barely a budget. After retiring, Coach Clark found himself learning the fundraising and banking ropes before being asked to come back to K-State athletics to help with the department’s fundraising efforts following the retirement of legendary K-State athlete and administrator Ernie Barrett. Then at the end of June at the age of 70, Clark retired to spend time with his family and grandchildren. After a brief scare with colon cancer, which was thankfully caught early, Clark realized there was more to life than work, even though he loved all of his jobs in Kansas State athletics, the last of which was serving as K-State athletics’ Senior Director of Development.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Amy Fitzgerald in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Fitz needed to book a guest on short notice so he pulled the card out of his back pocket he's been saving and called his sister, Amy. Amy Fitzgerald is a Kansas State graduate with both her undergrad and master's in industrial engineering. She eventually decided that she wanted to get into medicine, and instead of heading to medical school at age 29, she went to physician assistant school at Wichita State. After many years of working as a PA in area emergency rooms, she returned to school to earn her doctorate and joined the faculty of Kansas State's new PA school, where she serves as academic director and a clinical assistant professor. The mother of two, she also is active in the Bernese Mountain Dog community and spends time traveling the world, both for pleasure and as a traveling medical professional. Amy, who is three years older than Tim, now lives in Manhattan, Kansas, after many years of living in and raising her children in Lindsborg, Kansas.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Jeff Vaughn in Los Angeles, California

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Award-winning anchor and reporter Jeff Vaughn serves as an evening news anchor KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles since November 2015. Vaughn joined KCAL/KCBS news team after serving as an anchor at WXYZ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Detroit, since January 2013. A four-time Emmy winner, he won a California Emmy for anchoring Wildfire Relief in 2017, a Michigan Emmy in 2013 for anchoring breaking news, a Texas Emmy in 2012 for anchoring continuing coverage and a Michigan Emmy in 2006 for Best Large-Market Anchor. A Kansas native, Vaughn spent his childhood in Kansas and Colorado and later graduated from Kansas State University in 1989 in political science. He started his career in broadcasting with KNSS Radio in Wichita, Kansas, before making his transition to television news. Vaughn’s broadcasting career includes anchoring and reporting experience with WDIV-TV (NBC) in Detroit, KENS-TV (CBS) in San Antonio, Texas; KSHB-TV (NBC) in Kansas City, Missouri; KCBD-TV (NBC) in Lubbock, Texas. Vaughn loves spending his time outdoors and includes mountain biking, hiking and cycling as his biggest hobbies. A foodie, Jeff loves to eat his way through the Los Angeles culinary scene, trying new dishes whenever he gets a chance. His community involvement includes supporting charity events for those living with multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's. Jeff finds his greatest joy in spending time with his wife and their son.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Josh Eilert in Morgantown, W.Va.

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Josh Eilert grew up in Osborne, Kansas, and then played basketball at Cloud County Community College and Kansas State. When Bob Huggins came to K-State in 2006, Eilert was ready to head into his second year as a graduate assistant coach for the program. Huggins kept Eilert on, and when he left K-State after one season to head home to West Virginia, his alma mater, Eilert went him. After 16 seasons at Huggins’ side. Serving under numerous titles, when Huggs retired suddenly this summer after a DUI arrest in Pittsburgh, Eilert was tasked with keeping the roster together. And on June 24, 2023, Eilert was named the interim head men’s basketball coach at West Virginia University by Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker. During his time at WVU, Eilert has handled a wide variety of duties, including directing WVU’s wing and post players, on- and off-campus recruiting, on-court scouting, opponent scouting, film preparation, scheduling, coordinating the day-to-day internal operations of the basketball program, travel arrangements, camps, film exchange, fundraising, and other special projects. This past season, Eilert moved into a coaching role as an assistant coach and served as an interim assistant coach during the 2016-17 season. Eilert and his wife, Brandi, have two sons, Brendan and Tristan, and a daughter, Emri. All of his children were born in West Virginia.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Pat Bosco in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Pat Bosco, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., came to Kansas State as a student, became student body president a few years later, and after graduation began to work for K-State. He served the university until his retirement in 2019, working under five university Presidents in a career that culminated in the titles of Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students. In 2004, the Student Governing Association named the plaza outside the K-State Student Union in his honor. It was the only time in the school’s history that a person still employed at K-State received such recognition. His dedication to Kansas State students and to his university played a vital role in K-State’s resurgence under former President Jon Wefald. Under Bosco's leadership, K-State became the No. 1 choice for Kansas high school seniors and remains so today. He is a recognized national leader in student life, enrollment management, and student affairs, with his expertise, knowledge, and perspectives sought by state and national organizations. He’s now a grandfather, youth coach, and poker player, and he will forever be a K-State icon.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Jerome Tang in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Coach Jerome Tang promised to elevate the Kansas State basketball program when he was hired and he certainly kept that promise in his first season. Picked for last in the Big 12 Conference, Tang's Wildcats' competed for the conference title and then ended the season with a run to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, losing to Florida Atlantic one step short of the Final Four. It was remarkable for Tang, who was selected as the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year after guiding the Wildcats to a 26-win season and its 13th trip to the Elite Eight in his inaugural season. Picked 10th in the preseason Big 12 poll and armed with just two returning players, Tang guided the Wildcats to a 26-10 overall record. Now he's putting together his second roster. He has two open scholarships and is still seeking to fill those openings.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Bill Snyder in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Coach Bill Snyder doesn't really need much of an introduction. After all, he was the engineer of the greatest turnaround in college football history and is now part of the College Football Hall of Fame. Coach Sndyer arrived in Manhattan in 1988 after serving as the offensive coordinator under another legend, Hayden Fry, at Iowa. His long career, separated by a failed three-year retirement in the middle, started in 1989 and by the 1998 season, Snyder had his Wildcats in contention for a national title. That was also the year that Powercat Illustrated, the predecessor to GoPowercat.com, was launched. Coach Snyder retired after the 2018 season and remains a remarkable man at 83 years of age.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Chris Klieman in Manhattan, Kansas

