Kansas State University Athletics
SE: Klieman, K-State Football the Perfect ‘Fit’ for Each Other
Dec 13, 2018 | Football, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
In a room likely exceeding its capacity, Chris Klieman echoed a sentiment about Kansas State that K-State athletics director Gene Taylor and Wildcat football players also voiced about him.
"It is all about fit," Klieman said in his introductory press conference as K-State football's 35th head coach in the Vanier Family Football Complex's Steel & Pipe Theatre on Wednesday. "I think this is a phenomenal fit here."
For Klieman, a proven winner as North Dakota State's head coach, K-State fit what he wanted in a few different ways. The two programs are similar, he said, as are their fanbases and the communities that support them.
Klieman, for example, was North Dakota State's defensive coordinator when the Bison came in and upset the Wildcats in their 2013 season opener in Manhattan. His greatest memory from that game came from before it started, however.
"I remember walking down the tunnel in 2013 as a defensive coordinator and going, 'What kind of hornet's nest did we get ourselves into?' It was loud, it was raucous," he said. "It was absolutely imperative that I found a fit, where the K-State community, the fanbase, was all in.
"Everybody watches college football, sees games on any night of the week and sees empty stadiums. You don't see an empty stadium at North Dakota State, and you don't see an empty stadium at Kansas State. That's another part that was a big fit for me, and I'm so excited. I can't wait for that first game and I'm running out there and seeing that fanbase."
In his extensive and thorough search to replace Hall of Fame head coach Bill Snyder, Taylor said he, too, kept resorting to that one word as the foundation to whom should be the next coach.
"We kept coming back to fit," Taylor, in his second year as K-State's athletics director, said. "We kept coming back to who's going to be the best fit for us."
Taylor knew the answer to this question better than anyone.
As North Dakota State's athletics director, he hired Klieman in December of 2013 to replace a legend in Craig Bohl as the Bison's head coach. Almost five years later to the day, Taylor introduced Klieman as K-State's head coach to replace an even greater legend.
When Taylor did, he reflected upon the first time he hired Klieman.
"One of the reasons I like Chris is I looked him in the eye and asked, 'Why do you want to replace Coach Bohl? He just won three national championships. The expectation at North Dakota State at the time wasn't anything less than a national championship. If you go 8-3 and get into the playoffs, that's not going to be a good thing,'" Taylor recalled. "He looked at me in the eyes and said, 'Gene, we are not only going to win another national championship, I'm going to win a lot more national championships.'
"That's pretty brazen, I'll give him that. But he backed it up."
Backed it up, and then some.
In between December of 2013 and now, all Klieman did was overcome losing 23 seniors and more than a handful assistants before his first season en route to a 67-6 record as head coach with three FCS titles in four seasons. They currently sit two wins away from a fourth title in five years, with a semifinal battle against South Dakota State in Fargo, North Dakota, set for Friday at 7 p.m., on ESPN2.
Taylor urged any K-State fans eager to get a sneak peek at the type of football they can expect in the future to turn on Friday's game. The Bison's hard-nosed style will be obvious, but the way Klieman's players compete goes back to one of the fundamental reasons Taylor felt he was the right man for the job.
"He loves (his players), he challenges them, and he builds them into champions. And he does it the right way. I watched him do it from afar and I watched him do it as an assistant," Taylor said. "Because I knew North Dakota State and because I knew what Kansas State was about in terms of culture and in terms of what we believe in and what drove us to be successful in the right way, I knew he would be a fit. And to me, at the end of the day, it is all about fit.
"Are they going to be here, are they going to understand the legacy of what he is undertaking by replacing Coach Snyder? And he gets it."
A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman literally grew up around Bill Snyder football.
Klieman went to Hayden Fry camps at Iowa and remembers standing in the quarterbacks line that Snyder ran as an assistant coach. He was also a starting defensive back at Northern Iowa when the Panthers ruined K-State's home opener in 1989, Snyder's first of an eventual 27 years as head coach.
Now, Klieman takes over for Snyder, whose name graces K-State's stadium and a highway into town, and whose statue stands guard in front of all he helped build. Klieman said he's "excited for the challenge" to add on to what Snyder started with some of the same core values.
The 51-year-old head coach pointed out that much of what he looks for and asks of in players mirrors what Snyder did. These include high character, attention to detail and a 1-0 mentality that Klieman gets across with an already-popular phrase among K-State fans and players: Win the dang day. It was the theme of his first meeting with K-State's players on Tuesday night.
"I believe this — you are only guaranteed today. Give everything you can today for yourself and for the guy next to you," Klieman said. "If you do that in all aspects of your life, you are going to have a heck of a day. If you do that in all aspects of your life, you are going to be able to be successful in order to get to the next day to win tomorrow. If you go 1-0 for the day and you stack those Monday through Friday, you have a chance to go 1-0 on Saturday. That is kind of what we do."
A few K-State players on hand for Klieman's press conference said his message resonated quickly. Anyone on the fence quickly jumped to his side. Again, it came down to the one word: Fit.
"He came in fired up, and it probably gave a lot of chills. I know it gave me chills and the guys are just excited to have a coach like that," junior safety Denzel Goolsby said. "I think he is a great fit."
"The more I am listening and around this guy," junior quarterback Skylar Thompson added, "he's the perfect fit for K-State."
In a room likely exceeding its capacity, Chris Klieman echoed a sentiment about Kansas State that K-State athletics director Gene Taylor and Wildcat football players also voiced about him.
