Coleman had an unusual collegiate career at Kansas State. Because he had spent five years in the
U.S. Army, Coleman was a 24-year-old freshman when he began play at K-State in the 1985–86 basketball season. That season, Coleman led the
Big Eight Conference in scoring with 21.8 points per game and pulled down 8 rebounds a game, on the way to being named first-team All-Conference and Newcomer of the Year. In doing so, he became one of the few players to lead his league in scoring during his first season in college. However, near the close of that season, the
NCAA found that Coleman had not met the minimum high school requirements and K-State immediately declared him ineligible. The saga took another twist in April 1986, when the NCAA issued an unusual ruling that said Coleman would have to sit out a year at K-State with no scholarship and surrender a year of eligibility, or transfer to a different school and face no penalties. Coleman immediately received scholarship offers from 25 schools, and took recruiting trips to
LSU, the
University of Kentucky and the
University of Virginia, but eventually decided to stay at Kansas State. After averaging 20.7 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game and again being named first team All-Conference in his shortened sophomore season, Coleman decided to turn pro. Because of his career in the Army, Coleman was affectionately
nicknamed "The Sarge" by Kansas State fans.
College statistics ==References==