Bruce Weber will return for a sixth season as Kansas State basketball coach, acting athletics director Laird Veatch told the Manhattan Mercury on Monday.

K-State is in the process of searching for an athletics director following the departure of John Currie to Tennessee, and Veatch was named acting AD. Veatch previously said Weber’s status would be evaluated at the end of the season.

"We took a step forward this year and we look forward to making another step forward next year," Veatch told the Mercury.

K-State had a 21-14 record this past season, returning to the NCAA Tournament after a two-year absence. The Wildcats (17-16 a year ago) won a First Four game against Wake Forest then lost in the first round to Cincinnati.

Weber, who was given one-year extensions after each of his first two seasons, has two years remaining on the contract which will pay a base salary of $2.15 million in the 2017-18 season and $2.25 million in 2018-19 with a $500,000 bonus if he is still the coach at the conclusion of the contract on April 30, 2019. The buyout is $2.5 million.

The application process for the AD position closed last week and the eight-person search committee should begin interviews soon. Speculation continues to center around Veatch and Chad Weiberg, the former K-State associate AD for development now deputy AD at Texas Tech.

A hire by the end of April is a target date.

RECRUITING UPDATE — K-State had an on-campus visit last weekend from Mark Smith, the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Edwardsville averaged 21.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 8.4 assists and 2.1 steals for a 30-2 team.

A four-star prospect rated No. 78 on Rivals.com Top 150, Smith’s other offers include Illinois, Missouri, Northwestern, Indiana, Ohio State and Butler.

K-State reportedly is still in the running for Raynere Thornton, a 6-7 forward from Gordon State (Ga.) Community College. The No. 48 player on the JucoRecruiting.com list, Thornton has offers from Georgia, DePaul, Iona and UTEP.

Weber was at the NJCAA Tournament last week to look at 6-7 power forward Shakur Juiston of national champion Hutchinson but K-State was not on his list of nine finalists: Kansas, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Rutgers, St. Joe’s, VCU, UConn, UNLV and Rhode Island.

WILDCATS FALL ILL — During an interview on Manhattan radio station KMAN on Monday, Weber said D.J. Johnson was diagnosed with the mumps, which likely affected his performance in the NCAA Tournament loss to Cincinnati. The illness has spread to other members of the team.

Contact Ken Corbitt at (785) 295-1123 or @KenCorbitt on Twitter.