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 05:00:00 -0000

Chris Klieman arrived at Kansas State in December of 2018 after winning four national titles in his five seasons at FCS-level North Dakota State. The athletics director who hired him at NDSU was Gene Taylor, who in the spring of 2017 became the new AD at K-State. Taylor went through the search process and kept coming back to Klieman, not just as a coach who would win football games in the Big 12, but one who could deftly take the reins from the legendary Bill Snyder, fit into the K-State culture and might, just might settle in at Kansas State for a very long time. Well, Klieman is four seasons into his time in Manhattan, his Wildcats won the 2022 Big 12 championship, and he just signed an eight-year new contract offered by Taylor that Klieman says will keep him in Manhattan for the rest of his coaching career. On top of all of that, Klieman is one of the more likable coaches you will ever meet, and he seems to understand how to navigate these changing times in college football.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio, daily YouTube videos, and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for 25 years. Fitz also has metastatic stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, after a brief period of remission, Fitz is back in the fight for his life, but this podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Gene Taylor in Manhattan, Kansas

Sun, 21 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Kansas State's Director of Athletics, Gene Taylor. Taylor was named the Director of Athletics at K-State in April 2017. During his tenure K-State has seen the football program qualify for three bowls, the men’s basketball team win a Big 12 Championship, earn an Elite 8 appearance and advance to two NCAA tournaments and the women’s track and field team win back-to-back Big 12 Outdoor championships. Additionally, Taylor and staff have fundraised and begun to implement a department-wide facility master plan that will benefit all Wildcat teams including the newly completed baseball and soccer projects in addition to Building Champions, a $105 million initiative focused on the South End Zone of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, a new volleyball arena, an Olympic Training Center and a football indoor practice facility. As Athletics Director at North Dakota State, Taylor immediately spearheaded a comprehensive evaluation of the Bison athletic department in 2001, all while successfully guiding the athletics program through the unpredictable waters of reclassification to NCAA Division I from Division II and securing conference affiliations for all 16 sports. In 2014, Taylor accepted the role of deputy athletics director at Iowa where he has been responsible for the administrative oversight of the department’s day-to-day operations. Taylor is a 1980 business management graduate of Arizona State, and he received his master’s degree in sports administration in 1985 from St. Thomas University in Florida. Taylor and his wife, Cathy, have one daughter, Casey, and a son, Jared.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for nearly 25 years. Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is healthy and in remission, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Nick Walsh in Nashville, Tennessee

Sun, 14 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State punter Nick Walsh, who wrapped up his playing career in 2017. Four years ago, Walsh left his family home in Lyndon, Kansas, and headed to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in songwriting. Since then, Walsh has built an impressive catalog of songs that he performed and has written with some of the most accomplished songwriters in country music. Walsh's newest song, "Kinda Like Kansas," can be found on all streaming platforms. He also recently co-wrote "Blood" with Texas country artist Jon Stork. The song broke onto the Texas country charts.

***

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Adam Stanco in Nashville, Tennessee

Sun, 07 Aug 2022 17:59:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Adam Stanco, the new boss at the 247Sports Network. Stanco's official title lists him as a vice-president of content & executive producer for 247Sports. He moved to Nashville from San Francisco, where he spent years as an executive with the Pac-12 Network. Stanco started his TV career at WIBW-13 in Topeka, but quickly returned to his hometown of Philadelphia, where he covered national high school sports, which led to a stint as a producer at ESPN as he continued his coverage of high school sports, specifically basketball. Stanco has hosted his own podcast and been a guest on many others, often appearing as a recognized expert in NBA Draft evaluations. Stanco has been with 247 for a year or so and is about to lead the network into an exciting new phase of its existence from his new headquarters in downtown Nashville. He and his wife, Caitlin, have four children.

***

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Jim Wooldridge in Dallas, Texas

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball coach Jim Wooldridge in Dallas, Texas, where he and his wife, Anne, recently moved. Wooldridge coached the Wildcats from 2000 until being let go by athletics director Tim Weiser after losing in the Big 12 Tournament to end the 2005-06 season. Wooly was born in Oklahoma City and played basketball at Lousiana Tech. He landed his first head coaching job at Central Missouri State in 1985, coaching there for six seasons before moving to Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) and then to his alma mater. Wooldridge won 73% of his game at CMSU but never found that level of success again. When K-State looking for a new basketball coach after firing Tom Asbury, Wooly was serving as an assistant for the Chicago Bulls under good friend Tim Floyd. Wooly's program went 83-90 in his six seasons, and his final roster was the foundation for Bob Huggins' one season in Manhattan. After leaving K-State, Coach Wooldridge went on to coach at Cal-Riverside, then became the school's athletic director and then he completed his career during a fulfilling five-year run as the AD at Riverside City College. He retired from athletics two years ago and is now 66 years old.

***

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David Smoak in Waco, Texas

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his new friend and media colleague David Smoak in Waco, Texas. "Smoaky," as he's known in Texas, has been honored as a TV reporter and anchor, and radio play-by-play broadcaster by the Associated Press. He is now part of the staff of SicEm365, a Baylor website, hosting their three-hour weekday radio show that also live-streams on YouTube from 3-6 p.m. Smoak is the owner of one of the longest-running websites in Texas, Smoaky.com. A member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Texas High School Football Hall of Fame ballot committee and has a vote for the Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Awards. Inducted into the East Texas Coaches Association Hall of Honor and a member of the Football Writer’s Association of America, Pro Football Writer’s Association. Smoak, whose father was a Naval Academy graduate, is a graduate of both Tyler Junior College and Stephen F. Austin State University.

***

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Taylor Estes in Round Rock, Texas

Mon, 18 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and media colleague Taylor Estes in Round Rock, Texas. Taylor has helped cover University of Texas athletics as a video and audio producer for sites on the Rivals, Scout and now 247Sports Network as a Texas staff writer, managing editor of Horns247, and co-host of The Flagship Podcast with her longtime colleague Chip Brown. She was a pioneer in the school-specific journalism site industry as a female and she's weathered some interesting storms along the way. She's also seen life changes, including meeting and marrying her husband, Ty, who is somehow a Texas A&M graduate. Taylor is the daughter of Rod Gaspar, a member of The Miracle Mets, which won the 1969 World Series.

***

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Bruce Haertl in Denver, Colorado

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and media colleague Bruce Haertl in Denver Colorado. Haertl is a living legend in Kansas media. He is a 33-year veteran in the sports television industry, spending most of his career in Wichita at KWCH after getting into the world of sports media at KFH-Wichita. Haertl landed Denver’s FOX31 and Channel 2 in May of 2016, after four years of freelance play-by-play. During that time he did college basketball, baseball, and softball games for ESPN, Fox, Cox, the Missouri Valley Conference Network, Sooner Sports TV (University of Oklahoma TV Network), and Oral Roberts Basketball Network. In addition, Haertl spent 10 years on the Kansas State Football Radio Network and for 15 seasons was the television voice of Wichita State basketball and baseball. A former baseball player at Wichita State, Haertl broke into the television industry as Sports Director at KWCH in Wichita in October of 1984, a job that he would hold for 28 years. In that time, he covered three World Series, seven College World Series, seven Final Fours, 24 NCAA Tournaments, 19 bowl games (including four BCS games) – in between, he’s never lost his love for telling stories. In fact, Haertl continue to co-host a daily radio talk show, despite being located in Denver, on Wichita's KFH. Bruce is a member of the Wichita Sports Hall of Fame and is married to Sarah, they have four children – Bo, Evie, Jake and Kate.

