Why Chris Klieman has only spent 30% of his time preparing Kansas State for Rate Bowl
Don’t get Chris Klieman wrong.
The Kansas State football coach wants to beat Rutgers on Thursday at the Rate Bowl. He wants the Wildcats to hoist a shiny new trophy as they party at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix. And he definitely wants EMAW nation to head into the offseason with positive vibes.
This game is important to both him and his team. No doubt about that.
But, like any lengthy transfer graphic on social media, his most interesting comments about how K-State has prepared for its upcoming bowl game against the Scarlet Knights can be found after the words “with that being said.”
For the first time since he began coaching at K-State, bowl season hasn’t been Klieman’s top priority at this time of year.
He has spent much more time focusing on other things, like the transfer portal.
“For me, it’s 70% trying to continue to build the roster,” Klieman said, “and then the other 30% is working on Rutgers.”
Klieman is far from the only coach who has de-emphasized a middling bowl game during the transfer era. It makes perfect sense that recruiting for next season should mean more than preparing for this postseason. K-State has already signed seven incoming transfers to help replace the 16 transfers it lost.
Still, this is the first time that Klieman has admitted to this approach.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how sharp the Wildcats look against the Scarlet Knights.
It’s not as if K-State has been ignoring the Rate Bowl. Klieman says he is currently working 20-hour days to keep track with all the roster movement taking place in college football. His favorite time of day, other than his four hour naps, is bowl practice.
“I love going to practice, because it’s two hours when the phone doesn’t ring,” Klieman said. “It’s awesome. I don’t take my phone out there, so it’s great. I love that time when we’re out there. But this is the challenge that everybody is facing. It doesn’t matter where we’re at. Rutgers is doing the same thing, I’m assuming.”
Klieman went on to say he didn’t envy the coaches of playoff teams, who have been dealing with the same balancing act while trying to win a national championship.
“It’s wild stuff,” he said.
Perhaps arriving in Phoenix on Monday will give Klieman and his coaching staff some time to block out distractions and begin treating the Rate Bowl like a regular season game.
After all, this bowl game is important to him.
“We are excited that our core guys have have stuck together as a team,” Klieman said, “and we’re excited that we’re going to play a lot of young kids on the 26th. We’ve got a lot of returning veterans that have played a lot of football that are going to play on the 26th, too, so we’re excited.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Why Chris Klieman has only spent 30% of his time preparing Kansas State for Rate Bowl."