SE: Joe Klanderman Looks to Bring Football Junkie Mindset to K-State Safeties
Feb 19, 2019 | Football, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Joe Klanderman has always considered himself a natural teacher. It's a skill shined that during his one semester student teaching while at Minnesota State. It's a profession he thinks he would have thrived in.
The only problem was, well, it wasn't football.
"I enjoyed every minute of that," Klanderman, K-State's first-year safeties coach, said. "I just know it wasn't involving football… which is probably why I didn't choose that route."
A self-described football "junkie," Klanderman said he's been in love with the game since he was three years old, when he was barely old enough to hold a football. He said he also vividly remembers, as a young child, watching the 1985 Chicago Bears team be led by Walter Payton to a Super Bowl win.
"I just love the game. I knew I wanted to be part of it," Klanderman, who played for Minnesota State from 1997-2001, said. "I wasn't a good enough player to continue to have it be part of my life that way, but I just love being around young people. I love mentoring, I love teaching, so from that aspect there was no question what I was going to do with my life.
"There was no Plan B. This is what I was going to do, and I jumped right into it."
Klanderman got his start as a graduate assistant at Minnesota State in 2002. His love for the game and his alma mater kept him there for more than a decade, a span of time that included four different head coaches.
"I just kept kind of hanging around like a cockroach there," Klanderman laughed.
In 2014, he jumped over to North Dakota State to join Chris Klieman's staff. Klanderman had previously worked around Klieman at some recruiting camps. The two even "talked ball" a few times, but that was the extent of their relationship until Klieman interviewed Klanderman for an assistant position.
The interview — funny, in hindsight — was somewhat telling of Klanderman's personality. A few days removed from shoulder surgery, he showed up to it in a sling. Because he was determined not to let it slow him down, he drew up his defensive ideas on a white board while crouched about three feet off the ground.
"It wasn't probably the smoothest interview I ever had," Klanderman said, with a laugh, "but I ended up impressing enough on him that I was able to get the opportunity there, and the relationship took off from that point."
One of longest-tenured coaches on Klieman's NDSU staff to join him at K-State, Klanderman said he wants to get his players to match his level of passion for the game. This, he has learned in his coaching career, can lead to players exceeding their own expectations on game days.
"I want guys to take pride in being smart football players, and I want guys to play above and beyond their potential," he said. "I want guys to look at film on Sunday and say, 'Wow, how'd I do that? Is that me on tape?'"
Those types of moments, Klanderman said, are made through daily preparation. From there, players' confidence builds, and their on-field play becomes faster.
"If you're a 4.5 (player) and you're playing at 4.5 speed, then you're going to play faster than someone who's a 4.5 guy that's maybe not quite sure what he's doing and playing at a 4.7 speed," Klanderman said. "I think throughout my coaching career I've been able to do that with guys, get them to play as fast as they possibly can. When you're playing with no fear, no regrets, you're going to end up making a lot of plays."
Last season at North Dakota State, the Bison totaled a nation-leading 23 picks. In Klanderman's five years on staff, NDSU recorded 100 interceptions and finished in the top five of the country in interceptions four times.
Klanderman said getting to these types of numbers takes a complete buy in from players. From his end, he said he knows only one way to get them to do so.
"I'm just going to be as real as I can be, all the time, and I think that's how you build trust with guys. There's no fake in my game," he said. "I'm going tell you the way it is, good or bad, and I think if you do that long enough guys start to trust you. Once you build that trust, that's an unbreakable bond that you can lead people wherever they need to go with."
In his first meeting with his position group, Klanderman said he gave K-State's safeties a straight-shooter message that he's carried with him throughout his coaching career. It can be summed up in five words: "You are what you do."
"You can say you're going to do something, you can think you're going to do something, you can think you would do something if this scenario happened, but you're only judged on what you actually do, and you're only judged on what you're actually doing. Actions speak louder than words," he said. "It's the same from the coach's perspective. I can say that I'm doing this and I'm going to get you to there, but only when you actually see me doing that and see the things that I'm teaching and you're applying them and they're working, that's when the magic starts to happen."