***

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Dani Welniak in Kansas City, Kansas

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and former media colleague Dani Welniak in Kansas City. Welniak is a graduate of the Oklahoma State sports journalism program who started her news career in Dodge City, Kansas, covering high school sports for Catch It Kansas. After two years, she moved up to Wichita’s main station, KWCH 12, before moving to Kansas City in 2016 to join KCTV5, where she became the Sports Director in 2017. For the past six years, Welniak has reported at KCTV5 in Kansas City, recently serving as the station’s Sports Director and host of The Locker Room Show on KSMO-TV. Welniak is also a former professional women's football player, the sideline analyst for the Chiefs Radio Network from 2016 through 2019 and she recently was a member of the first all-female TV broadcast team for an NCAA FBS bowl game. On June 26, 2022, she was introduced as the new Executive Director of Communications for the Kansas City Current, the new professional women's soccer franchise, which is owned by Angie and Chris Long, as well as Brittany Mahomes. The Current recently released new renderings for the first stadium purpose-built for a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team. As part of a 50-year lease agreement with Port KC, the stadium will be built on a 7.08-acre site on the east end of the park in Kansas City, Missouri.

***

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Brian Kavanagh in Salina, Kansas

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State quarterback Brian Kavanagh, who played for the Wildcats in Fitz's first days of covering Kansas State athletics full-time. Kavanagh came to K-State in 1991 from Naperville, Ill., to play for Coach Bill Snyder, and he is believed to be the first college football player to use an NCAA rule loophole that is now known as "grayshirting." He played for the Wildcats starting in 1993, K-State's first bowl appearance under Snyder and the school's first bowl victory at the Copper Bowl, and then stepped in for starter Matt Miller at the 1995 Holiday Bowl when Miller suffered a concussion. Kavanagh completed 18 of 24 passes and threw for four touchdowns in K-State's 54-21 victory over Colorado State, a performance that earned him a spot in the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame. He then went on to lead the Wildcats to a 9-3 record and a berth in the Cotton Bowl as the Wildcats' starter in 1996, his senior season. He now lives in Salina, Kansas, where he and his wife raised four children, the youngest of which, Parker, is set to be a walk-on quarterback for the Wildcats beginning with the 2022 season.

***

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Van Malone in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 20 Jun 2022 05:28:22 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald speaking with Kansas State associate head football coach Van Malone about his life, hopes for the upcoming season, his philosophies on coaching and lift, his own podcast "Leaders Lead & Winners Win," which he also launched in 2020 during the pandemic, his recent TedX Talk and his ongoing journey to becoming a head coach. Malone, 51, has worked his way through the coaching ranks and in 2019 was named K-State's cornerbacks coach under Coach Chris Klieman and then after one season, he was elevated to associate head coach for Klieman's Wildcats, which are coming off an eight-win season and a victory over LSU in the Texas Bowl.

***

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Marty Miller in Boise, Idaho (Season 3 premiere)

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Marty Miller, brother of former Kansas State quarterback and assistant coach, Matt Miller. On January 8, 2022, Matthew Lee Miller died peacefully at the age of 49 at the Kansas University Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, after an 18-month battle against prostate cancer. Matt Miller was a guest on last season's Life of Fitz, during which he shared his message about men's health and making sure men 45 and older regularly ask their doctor to check their PSA score, the strongest indicator of problems with the prostate. As you may know, Fitz also has stage four prostate cancer, but he was declared in remission last December after more than four years of treatment and monitoring. Les Miller, the father of Marty and Matt, died on January 5 shortly before Matt's passing last holiday season. Les Miller was a longtime player personnel director in the NFL, including stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. Marty Miller has been a West Coast scout with the Jacksonville Jaguars for nearly 20 years, working out of Boise, Idaho.

***

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Jordy Nelson in Riley, Kansas (special episode)

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This special edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State and NFL receiver Jordy Nelson. After 10 seasons with the Green Bay Packers and one with the Oakland Raiders, Nelson retired from the NFL following the 2019 season, returning to Kansas with his wife and two sons to help tend the family farm in Riley County, Kansas. The K-State Ring of Honor member at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is holding a charity softball game on Sept. 12 at the stadium to benefit Young Life Manhattan and to help fun a K-State football scholarship intended to be given to a walk-on. Nelson was a non-scholarship walk on to the K-State program in 2003 out of Riley County High School, just outside of Manhattan.

Held in conjunction with the Wildcats' home opener against Southern Illinois on September 11, the Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game will feature several K-State legends, including Kevin Lockett, David Allen, Michael Bishop, Jon McGraw, Jaime Mendez, Martin Gramatica and Kendra Wecker. Full rosters featuring Wildcats from numerous sports will be announced later this summer. Proceeds for the event go to Manhattan Young Life and will also fund a K-State football scholarship reserved for a walk-on. Gates open at 10 a.m., followed by a sponsor game at 11 a.m., and a home run derby at noon. First pitch for the seven-inning Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game will be at 1 p.m.

