Chris Klieman brings fresh approach, firepower to K-State football recruiting
The pictures of Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman visiting with six different recruits in three different states over the weekend came as a welcome sight to anyone who has followed the Wildcats in recent years.
Bill Snyder left campus to recruit so rarely during his final seasons that it was considered major news whenever it happened.
That won’t be the case with Klieman, who was hired last week from North Dakota State. It’s obvious he values recruiting more than his predecessor, and he is already showing it. His efforts helped K-State hang on to the majority of its longtime commitments and add enough new ones to sign 15 recruits on Wednesday.
“It’s exciting,” K-State assistant Blake Seiler said. “You put a lot of time and effort into this. Now you have the firepower of Coach Klieman. You know he is going to be here for your career. It gives you a lot more firepower than you used to have. It’s a big deal in recruiting.”
Klieman certainly provides more stability on that front than Snyder, who was non committal about his long-term coaching plans before retiring at age 79 earlier this month. Uncertainty has been an obstacle with recruits in recent years. Not anymore.
K-State shared a video of Klieman speaking with recruits on early signing day, and his face lit up every time he welcomed a new player to the roster. He promised to challenge them and to love them.
That should give the Wildcats a boost with most prospects, but Klieman has more enhancements in store.
For starters, he wants to make life easier on director of football recruiting Taylor Braet. For years, he has been the unsung hero of K-State football, working tirelessly behind the scenes to build relationships with recruits. You won’t find anyone who cares more about his team.
“I am a third-generation Kansas kid, so this is home and I will do anything for home,” Braet said. “I wear purple everything, purple shoes, purple wedding ring. When Coach gave me the opportunity to keep me here, I took it with all of the pride.”
That enthusiasm has helped Braet deliver some fine recruits over the years, but he’s been fighting an uphill climb. His support staff has always been small compared to the biggest football powers in the Big 12.
Oklahoma, for example, employees a staff of nearly 20 on top of its football coaches. The Sooners boast a director of football operations, an executive director of recruiting, a recruiting analyst, two video specialists and three graphic designers. Texas has an even larger staff that includes a director of creative media and a director of high school relations.
Braet has never been a one-man show, but Klieman promised to close the support gap and hire extra recruiting specialists when he retained Braet as his recruiting coordinator.
Time will tell what changes they settle on, but Braet would like to add recruiting assistants that specifically focus on offense and defense, an extra graphic designer and another video expert.
“There are places that have 10-15 guys who are recruiting only,” Braet said. “I’ve got two quality control guys, but they have got a lot of football stuff to do, too. They help a lot with visits and other jobs, but hopefully they drop those and just focus on recruiting. It would be great to have a director of player personnel or high school relations. Anything and everything would be nice.”
It’s hard to see Klieman saying no on many of those requests. He was an active recruiter at North Dakota State and wants to be the same at K-State.
The Wildcats routinely finished in the top half of the Big 12 standings under Snyder during his second stint as coach, but the recruiting services never ranked any of his classes better than seventh. Rivals has ranked them last three times in the past decade.
Klieman wants that to change, while also keeping in mind that recruiting is about more than stars.
“It has to be a fit,” Klieman said. “It has to be the right kind of guy that will fit our culture and be successful here, not only academically but athletically, as well.”
K-State signed 15 of those players on Wednesday.
They are the start of what figures to be a new era of K-State football recruiting.
“He is all about recruiting and that is great,” Braet said. “There is going to be a change and I am excited to be a part of it.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Chris Klieman brings fresh approach, firepower to K-State football recruiting."