"It is all about fit," Klieman said in his introductory press conference as K-State football's 35th head coach in the Vanier Family Football Complex's Steel & Pipe Theatre on Wednesday. "I think this is a phenomenal fit here."
For Klieman, a proven winner as North Dakota State's head coach, K-State fit what he wanted in a few different ways. The two programs are similar, he said, as are their fanbases and the communities that support them.
Klieman, for example, was North Dakota State's defensive coordinator when the Bison came in and upset the Wildcats in their 2013 season opener in Manhattan. His greatest memory from that game came from before it started, however.
"I remember walking down the tunnel in 2013 as a defensive coordinator and going, 'What kind of hornet's nest did we get ourselves into?' It was loud, it was raucous," he said. "It was absolutely imperative that I found a fit, where the K-State community, the fanbase, was all in.
"Everybody watches college football, sees games on any night of the week and sees empty stadiums. You don't see an empty stadium at North Dakota State, and you don't see an empty stadium at Kansas State. That's another part that was a big fit for me, and I'm so excited. I can't wait for that first game and I'm running out there and seeing that fanbase."
A fanbase where they are all in.#KStateFB pic.twitter.com/9i8OIhny5D
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 12, 2018
In his extensive and thorough search to replace Hall of Fame head coach Bill Snyder, Taylor said he, too, kept resorting to that one word as the foundation to whom should be the next coach.
"We kept coming back to fit," Taylor, in his second year as K-State's athletics director, said. "We kept coming back to who's going to be the best fit for us."
Taylor knew the answer to this question better than anyone.
As North Dakota State's athletics director, he hired Klieman in December of 2013 to replace a legend in Craig Bohl as the Bison's head coach. Almost five years later to the day, Taylor introduced Klieman as K-State's head coach to replace an even greater legend.
When Taylor did, he reflected upon the first time he hired Klieman.
"One of the reasons I like Chris is I looked him in the eye and asked, 'Why do you want to replace Coach Bohl? He just won three national championships. The expectation at North Dakota State at the time wasn't anything less than a national championship. If you go 8-3 and get into the playoffs, that's not going to be a good thing,'" Taylor recalled. "He looked at me in the eyes and said, 'Gene, we are not only going to win another national championship, I'm going to win a lot more national championships.'
"That's pretty brazen, I'll give him that. But he backed it up."
Backed it up, and then some.
In between December of 2013 and now, all Klieman did was overcome losing 23 seniors and more than a handful assistants before his first season en route to a 67-6 record as head coach with three FCS titles in four seasons. They currently sit two wins away from a fourth title in five years, with a semifinal battle against South Dakota State in Fargo, North Dakota, set for Friday at 7 p.m., on ESPN2.
Taylor urged any K-State fans eager to get a sneak peek at the type of football they can expect in the future to turn on Friday's game. The Bison's hard-nosed style will be obvious, but the way Klieman's players compete goes back to one of the fundamental reasons Taylor felt he was the right man for the job.
"He loves (his players), he challenges them, and he builds them into champions. And he does it the right way. I watched him do it from afar and I watched him do it as an assistant," Taylor said. "Because I knew North Dakota State and because I knew what Kansas State was about in terms of culture and in terms of what we believe in and what drove us to be successful in the right way, I knew he would be a fit. And to me, at the end of the day, it is all about fit.
"Are they going to be here, are they going to understand the legacy of what he is undertaking by replacing Coach Snyder? And he gets it."
A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman literally grew up around Bill Snyder football.
Klieman went to Hayden Fry camps at Iowa and remembers standing in the quarterbacks line that Snyder ran as an assistant coach. He was also a starting defensive back at Northern Iowa when the Panthers ruined K-State's home opener in 1989, Snyder's first of an eventual 27 years as head coach.
Now, Klieman takes over for Snyder, whose name graces K-State's stadium and a highway into town, and whose statue stands guard in front of all he helped build. Klieman said he's "excited for the challenge" to add on to what Snyder started with some of the same core values.
Behind-the-scenes ?? of @coachkli's first hours on the job in Manhattan #KStateFB pic.twitter.com/PKfpofUo88
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 13, 2018
The 51-year-old head coach pointed out that much of what he looks for and asks of in players mirrors what Snyder did. These include high character, attention to detail and a 1-0 mentality that Klieman gets across with an already-popular phrase among K-State fans and players: Win the dang day. It was the theme of his first meeting with K-State's players on Tuesday night.
The origin of #WinTheDangDay#KStateFB pic.twitter.com/lMM1aI8hHv
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 12, 2018
"I believe this — you are only guaranteed today. Give everything you can today for yourself and for the guy next to you," Klieman said. "If you do that in all aspects of your life, you are going to have a heck of a day. If you do that in all aspects of your life, you are going to be able to be successful in order to get to the next day to win tomorrow. If you go 1-0 for the day and you stack those Monday through Friday, you have a chance to go 1-0 on Saturday. That is kind of what we do."
A few K-State players on hand for Klieman's press conference said his message resonated quickly. Anyone on the fence quickly jumped to his side. Again, it came down to the one word: Fit.
Character.
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 12, 2018
Work Ethic.
A burning desire to compete.
?? Coach Klieman | #KStateFB pic.twitter.com/UkFLGRtAYD
"He came in fired up, and it probably gave a lot of chills. I know it gave me chills and the guys are just excited to have a coach like that," junior safety Denzel Goolsby said. "I think he is a great fit."
"The more I am listening and around this guy," junior quarterback Skylar Thompson added, "he's the perfect fit for K-State."
Players Mentioned
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