More Details on the Jordy Nelson Legends Classic Softball Game came be found here, and tickets are now on sale.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Kelly Stewart in Las Vegas (Season 2 Finale)

Sun, 08 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Kelly Stewart in Las Vegas. Kelly was the first person Fitz called when this podcast debuted in March of 2020 and now he ends his second season of Life of Fitz by making Kelly his first and 50th guest to appear. Kelly is a Kansas State graduate who rose to fame as an oddsmaker and sports gambling analyst in a predominately male-dominated profession. She has worked with a number of national media entities through the years, but earlier this year, she was hired by ESPN. That came undone before it started when some online trolls dug up some tweets from 2012 that were long ago deleted. ESPN terminated her before she started and Kelly soon found herself in demand by other sports media entities. Recently, she was hired by Barstool Sports to join their gambling team, and with Barstool known for its no-holds-barred approach to media entertainment, it seems as if Kelly, who is known to be outspoken, has found the right place for herself.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

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Donnie Campbell in Lake Winnebago, Missouri

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his new friend and former Kansas State University quarterback from the 1980s, Donnie Campbell. Some listeners may remember Campbell playing at K-State from 1980-84, but what has now made him well known is the fact that in the 1990s he coached a player named Jason Sudeikis, who went on to become a comedian, a cast member of Saturday Night Live, a star in movies and now the star of the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso. It's a brilliant show, but Sudeikis has now credited Campbell for being part of the inspiration for the Ted Lasso character, an American football coach who is hired to coach an English Premier League team despite knowing nothing about soccer. The character, and the show, is charming and funny. Since Sudeikis credited Campbell, he's now done many interviews and even appeared recently on NBC's The Today Show. A coach and teacher, Campbell started his career in the Shawnee Mission school district, moved to the Blue Valley School District, and now has moved across the state line in Kansas City to the Lee's Summit, Missouri, school district.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Jon Wefald in Bay Lake, Minnesota

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 16:02:11 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend and former Kansas State University president Jon Wefald, who altered the downward spiral of the university while serving as its leader from 1986 to 2009. Wefald and his wife, Ruth Ann, now live on Bay Lake, which is about two hours north of Minneapolis. During Wefald's tenure in Manhattan, he lifted enrollment from around 16,000 to 24,000, he elevated the University's ability to fundraise and earn research funding, built a new library and art museum, but he also refused to give up on the school's tragically bad football program and hired one more coach: Bill Snyder. Without Jon Wefald, what we now know as Kansas State's reality would be dramatically different and the school certainly wouldn't be a member of the Big 12 Conference. Why? Well, aside from the fact that dropping football would have pushed K-State out of the Big Eight, it was in big part thanks to Wefald's vision that the Big 12, a combination of the Big Eight and four former Southwest Conference schools, became reality. In addition to all of that, Wefald and former United States Senator Pat Roberts were the driving forces behind Manhattan landing the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, which is nearing completion due east of Bill Snyder Family Stadium on the edge of the Kansas State campus.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

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Ari Temkin in Plano, Texas

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 20:45:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend SiriusXM host Ari Temkin. Fitz and Temkin met through Temkin's show Big 12 This Morning on the Big 12 channel (SXM 375) and they quickly hit it off. Temkin, a 2007 graduate of Kansas, has spent a majority of his career in Texas, hosting shows in Austin and San Antonio before moving to SiriusXM to co-host his show with former Iowa State and NFL quarterback Dave Archer. Temkin also hosts the pregame and postgame shows on the Dallas Cowboys radio network. Fitz and Ari recently saw each other in Arlington, Texas, at Big 12 Media Days and Fitz's pledge to have him on his podcast has now come true.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

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Curry Sexton in Kansas City, Missouri

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State receiver Curry Sexton, who now practices law in Kansas City. Sexton is a former walk-on from Abilene, Kansas, who developed into a special pass-catcher during his career. He currently sits at seventh on the school's all-time reception list and made many key plays during his career from 2011-14, but a remarkable one-handed touchdown catch against Texas Tech during his senior season is worthy of any highlight reel. Now working for the firm Seigfreid Bingham in Kansas City, Missouri, one of Sexton's areas of law deals with sports and entertainment, so he's keeping a close watch on recent developments with the NCAA concerning name, image, and likeness rights, as well as the recent unanimous Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

Follow @LifeofFitz

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Hall in Newton, Kansas

Sun, 04 Jul 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former employee, Matt Hall, who became a competitor in recent years. Fitz and Matt had a public falling out when GoPowercat left the Rivals.com Network to join 247Sports and Matt became part of the new Rivals team that competed against GPC. Their relationship soured and their feud became public, but in the spring of 2020 everything changed. As Matt explains, he reacted poorly to some medication and it led to what his doctor now believes was a manic episode. He was either fired or quit his job at K-State Online, the Rivals site, and his divorce from his boss was also public. He moved to Las Vegas and when an expected job didn't work out, he came back to Kansas and now lives in Newton, Kansas, to gather his life together after a divorce, career change and personal financial ruin. However, when Matt began to struggle emotionally, Fitz and Matt reconnected as he tried to sort through what he was experiencing. Now, a year later, his one-year restriction on talking about K-State sports has expired and he's become a member of GoPowercat.com. It's been quite a journey.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

Follow @LifeofFitz

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Larry Weigel in Manhattan, Kansas

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:19:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Manhattan businessman Larry Weigel, a former Kansas State basketball player and assistant coach. Weigel played for Coach Tex Winter and was a member of the 1964 Final Four team starring Willie Murrell. He went on to serve as an assistant coach for Winter, then Cotton Fitzsimmons and Jack Hartman. Last week's guest, Lon Kruger, was recruited to come to K-State by Weigel, first under Fitzsimmons and then Hartman. Weigel left coaching to work for Kansas State in different capacities until he entered private business. Since around 2010, Weigel has shared a newsletter with friends called Triangulate News with the intention of updating people on Coach Winter and then eventually educating people about the history of Kansas State athletics. He is a walking encyclopedia concerning some of the greatest days in K-State basketball history. If you would like to be included on Weigel's mail list for Triangulate News, send him a request to Larry.Weigel@KeatingInc.com.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

Follow @LifeofFitz

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lon Kruger in Norman, Oklahoma

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball player and coach Lon Kruger, who retired from coaching this fall when he stepped down at the University of Oklahoma. Fitz was a senior at Kansas State in 1986 when Kruger was hired to replace the legendary Jack Hartman, and his official hiring was a story Fitz scooped as the sports editor of The Collegian, K-State's student newspaper. Kruger stayed at K-State just four years before heading to Florida and then Illinois. Kruger then moved into the NBA for four years before returning to the college game in 2004 when he was hired as head coach at UNLV. Then in 2011, OU hired Kruger and provided him with his longest stretch as a coach in his entire career. Kruger and his wife, Barb, still reside in Norman but they will eventually make Vegas their retirement home because their son, Kevin, was named UNLV's head coach this spring. Their daughter, Angie, is a doctor who recently moved with her family to Puerto Rico. The Krugers have five grandchildren. In addition, Kruger has long been involved with the organization, Coach vs. Cancer, and hosts an annual golf event each summer in Las Vegas on behalf of the organization.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Mangino in Naples, Florida