Joe Klanderman has always considered himself a natural teacher. It's a skill shined that during his one semester student teaching while at Minnesota State. It's a profession he thinks he would have thrived in.
The only problem was, well, it wasn't football.
"I enjoyed every minute of that," Klanderman, K-State's first-year safeties coach, said. "I just know it wasn't involving football… which is probably why I didn't choose that route."
A self-described football "junkie," Klanderman said he's been in love with the game since he was three years old, when he was barely old enough to hold a football. He said he also vividly remembers, as a young child, watching the 1985 Chicago Bears team be led by Walter Payton to a Super Bowl win.
"I just love the game. I knew I wanted to be part of it," Klanderman, who played for Minnesota State from 1997-2001, said. "I wasn't a good enough player to continue to have it be part of my life that way, but I just love being around young people. I love mentoring, I love teaching, so from that aspect there was no question what I was going to do with my life.
"There was no Plan B. This is what I was going to do, and I jumped right into it."
Klanderman got his start as a graduate assistant at Minnesota State in 2002. His love for the game and his alma mater kept him there for more than a decade, a span of time that included four different head coaches.
"I just kept kind of hanging around like a cockroach there," Klanderman laughed.
In 2014, he jumped over to North Dakota State to join Chris Klieman's staff. Klanderman had previously worked around Klieman at some recruiting camps. The two even "talked ball" a few times, but that was the extent of their relationship until Klieman interviewed Klanderman for an assistant position.
The interview — funny, in hindsight — was somewhat telling of Klanderman's personality. A few days removed from shoulder surgery, he showed up to it in a sling. Because he was determined not to let it slow him down, he drew up his defensive ideas on a white board while crouched about three feet off the ground.
"It wasn't probably the smoothest interview I ever had," Klanderman said, with a laugh, "but I ended up impressing enough on him that I was able to get the opportunity there, and the relationship took off from that point."
One of longest-tenured coaches on Klieman's NDSU staff to join him at K-State, Klanderman said he wants to get his players to match his level of passion for the game. This, he has learned in his coaching career, can lead to players exceeding their own expectations on game days.
"I want guys to take pride in being smart football players, and I want guys to play above and beyond their potential," he said. "I want guys to look at film on Sunday and say, 'Wow, how'd I do that? Is that me on tape?'"
Those types of moments, Klanderman said, are made through daily preparation. From there, players' confidence builds, and their on-field play becomes faster.
"If you're a 4.5 (player) and you're playing at 4.5 speed, then you're going to play faster than someone who's a 4.5 guy that's maybe not quite sure what he's doing and playing at a 4.7 speed," Klanderman said. "I think throughout my coaching career I've been able to do that with guys, get them to play as fast as they possibly can. When you're playing with no fear, no regrets, you're going to end up making a lot of plays."
Last season at North Dakota State, the Bison totaled a nation-leading 23 picks. In Klanderman's five years on staff, NDSU recorded 100 interceptions and finished in the top five of the country in interceptions four times.
Klanderman said getting to these types of numbers takes a complete buy in from players. From his end, he said he knows only one way to get them to do so.
"I'm just going to be as real as I can be, all the time, and I think that's how you build trust with guys. There's no fake in my game," he said. "I'm going tell you the way it is, good or bad, and I think if you do that long enough guys start to trust you. Once you build that trust, that's an unbreakable bond that you can lead people wherever they need to go with."
In his first meeting with his position group, Klanderman said he gave K-State's safeties a straight-shooter message that he's carried with him throughout his coaching career. It can be summed up in five words: "You are what you do."
"You can say you're going to do something, you can think you're going to do something, you can think you would do something if this scenario happened, but you're only judged on what you actually do, and you're only judged on what you're actually doing. Actions speak louder than words," he said. "It's the same from the coach's perspective. I can say that I'm doing this and I'm going to get you to there, but only when you actually see me doing that and see the things that I'm teaching and you're applying them and they're working, that's when the magic starts to happen."
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