K-State Q&A: Why Collin Klein stayed with Wildcats after Notre Dame coordinator talks
A week has passed since Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein decided to remain with the Wildcats rather than leave for a coveted position on Notre Dame’s coaching staff, which was enough time for me to figure out exactly what kept him in Manhattan.
I can also tell you with confidence when to expect raises and new contracts for Chris Klieman and his assistants to be finalized by the K-State athletic department. If you’re a subscriber, you will get those details in addition to all the fun stuff that normally appears in this weekly mailbag. Enjoy!
Let’s start with Klein.
There are several reasons why he stayed at K-State, according to the insiders I spoke with about the topic. For starters, his $600,000 salary is being increased. But the Wildcats also made it very clear how much they wanted him to stay. Will Howard and other players reached out to him during the decision-making process and “pulled at his heart strings” when they spoke about what they could accomplish together. Athletic director Gene Taylor also convinced Klein that he didn’t need to leave K-State to increase his odds of becoming a head coach.
Klein was most interested in Notre Dame as a springboard for his professional career. Had he gone to the Fighting Irish and significantly upgraded their offense he would have been a candidate for every head coach opening in the American or Mountain West immediately afterward. That sounded good to him.
From a conversation I had with Klein last summer: “I would love to be a head coach some day. I really would. Football is the greatest team sport in the world and to be able to lead a team and help it grow through good times and hard times is definitely a goal I have.”
But the same job opportunities could emerge for him if he continues to do big things with the Wildcats.
Klein is an up-and-coming coordinator who received interest from Alabama, Notre Dame and Texas A&M this offseason after just one season of calling plays for Klieman. He is on people’s radar. Who knows? He could even get the HC job at K-State whenever Klieman’s run is over.
K-State folks also did a nice job of convincing Klein that Notre Dame is a step below Alabama, Clemson and Georgia, where successful coordinators make $2 million and get to be extremely picky about their next job.
Furthermore, K-State fans will be forgiving of Klein if the Wildcats slip up and have an average year. The same might not be true at Notre Dame, where he would possibly be on the hot seat after an 8-4 season.
Add all those considerations onto Klein’s family feeling extremely comfortable in Manhattan and his ties to the university as a former K-State quarterback and he simply couldn’t leave.
As Klein told me last summer about coaching at his alma mater: “This is rare. Very, very rare. And it’s something that both me and (my wife) don’t take for granted. It’s a tremendous honor. There is not a place we would rather be. This is a special place and it’ll always be for both of us.”
If Klein is staying and Matthew Middleton has been officially hired as K-State’s new receivers coach, that means that finalized contracts can’t be far behind. Sources have told me that raises have been approved for every returning football coach on the staff and those deals should be signed in the next few weeks. While I don’t know any exact dollar amounts on those raises yet, I can tell you that none of K-State’s assistant coaches will be making $1 million next season.
My guess is that both defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and Klein will get bumped up to $750,000, or maybe a little more.
Taking care of those deals took priority over Klieman. I’m told Taylor and Klieman have only just begun to talk about a new contract for the head coach. So that process may not end until March or even April.
Now, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
Let’s put it this way: If, for some reason, Chris Klieman is no longer the head coach at Kansas State in the next year or two then Collin Klein will be his obvious choice as successor.
I don’t think K-State would ever have it written into Klein’s contract that he is guaranteed the position as head coach in waiting, because how often has that worked out before?
Better to just let it be known behind closed doors that he would get strong consideration for the job, which I think has already happened.
Now, if K-State football starts going in the wrong direction and the offense is holding the team back then things could change rather quickly. But if the Wildcats keep winning and Klieman is lured away for another job or he retires then all eyes would turn to Klein.
My prediction is that Klein spends another year or two on Klieman’s staff and then leaves to become a head coach at some place like North Texas or Colorado State. If he does a good there then fans will hope the stars align in a way that allows him to become the head coach at K-State several years from now.
I would compare his situation to Brad Underwood when he was a basketball assistant at K-State under Frank Martin. Everyone could tell he was destined for a bright future in the coaching business; it just wasn’t clear the path he would take.
A few reasons why K-State basketball is no longer as “cromulent” as it once was:
- Keyontae Johnson seems to have hit a wall. He’s not a freshman, but he did take two years off from basketball before he enrolled at K-State. Maybe he’s tiring out. It also seemed like that Florida game in the Big 12/SEC Challenge was his Super Bowl. He needs to get back to playing like he has something to prove.
- Locker room dysfunction. I think there is some finger-pointing going on between teammates right now. That is probably what Markquis Nowell was getting at when he said a trip to the movies or the bowling alley could help the Wildcats get back on track.
- Jerome Tang is a first-year head coach trying to beat more experienced coaches in Big 12 rematches. That can’t be easy.