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State assistant coach Mark Mangino, who went on to win a national title as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and then became Kansas' head coach for nine seasons, leading the Jayhawks to a historic Orange Bowl season in 2007. Two years later, KU athletics director Lew Perkins fired Mangino and Kansas football has never been the same. Mangino served as associate head coach at Youngstown State for a season and then was offensive coordinator at Iowa State for two seasons, but now is retired with his wife Mary Jane in Naples, Florida. His son, Tommy, coaches high school football now in Austin, Texas, where he and his wife have four sons. His daughter, Samantha, lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and three daughters.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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Kody Cook in Hutchinson, Kansas

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 00:20:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former receiver/quarterback Kody Cook in Hutchinson, Kansas. Cook is now the wide receivers coach at his alma mater Hutchinson Community College, and after playing a spring season this year due to COVID-19, the Blue Dragons captured the national title. Before going to Hutch and eventually Kansas State, Cook was the quarterback at Louisburg (Kan.) High, a town of fewer than 5,000 people just south over the Kansas City metro area. Cook played both receiver and QB at Hutch and after coming to K-State and redshirting in 2013, he ended up doing the exact same thing in Manhattan, ending his college football career by starting at quarterback for the Wildcats in the 2015 Liberty Bowl versus Arkansas. Now back in Hutch, Kody and his wife Kylie, the daughter of K-State football legend Michael Smith, are preparing for their life adventure in football coaching.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Darren Howard in Tampa, Florida

Mon, 31 May 2021 11:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State defensive end Darren Howard in Tampa, Florida. Howard came to K-State from the Florida prep ranks in 1995, playing for Coach Bill Snyder during the 1996 through 1999 seasons. During that span of time, Howard asserted himself as one of the more disruptive defensive ends in college football, and then he was drafted in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the board New Orleans Saints. Howard played 10 years in the NFL, completing his career in Philadelphia before returning to his home state and settling in Tampa, meeting his wife, Lyani, and starting a family. Professionally, he dabbles in a lot of different area, including owning a professional audio post-production company.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt Miller in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Mon, 24 May 2021 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State quarterback, baseball player and football coach Matt Miller. Miller was the quarterback for the 1995 Kansas State team and was named the second-team All-Big Eight quarterback after a record-setting senior season. Miller directed the program to its first 10-win season and into a Holiday Bowl berth that is best known for Miller suffering one of his numerous concussions and being relieved by junior Brian Kavanagh, who proceeded to play one of the best games in the bowl's history at the Wildcats beat Colorado State, 54-21. Miller has overcome battles with alcohol and now has been diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer, which has brought Matt and Fitz together. This episode of this podcast is Matt's first public discussion of his dire medical situation. Matt has two teenage daughters and a five-year-old daughter, Dani. He's been living in Pittsburg, Kansas, but will soon be moving to the Kansas City area to be closer to his doctors at KU Med. When he spoke with Fitz over the weekend, Matt was visiting his parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Of course, Matt's father, Les Miller was the Kansas City Chiefs’ director of player personnel for 13 years. He also worked also for the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, and Cleveland Browns, and also was involved in NFL Europe.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Amazon.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Porter in Pearland, Texas

Mon, 17 May 2021 12:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State placekicker Mark Porter. Porter redshirted in 1984 and then played for the Wildcats from 1985-88. Older fans may remember Porter as a player, but all fans now know him as the father of two walk-on receivers in the K-State program, sophomore Seth and incoming freshman Shane, who is better known for having a million followers on a social media app called TikTok. Mark Porter is a great person to speak about the past of K-State football and what the future holds for Chris Klieman's program.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

Sign up for GoPowercat VIP access and get your first month for just $1!

Want the latest Kansas State headlines sent to your inbox? Click to sign up for GoPowercat's daily newsletter!

Make sure you subscribe to Life of Fitz at your favorite podcast provider, including Apple, Spotify or Stitcher

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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The Season 2 Premier with Fitz

Mon, 10 May 2021 07:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald turning over the hosting duties to his employee Ryan Gilbert. To set the stage for the start of the second season, and to reset the direction of the podcast that is now growing beyond the boundaries of the COVID-19 pandemic and Fitz's lockdown, Ryan asks Fitz about his health, his plans for the show, and his thoughts on the fall's arrival of a new season of Kansas State athletics.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so during the initial stages of the pandemic, his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Now, Fitz is fully vaccinated and rejoining society, but his podcast lives on. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin Lockett in Leawood, Kansas

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 02:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Kevin Lockett, the most prolific receiver in Kansas State football history and the first of the Locketts to come to K-State. Kevin came to Manhattan in 1992 from Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington High School and he quickly became known for flying high to make an endless string of aerial receptions for the Wildcats. During his career, Lockett rewrote the entire K-State receiving record book and if he doesn’t still hold a record, there’s a good chance the mark was surpassed by either his brother, Aaron, who followed him to K-State, or his eldest son, Tyler, who played for Snyder from 2011-14, and broke his father’s career receiving yards mark. Kevin was a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 1996 and was drafted in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, eventually spending time with four different franchises before putting down his family’s roots in Kansas City.

Since retiring from football, Kevin has worked for both the Kauffman Foundation and the Kansas Bioscience Authority before taking his 20 years of experience fostering early-stage businesses to become a partner in Fulcrum Global Capital, which invests with entrepreneurs in the fields agricultural, ag-tech and animal health. And the great news for football fans is there are three more Lockett boys on the way, with Sterling, a prospect in 2022 class recently receiving a Kansas State scholarship offer, while 11-year-old twins Jacob and Jordan are, of course, budding athletes. Kevin and his wife, Cheryl, also served a term on the Kansas State University Foundation’s Board of Directors.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Simoneau in Gardner, Kansas

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Mark Simoneau, a former Kansas State and NFL linebacker. During his time at K-State from 1995-1999, Simoneau became a dominant force for the Wildcats during the late 1990s. He was named the Big 12’s defensive player of the year after the 1999 season and went into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012. After leaving K-State, Simoneau was drafted in the third round of the 2000 draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He spent three seasons in Atlanta, followed by three seasons each with the Philadelphia Eagles the New Orleans Saints. Mark completed his career with a final season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010. Mark is now the strength coach at Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School in suburban Kansas City.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brien Hanley in Frisco, Texas

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Brien Hanley, an offensive lineman on the historic 1997 and 1998 Kansas State football teams. Hanley was part of a junior college recruiting class for Coach Bill Snyder that forever changed K-State football, as well as college football by proving a program can recruit juco players and still be a national title contender. Brien now works in banking in Frisco, Texas, but he also hosts his own podcast — Let's Talk Ball with Big B — and serves as the analyst alongside Fitz on the Powercat Postgame Podcast following every K-State football game.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Smith in New Orleans

