Kansas State yesterday officially introduced Gene Taylor as AD, and he credited the experience of leaving the top spot at North Dakota State for a lower position at Iowa as having "changed his career," according to Joel Jellison of the MANHATTAN MERCURY. After 13 years at NDSU, an FCS school, Taylor in '14 left to become Iowa Deputy AD with the "goal of leading the athletic department at a Power 5 school." Taylor's five-year contract with K-State calls for him to "make $450,000 this year with an increase of $50,000 each year." He also said that he "prides himself on having a balanced budget," which he had every year at NDSU. Taylor said that he "sees his style as using an inverted hierarchy pyramid that puts athletes, coaches and staff at the top and himself at the bottom" (MANHATTAN MERCURY, 4/18). Taylor said of his move from NDSU to Iowa, "I had aspirations to be a power-five athletic director. But as opportunities came up, I really wasn’t getting the opportunity to sit at the table for interviews, even with the success we had at North Dakota State." Taylor added, "If I wanted to stand here before a group like this today. I wasn’t going to do it unless I made that move to Iowa" (WICHITA EAGLE, 4/18). In Kansas, Kevin Haskin notes Taylor's time spent under longtime Iowa AD Gary Barta "proved instrumental" in him landing the K-State job. The instincts Taylor showed during his run at NDSU also should "still play well at a bigger program" like K-State (TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL, 4/18).
