K-State Q&A: Where does Chris Klieman rank compared to other Big 12 football coaches?
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
Why don’t we dive right into your questions this week? We’ve got lots of fun topics to cover. So let’s get started.
First off, anyone trying to make a big deal about the college football coaching rankings that CBS Sports put out this week needs to take a deep breath and say “3-2-1, 1-2-3, What the heck is bothering me?”
It’s not worth getting upset about, even though they (gasp) ranked new KU coach Lance Leipold at 35 and Chris Klieman at 37.
Personally, I would rank Klieman ahead of Leipold until he wins a few games with the Jayhawks. But they have amazingly similar resumes.
Leipold won six national championships at the Division III level with Wisconsin-Whitewater before he went to Buffalo and took it to three straight bowl games.
Klieman won four national championships at the FCS level with North Dakota State and has a 12-11 record at K-State.
For me, Klieman’s run at NDSU was more impressive, because some of his teams were borderline top 25 nationally and they proved it by winning games against Iowa, K-Sate, Iowa State, Kansas ... just about any FBS team foolish enough to schedule them.
He’s also taken the Wildcats to a bowl. Last season wasn’t great for him, but I’m ranking him ahead of Leipold until Leipold does something good in Lawrence.
Here’s how I would rank all 10 Big 12 coaches:
1. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma
2. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
3. Gary Patterson, TCU
4. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
5. Neal Brown, West Virginia
6. Chris Klieman, Kansas State
7. Lance Leipold, Kansas
8. Steve Sarkisian, Texas
9. Matt Wells, Texas Tech
10. Dave Aranda, Baylor
Interesting theory.
While I like the idea of using him more as a scatback than a traditional running back, he has proven to be good in both roles. For that reason, I bet Deuce Vaughn sees extra action as both a ball-carrier and as a receiver next season.
It will be silly if that doesn’t happen. He’s the best player on the entire K-State roster.
He rushed for 642 yards and seven touchdowns on 123 carries as a freshman. The Wildcats need to give him more than 12 hand-offs a game. Even with Joe Ervin and Jacardia Wright emerging as other options at running back, my guess is coaches still prioritize Vaughn a little more and bring his average up to around 15.
He caught 25 passes for 434 yards and two touchdowns last season. That could be a little harder to top, as Skylar Thompson has always preferred throwing to Malik Knowles and Chabastin Taylor than his running backs. But 30-plus catches also seems reasonable for a player like Vaughn. K-State want to get him the ball in space, and utilizing him as a receiver is a great way to do that.
I have a hard team seeing him get all the way to 2,000 yards, though. That would mean he almost doubled his 1,076 yards from scrimmage as a freshman. Something like 1,500 all-purpose yards seems like a more attainable goal.
It amuses me that I get so many questions about why K-State’s offensive coordinator isn’t any good while no one seems to have a care in the world about his defensive counterpart.
Last season, the Wildcats ended the season with five consecutive losses by scores of 37-10, 20-18, 45-0, 32-31 and 69-31. They also lost their opener 35-31. Putting up a goose egg at Iowa State obviously doesn’t reflect well on Courtney Messingham, but I would say the team’s biggest issues were on the other side of the ball last season.
K-State wouldn’t have won that season finale against Texas with Patrick Mahomes throwing passes.
And still, most people wanted to blame the offensive coordinator afterward. Joe Klanderman seems to have more to prove heading into next season than Messingham.
I’m not trying to say Messingham is perfect, or anything close to that. He could be more inventive with his system. But blaming the offensive coordinator for every loss is a pet peeve of mine. K-State fans used to do it with Dana Dimel, too. Though I will admit there were times that was most definitely justified. In any case, it’s a job that requires bullet-proof skin.
But I digress, let me come down from my soap box.
I thought Messingham did the best he could with limited resources last season. K-State lost Skylar Thompson in the third game of the year and had to play the final seven with freshman Will Howard. Making things worse, the Wildcats had a bunch of bums at receiver. Joshua Youngblood transferred. And they were breaking in five new starters on the offensive line ... during a pandemic.
Messingham did a nice job using pre-snap movement and misdirection to create running lanes for Howard on keepers. He found ways to get the ball to Deuce Vaughn in space. He came up with plays that worked for Briley Moore.
Yes, he gave the ball to Harry Trotter on too many RB Power plays on first down. And he tried too many jet sweeps. My biggest critique of all would be in the red zone, where he relies way too much on Thompson as a runner.
But I’m going to cut him slack on those decisions. What else what he supposed to call? You can’t give the ball to Vaughn on every play, at least I don’t think you can.
