K-State track coach retiring after 36 years with Wildcats

MANHATTAN (KSNT) - After over three decades at the helm for K-State track and field and cross country, head coach Cliff Rovelto will retire.

The legendary Wildcat head coach announced Tuesday morning that 2024 will be his last season as head coach, planning to retire after the conclusion of the outdoor track season. Rovelto joined K-State as an assistant in 1998, and was promoted to head coach in 1992.

The six-time Big 12 Coach of the Year is the second-longest tenured coach in school history, behind only Hall of Fame track coach Ward Haylett.

“Coach Rovelto is one of the most respected and successful track and field coaches in the country,” Athletics Director Gene Taylor said in a press release from K-State Athletics. “K-State is surrounded by phenomenal people who care deeply about this university, and no one exemplifies that any better than Coach Rovelto."

Since Coach Rovelto took over as head coach, the Wildcats have won five Big 12 Championships and have been runners-up eight times. The long-time head coach has also had 33 K-State teams earn top-20 team finishes at the NCAA championships, and 10 teams earn top-10 finishes.

Rovelto is best known for his athletes' success in the high jump, with K-State men's and women's athletes combining for 12 individual NCAA championships in indoor and outdoor seasons.

In all, he's coached 222 All-Americans and 109 conference champions.

“It has been an honor and blessing to have had the opportunity to coach at K-State for the past 36 years,” Rovelto said in a press release from K-State Athletics. “My life has truly been enriched by the relationships developed over the years with our student-athletes and members of our staff. Our student-athletes and staff have always represented our university in a manner in which K-Staters can be proud."