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 01:19:52 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Michael Smith, the first breakout star of Bill Snyder's Kansas State program as a highly productive receiver. Smith completed his K-State career in 1991 as the second-leading receiver in Big Eight Conference history and after a brief stint in the NFL, Smith entered coaching. He spent 17 seasons at K-State working for Snyder, first leaving in 2005 when Snyder retired and then returning in 2009 when Snyder returned. He departed again in 2013 working at Arkansas and Kentucky, where he stepped down just prior to the pandemic to seek another coaching position. Until he returns to the field, Coach Smith, and his family, is back in his hometown of New Orleans.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jamar Samuels in Manhattan, Kansas

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend Jamar Samuels, a former Kansas State basketball player for Coach Frank Martin. Over his four seasons, Samuels averaged 9.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, including a points average of 11 during his sophomore season. Samuels was always in motion, hustling, fighting, and too often fouling, but the fans loved him. When Samuels departed K-State, he was just the third Wildcat to exceed 1200 points and 700 rebounds in a career. The first two were Bob Boozer and Ed Nealy. Jamar has been playing overseas since graduation, with stops in Spain, Italy, Israel, Romania and Angola during his career. Now Samuels has decided to make Manhattan his offseason home.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Al Jones in Summerlin, Nevada

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his friend, fraternity brother and former Kansas State football player Al Jones. Jones walked onto the K-State football program under Stan Parrish and played two years as a tight end. Then when Bill Snyder arrived in December of 1988, he put Jones and his teammates through a trial by fire. Jones and those who survived the process are honored now as members of The Foundation for all that came after them. K-State football as it now is would not exist without the work put in my Jones and his fellow Wildcats. A model and talent scout since leaving K-State, Al Jones now lives in the Las Vegas suburbs.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Claire Coggins in Lee's Summit, Missouri

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his dear friend Claire Coggins, a former Kansas State women's basketball player and assistant coach. Claire was the focal point of the Kansas State women’s team in the mid-2000s, twice earning second-team All-Big 12 recognition before playing the 2007 season with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and then one season professionally in Greece before deciding to retire from the game. She went on to coach, spending time on both Deb Patterson’s staff before becoming a full-time assistant coach for current K-State coach Jeff Mittie. She decided to get out of coaching after meeting the love of her life, former Texas head coach Karen Aston. The two now have a three-year-old daughter, Marilyn.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wyatt Thompson in Manhattan, Kansas

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Wyatt Thompson across town in Manhattan. Thompson is entering his 19th school year as Kansas State’s Voice of the Wildcats, the title carried by a long line of sports play-by-play announcers. Being called the Voice of the Wildcats comes with incredibly high expectations from a fan base who has enjoyed some of the best talents in the radio business. Thompson came to K-State from Colorado State, following athletic director Tim Weiser from CSU once he threw the door open to a negotiation for the athletic department’s radio rights, and K-State fans have grown to love his style. It’s his voice associated with the highlights from Kansas State’s historic 2003 Big 12 football championship victory over Oklahoma, numerous big bowl wins and a couple of trips to the Elite Eight of the NCAA basketball tournament. For every current Kansas State student, it was Thompson’s voice they heard if they listened to a K-State sporting event on the radio during their childhood.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BJ Kissel in Overland Park, Kansas

Fri, 10 Jul 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his former student and Kansas State baseball player BJ Kissel, who now is an in-house reporter for the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. The former K-State athlete was one of about 15 students in a sports writing class offered in the spring of 2006 by K-State's AQ Miller School of Journalism, which was taught by Fitz. After leaving K-State and moving to KC, Kissel worked on the edges of the industry for years, writing a blog as more of a hobby but he was honing his craft. Then six years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs created a job for an in-house reporter and Kissel landed the job. He was in the right place at the right time and had prepared himself the right way to earn a unique spot in the journalism industry.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Joe Bob Clements in Stillwater, Oklahoma

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 15:36:49 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State football player and coach Joe Bob Clements who now coaches the defensive line at Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Clements was one of the players who was the heart and soul of the 1998 Kansas State Wildcats, who went unbeaten in the regular season. After completing his playing days, Clements launched right into coaching, paying his dues as an unpaid assistant coach for four years and then sliding onto the full-time staff in 2003 as part of the school’s Big 12 title team. Clements departed after Coach Bill Snyder retired following the 1995 season, but returned to Manhattan in 2009 to join Snyder’s new staff, and he then shocked the K-State world by jumping to Oklahoma State prior to the 2013 season, where he remains.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Clent Stewart in Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 01:27:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State basketball player Clent Stewart in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Stewart came to Kansas State to play for Jim Wooldridge and ended his career with seasons under Bob Huggins and Frank Martin. That was like taking a college masterclass in basketball coaching and now Stewart is a high school coach in Oklahoma, but that’s just his side gig. When Stewart left K-State to work for Phillips 66 in Bartlesville and he’s been climbing the ranks with the company ever since.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bobby Burton in Brentwood, Tennessee

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 01:21:39 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Bobby Burton in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood. Bobby and Fitz go back 25 years when Bobby, who was then working for the National Recruiting Advisor in Austin, Texas, served as Fitz's first national recruiting expert to help him cover Kansas State football recruiting. Burton eventually helped launch the original Rivals.com, enticing Fitz to join the network as K-State's site, and then he went on to become one of the founders of 247Sports in Nashville, the network with which GoPowercat is now affiliated. Burton now owns a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in Brentwood named Judge Bean's BBQ.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ryan Abraham in Hermosa Beach, California

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 21:42:50 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling Ryan Abraham, publisher of USCfootball.com on the 247Sports Network. Abraham has always offered a truly multimedia experience in one of the nation’s largest media markets. And the quality and quantity of his work helped Abraham’s site stand out, even in the Los Angeles market. From being one of the first to enter the podcast realm in our industry to offering live video programming for his subscribers and fans, Abraham's site is always one step ahead of the rest of the industry, let alone his competition.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Hill in Phoenix

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 02:30:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State tight end Thomas Hill in the Phoenix area. Hill came out of Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as a 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end who was filled with athletic talent and was short on actual playing experience. Still, Hill earned a scholarship offer from Kansas State coach Bill Snyder after his senior season in 1998 and even after new Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops sat on his family’s couch and offered to make him part of the rebuilding of the Sooners’ tradition, Hill stuck with the Wildcats. And during his four seasons on the field, Hill was an ideal fit for Snyder’s offense at the time. He could both block and get downfield as a receiver. After a brief flirtation with the NFL, Hill settled into private life, landing in the Phoenix area where he discovered that he had the spirit of an entrepreneur.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maurice Mack in Houston