- The Wildcats got off to such a hot start in Big 12 play that no one knew what to do after Johnson and Nowell stopped shooting the cover off the ball.
- Nowell has missed too many three-pointers and turned it over too many times in the past six games.
- Cam Carter and David N’Guessan haven’t scored in either of the past two games. They are both starters who are currently bringing nothing to the table.
- K-State won its first four overtime games of the season. Regression to the mean was inevitable in close games.
That being said, there is no reason why the Wildcats can’t bounce back with a victory over Iowa State on Saturday. Tang can prove his coaching chops over the next five games.
E-MAIL QUESTION: Which movie should the Wildcats go see to end their losing streak? - Jeff M.
I say Jerome Tang pulls some strings and gets his team an advance screening of “Cocaine Bear.”
No way K-State loses on Saturday after watching something like that.
This would be a good question for a KU football fan.
KU football and K-State men’s basketball appear to be following the same path. Lance Leipold’s team started the season with five straight victories, earned a spot in the top 25, hosted “College Gameday” and then lost seven of its final eight games to finish the year with a losing record.
Overall, the Jayhawks had to label their season as a success because they shattered their over/under win total of 2.5 and reached a bowl game for the first time since the Mark Mangino era. But it was also clear by the end of the season that KU football was never as good as it may have appeared during those first five games.
It was a missed opportunity for something more.
K-State basketball started 17-2 and now sits at 19-7.
The good news for K-State basketball: There is still plenty of time to make this a special season, beyond surpassing preseason expectations and returning to the NCAA Tournament.
I don’t think the Wildcats have looked good since the first half of their game against Texas two weeks ago, but lots of teams have looked bad against Big 12 competition this season. Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, TCU and West Virginia have all gone on losing streaks.
Bouncing back and finding a sustainable middle ground between K-State’s hot start and current losing streak is definitely possible.
If K-State can find a way to win two or three more games and enter the NCAA Tournament as a 6 seed, maybe it will get its mojo back against teams from other conferences.
Many hoped Jerome Tang could duplicate the success that Iowa State pulled off last season under new coach T.J. Otzelberger. The Cyclones won 22 games and reached the Sweet 16. Great season, right? Well, Iowa State also went 7-11 in conference play and lost four straight games in February.
Losing a few games in February doesn’t necessarily mean a team is doomed.
In closing, if I was a fan I would probably feel disappointed by K-State’s recent results on the basketball court while also remembering that most would have gladly taken a 19-win campaign before the season began.
I like the long-term vision of the project.
Anything that adds parking and new business to that area is great for Aggieville and all of Manhattan. I am excited to see the finished product in a few years.
Right now, though, the construction down there is a disaster. I used to take my kids to Varsity Donuts on the weekends for some tasty treats but it has become a real chore to park and get the whole Robinett Clan over there.
I’m going to go with men’s basketball.
Jerome Tang might be working through some issues at the moment but he has proven himself as a promising head coach this season and he has talented recruits coming in. With the transfer portal, anyone can build a contender if they land the right guys.
The NCAA Tournament is also such a volatile event that K-State could make the Final Four as a 10 seed. So this program seems to have the best odds.
K-State football is the currently the strongest team on campus, but as we saw at the Sugar Bowl making that jump from Big 12 champion to beating Alabama is very wide. Georgia beating TCU by 2 million in the championship game doesn’t inspire much hope of the Wildcats winning a natty in football anytime soon, either.
There simply isn’t enough parity in college football for me to pick Chris Klieman’s team.
Women’s basketball should be good next season with the return of Ayoka Lee, but catching up to Connecticut and South Carolina are monumental tasks.
One wild card: Baseball. Some low seeds have won the College World Series in recent years. If K-State can build a team good enough to make a NCAA Regional, it’s conceivable that team could get red hot and win a trophy.
Standing pat: 75%
Adding Pac-12 Members: 15%
Adding Gonzaga: 5%
Adding G5 Schools: 5%
I think the Big 12 is set on membership for the immediate future. Unless Oregon and Washington and reach out to the conference for a lifeline after a historically bad TV deal from the Pac-12 I’m not seeing much incentive for Brett Yormark to bring in new members.
Adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah would be fun in the sense that the Big 12 would have delivered a kill shot to the Pac-12, but those teams don’t bring a ton of new value.
Oregon and Washington would. So if they want in I think the Big 12 needs to find room for them. Otherwise, moving forward with 12 seems like a better plan.
Gonzaga is interesting, but the Big 12 is already strong enough in basketball.
San Diego State is the only “mid-major” team out there worth adding and the Aztecs don’t fit geographically.
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 6:30 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Why Collin Klein stayed with Wildcats after Notre Dame coordinator talks."