K-State ranked seventh in the Big 12 in scoring last season (26.6 points per game), sixth in yards per play (5.6), sixth in yards per rush (4.3) and fifth in yards per pass (7.5). Nothing great, but nothing horrible either.
Not to keep being mean to the defense, which had its own issues with COVID last season, but K-State ranked seventh in scoring (32.2 points per game) in the Big 12, ninth in yards allowed per play (6.1), ninth in yards allowed per rush (4.7) and ninth in yards allowed per pass (7.8). There’s nothing good in those stats.
I’m expecting a much better showing from K-State on offense next season with Thompson returning, a more experienced offensive line coming back and the possibility that Malik Knowles could stay healthy.
If all of that happens and the Wildcats don’t move the ball any better than they did last season, then you will have something tangible to complain about with the offensive coordinator.
E-MAIL QUESTION: ESPN and FOX have started to announce some game times for big matchups early on next season. Any guess on what time slot Kansas State and Stanford will get? - Andrew B.
Well, I can tell you they won’t be playing at 2:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. on ABC, because those slots have already been filled.
But FOX and ESPN haven’t announced any of their game times for Sept. 4, so the schedule remains wide open.
In the Big 12, K-State will be competing against West Virginia/Maryland, Texas Tech/Houston, Louisiana/Texas and Oklahoma/Tulane for top billing. It’s one of only two matchups that features power conference teams, so it should get a good time slot.
With Stanford involved, my guess is it will be a 6:30 p.m. kickoff. If not, then 2:30 p.m. becomes the most logical choice. I have a hard time seeing an 11 a.m. kick.
At one of my previous jobs as a sports writer, I was once asked to serve as a “celebrity judge” for a barbecue contest that the football coaches at the local college were putting on.
That was awesome.
Sadly, though, Jordy Nelson has not shown me the same respect and invited me to compete in his celebrity softball game in September. It’s probably for the best. They don’t want me out there hitting monster home runs and making anyone else look bad.
I will most likely still be at the event, though. It would be cool if they could get Kirstie Alley to participate. I would love to ask her about her time on Cheers.
It’s hard to find a worse sandwich joint than Subway. YUCK!
The last time I ate there was in an airport terminal during a layover when it was the only thing open. And I still regret it.
My favorite sandwich spots are probably Jimmy John’s, Which Wich and Potbelly. If I’m on the road and feel like a sandwich, I’m looking for those places.
But I haven’t eaten at any of those restaurants in ages, either.
It’s pretty easy for me to make a sandwich at home any old time, so paying someone else to make one for me never sounds that appealing.
There’s honestly not much I seek out on network TV anymore. My viewing habits are more month-to-month with whatever is hot on Netflix, Hulu or Disney Plus.
Is The Mandalorian coming out with new episodes soon? I suppose I am looking forward to those. Season 2 of Dave on FX should be good. I will be watching Stranger Things whenever it returns.
Right now, though, I’m rotating between Love, Death + Robots and Startup and Who Killed Sara? on Netflix. I also try to mix in a little BoJack Horseman and some old episodes of Suits.
Jeopardy! is also a staple at my house. My wife and I try to watch that every day.
Alas, my two oldest kids are home all the time now for summer vacation. So I’m not spending much time in control of the remote these days.
The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which is actually pretty good, has been on replay at my house of late.
No doubt.
Unless someone out there wants to volunteer to teach my kids stuff when they aren’t in school and to watch them eight hours a day for free, Professor Kellis will never be in danger of losing his job.
Lately, I feel more like Camp Counselor Kellis, though. Play with Legos. Read a book. Watch a movie. Work on a KiwiCo box. I really need all this rain to go away so I can add “play outside” to the mix.
Congratulations are in order. We made it a whole month without including a question about Bruce Weber’s future with the basketball team!
The beautiful thing about next season is that it will provide a definitive answer.
If K-State bounces back and makes the NCAA Tournament (or maybe reaches the NIT and clearly looks like a team on the rise) then it will be time for Gene Taylor to draw up a contract extension with a low buyout.
If K-State tanks for the third straight season with a talented nucleus returning and three impact transfers on the roster, then I imagine Weber will voluntarily step down and retire.
Every K-State football game had limited capacity last season, and the band skipped senior day.
It wasn’t fun.
Coming off a year of that, I’m all for anything that creates the best game-day atmosphere possible at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. I would also love it if they could figure out a way to safely bring back Willie’s pregame tackle at the 50-yard line.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Where does Chris Klieman rank compared to other Big 12 football coaches?."