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 01:41:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling former Kansas State strong safety Maurice Mack in Houston. Maurice was the running back who followed Darren Sproles at Olathe North High School in Kansas City and there was no drop off in production at the position. He then followed Sproles to Kansas State, but he switched to the defensive side of the ball, donning the No. 24 jersey for the Wildcats. First a strong safety and then an undersized outside linebacker, Mack was one heck of a football player who went from winning a Big 12 title as a freshman to playing his senior season in the first year of the flawed Ron Prince era of K-State football. Now, he coaches at Humble High School in Houston and he also is using his new podcast, In the Life of a Mack, to speak about issues he sees in the world in which we live.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dana Dimel in El Paso

Thu, 28 May 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his longtime friend Dana Dimel in El Paso, Texas. Fitz covered Dimel in the 1984 and '85 seasons when Dimel was an offensive lineman and Fitz was a student journalist. Dimel transitioned into coaching and Fitzgerald began covering Kansas State football on a full-time basis in 1995, overlapping for two seasons with Dimel serving as K-State's offensive coordinator. Then, at age 34, Dimel became the head coach at Wyoming in 1997, going 22-13 in three seasons before taking on the task of rebuilding the Houston program in 2000. Three seasons into that project, Dimel went 5-7 but a change of leadership led to his unexpected firing right as the program was building momentum. He eventually ended up on Mike Stoops’ staff at Arizona and returned to K-State when Bill Snyder came out of retirement in 2009, again as offensive coordinator. Then, in 2018, he took over the UTEP program head coach.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vahe Gregorian in Kansas City, Missouri

Tue, 26 May 2020 01:29:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his sports writing colleague Vahe Gregorian in Kansas City, Missouri. Gregorian earned respect as one of the great college beat writers in the Midwest after covering the Big Eight and Big 12 during 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but in 2013 he joined the Kansas City Star as a sports columnist. Vahe now covers the Kansas City Chiefs, Royals and area major college sports, among other topics.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Dan Kuester in Manhattan, Kansas

Thu, 21 May 2020 01:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Dr. Dan Kuester across town in Manhattan. Kuester grew up in southern Missouri, attended Drury College in Springfield and then earned both his master’s and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Missouri. After teaching at the University of Arkansas for four years, he arrived in Manhattan in the fall of 2004 and this Missouri man has found himself at home in the heart of the Flint Hills of Kansas, where he's best known on the K-State campus for teaching a very popular sports economics class.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jaime Mendez in Los Angeles

Tue, 19 May 2020 01:43:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Jaime Mendez, a former Kansas State safety who arrived in Manhattan in 1989 and started for the Wildcats from 1990-93. By his senior year, Mendez was a consensus All-American who started every game of his four-year career, culminating in the 1993 Copper Bowl, just the school’s second bowl game and first bowl victory. Mendez still holds the K-State career record with 15 interceptions, including four against Temple in 1992. In 2002, Mendez was one of the six inaugural members of K-State’s ring of honor at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sam Mellinger in Kansas City, Missouri

Thu, 14 May 2020 01:15:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Sam Mellinger, one of the sports columnists for the Kansas City Star, who has carried on the Star’s rich history of talented sports columnists. Sam graduated from the University of Kansas in 2000, and went to work at the Star and began climbing the career ladder. Sam has been a sports columnist at the Star since 2010, covering both a World Series championship for the Royals and a Super Bowl title for the Chiefs, but in a span of a few months back into 2010, the Star went from having nationally-known columnists Joe Posnanski and Jason Whitlock to just Mellinger. They soon after added Vahe Gregorian, once again giving them a dynamic one-two punch as columnists.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vic Lombardi in Golden, Colorado

Tue, 12 May 2020 01:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Vic Lombardi, a veteran television and radio host who previously worked in South Bend, Austin, Phoenix and most recently the sports anchor for Denver CBS4. For the last four years, Lombardi has covered professional sports in Denver for Altitude Sports. With 25 years of experience in the sports industry, Vic is a 32-time Emmy award winner. He is also the co-host of the Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 morning show. And, like Fitz, Lombardi has used his public platform to openly discuss his battle with prostate cancer.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lisa Horne in Orange County, California

Thu, 07 May 2020 01:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Lisa Horne, an experienced sports journalist based in Southern California. She’s worked for entities such as Bleacher Report, The Sporting News and Fox Sports covering topics as varied as college football and NASCAR. She now spends her time covering Southern California football, a school that is also her alma mater. Lisa and her husband went through a battle with cancer, something Fitz finds inspiring.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brad Underwood in Champaign, Illinois

Tue, 05 May 2020 01:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Brad Underwood, who is the head basketball coach at the University of Illinois. Underwood grew up in McPherson, Kansas, just south of Fitz's hometown of Salina, and both graduated high school in 1982. They have known each for much of their lives, but 20 years after playing at Kansas State, Underwood returned in 2006 as an assistant coach. It set in motion a quick climb in the coaching profession, leading to his third season in Champaign, Illinois, abruptly ending when college sports were shut down due to the pandemic.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nick Leckey in Lake Quivira, Kansas

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 01:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Nick Leckey, whose final year of football at Kansas State came during the Wildcats’ 2003 Big 12 Championship season and then in the 2004 NFL Draft, the offensive lineman was selected in the sixth round by the Arizona Cardinals. Leckey played six seasons in the NFL mostly as a center, ending his career as part of the 2009 New Orleans Saints Super Bowl championship team. Leckey now works in medical sales and offers his football analysis for the Kansas City Chiefs' official website and podcast, while living in the suburbs of Kansas City.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andrew Smith in Manhattan, Kansas

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 23:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Andrew Smith, a Kansas State University, who as the coronavirus swept the globe, found himself with his wife, two daughters and seven students in London. As he prepared to return he wasn’t feeling well, but the tell-tale symptoms of COVID-19 didn’t settle in until he arrived home in Manhattan. Smith, however, is more than simply the first coronavirus case in Riley County, Kansas, he's a veteran of sports broadcaster with a thirst for travel and a love for the stage. Smith talks about it all as he completes his recovery from COVID-19.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sean Lowe in Dallas

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 01:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Sean Lowe, a former Kansas State football player who found love on The Bachelor. Lowe was originally cast as one of the men on the eighth season of The Bachelorette, but a few months later Lowe returned for the 17th season of The Bachelor, and at the center of attention of a houseful of women who were hoping to become Mrs. Sean Lowe. Lowe offered his final rose to Catherine Guidici and after being wed in a televised ceremony in January of 2014, the couple is happily living in Dallas with their three young children.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Greg Sharpe in Lincoln, Nebraska

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 03:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Greg Sharpe who now serves as the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Nebraska football and baseball games. Sharpe, though, served as the Voice of the Wildcats for Kansas State football, calling games between 1996 and 2002, During that seven-year stretch, K-State averaged 10 wins a season as K-State football rose to prominence under Coach Bill Snyder. Sharpe and K-State parted ways in 2002 but prior to the 2008 season, he became Voice of the Huskers and settled in as Voice of the Huskers.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Johnny Kane in Detroit

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 03:30:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Johnny Kane, who now works for Fox Sports Detroit. Kane spent nearly nine years working first in the Topeka and then the Kansas City markets before he moved to Detroit, which is much closer to his home on northwestern Ohio. Kane does play-by-play, reports and anchors coverage of Detroit’s professional sports franchises, but he’s most known for what he should be doing right now — serving as the field-level reporter for Detroit Tigers’ baseball broadcasts.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Bishop in Houston

Tue, 14 Apr 2020 01:29:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Michael Bishop, the runner-up for the 1998 Heisman Trophy. After Coach Bill Snyder took over the program in 1989, the historically downtrodden Wildcats began to improve. When Bishop arrived from Blinn College in 1997, he came as part of a historic junior college recruiting class that would elevate Snyder’s program and prove that college football programs could compete for titles by recruiting junior college talent. During the 1997 and 1998 seasons, K-State went 22-3 and 15-1 in Big 12 action. At the heart of it all was Bishop, who was a running and throwing whirlwind on the field.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gabe DeArmond in Columbia, Missouri

Thu, 09 Apr 2020 05:10:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls fellow site publisher Gabe DeArmond of PowerMizzou.com. Fitz and Gabe always viewed their sites as news outlets that practice journalism, which for many years was not how sites in their industry were viewed by outsiders. The customers are fans, but they're not at games to be fans. Their sites cover recruiting, but they are much more than recruiting sites. Both sports publishers practice community journalism, but while all of Fitz's community wears purple, Gabe’s dons black and gold.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ben Leber in Minneapolis

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 05:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Ben Leber, a former NFL linebacker and currently an analyst for Fox Sports. Leber was a star running back coming out of high school in Vermillion, South Dakota, but when he came to Kansas State in 1997, he switched to linebacker. It was a very good decision. Leber went on to become a two-time All-Big 12 linebacker, and then a third-round selection by the San Diego Chargers in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played 10 seasons with three different franchises, but after four years in San Diego, Ben and his wife Abby settled in Minneapolis when he played five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jenni Carlson in Oklahoma City

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 23:30:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Jenni Carlson, a columnist for The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. Carlson was part of a national story when back in 2007 when Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy took exception to a story in the Oklahoma City newspaper. On the receiving end of Gundy’s "I’m a man, I’m 40" tirade was Jenni Carlson, one of the kindest, most professional people in the sports writing industry. Carlson has now been in OKC for more than 20 years.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chip Brown in Austin

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 05:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Chip Brown, a sportswriter and radio host in Austin, Texas. Brown, a heavy hitter in one of college sports' most-important markets, and Fitz became friends through the industry and now both are part of the 247Sports Network. The two share common backgrounds and an interest in past and possible future conference realignment in college athletics.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mick Shaffer in Shawnee, Kansas

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 18:52:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, Mick Shaffer, sports director at KSHB-41, the NBC affiliate in Kansas City. Fitz isn't sure when exactly the two became friends but they bonded one summer at a Big 12 football media event in Dallas, eventually breaking greasy bread that night at a Whataburger. The two share a sarcastic sense of humor as you will quickly discover in this episode.

***

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Frank Martin in Columbia, S.C.

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 05:00:00 -0000

On this episode of the Life of Fitz podcast, host Tim Fitzgerald calls his friend, former Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin. Martin seemed ready for a long stay in Manhattan until a new university president hired John Currie to be athletics director. A toxic relationship between Currie and Martin drove Martin after a loss in the Round of 32 of the 2012 NCAA Tournament to become the head coach at South Carolina. Martin built the Gamecocks from the ground up and put the long-suffering program in the 2017 Final Four, something no one in Columbia, South Carolina, expected.

*******

Tim Fitzgerald is sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tom Keegan in Boston

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his colleague Tom Keegan in Boston. Tom is now the sports columnist at the Boston Herald, but he and Fitz go back to not long after he was named sports editor of the Lawrence Journal-World, where he covered the University of Kansas. The Lawrence cable channel wanted to launch of new locally-driven sports talk show called The Drive and they were part of the four-person cast. Four became three and then five years ago WIBW-13 in Topeka bought the show and pared the cast down to just the two of them. Then in the fall of 2018 Tom took a new job and jetted off to Boston, but not before the two friends recorded more than 350 weekly episodes of the show together.

*******

Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly Stewart in Las Vegas

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 05:00:00 -0000

This edition of the Life of Fitz podcast features host Tim Fitzgerald calling his good friend Kelly Stewart in Las Vegas. If you’re not familiar with Kelly, who is best known by her social media moniker KellyinVegas, she’s a respected sports handicapper who now works for WagerTalk.com among others. Her resume includes her own podcast, the Kelly and Murray Show. Her area of expertise is football because growing up a Kansas State fan in Manhattan, Kansas, during the heyday of Bill Snyder teams at K-State, Kelly fell in love with the sport.

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Tim Fitzgerald is a sports journalist who writes, does TV, radio and is a long-time podcaster. He has served as publisher of GoPowercat.com, a website that focuses on Kansas State sports, for more than 20 years. Fitz also has stage 4 prostate cancer, so his doctors have advised him to stay home and lay low. Welcome to his life and the Life of Fitz podcast.

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Introducing the Life of Fitz podcast

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 13:56:00 -0000

As Covid-19 sweeps through America, veteran Kansas State sportswriter Tim Fitzgerald is laying low. Also batting Stage 4 prostate cancer, his medical team has ordered him into self-isolation. To get through this stressful time, he's calling up friends with whom he's cultivated relationships during his many decades in sports; the result of those conversations is the Life of Fitz podcast.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

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