SE: A Special Bond Between Quarterback and Coach
Jan 06, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Go ahead. Walk right over. You won't disturb a thing. You are just in time. On the left, the 24-year-old in the purple No. 7 uniform, the man with a groomed beard and eyeblack jetting from jawline to those watering eyes — he's the dreamer. He's the one who knew things could have a happy ending. One the right, in closely shaven blond hair, the 54-year-old man in gray long-sleeved Kansas State garb, studying those dark pupils before that final hug on the football field — he's the head football coach. He's knew this all deserved a happy ending as well.
He's hugging the dreamer tightly. Because he knew this moment was going to come. They've been together since the start of all of this, back in December 2018, when the FCS National Champion was hired to guide the K-State football program. That's when they got reacquainted. Afterall, they only really started to get to know each other during the college football recruiting process, seemingly a lifetime ago, when the young man starred at Fort Osage High School in Missouri, and the coach was busy winning national titles at North Dakota State.
The high school star ultimately decided to play football at K-State. The man went onto win more national titles at NDSU. Then, as life would have it, they'd be rejoined in Manhattan. Amazing how it all worked out.
And now the moment has come. The 24-yar-old in the purple No. 7 uniform has thrown his final pass at K-State. He has ambled to the sideline one final time, late in the Wildcats' 42-20 win over LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
And as they embraced, the head coach said one thing, perhaps the most important thing of them all.
Chris Klieman told Skylar Thompson that he loved him.
• • •
"That kid is going to have a special place in my heart forever," Klieman said, sitting inside the postgame interview room after the Texas Bowl.
The ghosts of the 4-6 season in 2020 vanished against the glow of an 8-5 campaign. K-State, picked seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll back in July, is one of four league teams to reach eight victories this season, joining Oklahoma State (12-2), Baylor (12-2) and Oklahoma (11-2).
What are the odds, really, that the man from North Dakota State and the young man from Missouri would reunite in northeastern Kansas, in what is touted as "America's No. 1 College Town," the place known as the Little Apple? After the 2018 season, Thompson was wondering what was next. He was looking elsewhere. After winning four FCS national titles, Klieman came to the Flint Hills. K-State Athletics Director Gene Taylor hired Klieman to replace Hall-of-Famer Bill Snyder. And viola, the first handshake and smile between the new head coach and the quarterback took place December 2018 in the team meeting room at the Vanier Family Football Complex — the place where Klieman, during his rousing introductory pep-talk to Thompson and his teammates, instructed his young men to "win the dang day."
"It is so special just being a part of this football program and all the support we have from our fans," Thompson said, sitting inside the postgame interview room.
So many times, Thompson has said that K-State feels like family. And, genuinely, there's something to that.
John and Sue Ellen Thompson lived in a red-brick apartment in Jardine Terrace on the Kansas State University campus. John worked as an umpire and school janitor while going through college before serving as a student assistant for Cotton Fitzsimmons on the K-State men's basketball team. John graduated from K-State in 1971. Sue Ellen put school on hold after giving birth to their son, Brad, in 1969.
Less than a mile from where Brad spent infant years in that red-brick apartment building in Jardine Terrace, Brad, several decades later, found himself watching his son, Skylar, play quarterback for the K-State football team.
"This is the last round, so I'm just trying to enjoy the process," Brad said earlier this season.
John Thompson, Skylar's grandfather, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, and Teresa, Skylar's mother, lost her battle with breast cancer in a span of seven months in 2005. Later, Brad married Kathy. Skylar has two brothers, Anthony and Eric, and one sister, Ashley.
The best part of Skylar's final game Tuesday night?
"Probably looking up and seeing my dad," he said. "You know, my mom wasn't able to make the trip because she has to work tomorrow. But I can only imagine what she was like watching the TV. But my dad and my little brother, he's missing basketball practice. Probably have to do a couple extra suicides, but he doesn't care. My dad, my father, has been everything to me. Him and I have been through thick and thin together.
"In high school, we were driving all over the country to go to camps, to go to visits, and my dad was dragging me everywhere and exhausted. But he was willing to do anything, sacrifice anything for me to do something like this today. And to see the gratitude on his face and share that moment with him, I can't put it into words. I love him so much. I love my family so much.
"It's been a special ride."
• • •
Fast forward past all of the possible derailments — the well-chronicled list of injuries, and the COVID pandemic — and the 6-foot-2, 223-pound Thompson is a granite face among the Mount Rushmore of K-State quarterbacks.
Thompson, a sixth-year senior, finishes his career as the first quarterback since at least 1990 to win 24 games as a starter, as the first player in history to record 6,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards, and he finishes ranked top 10 all-time in 15 different statistical categories. Thompson finishes second all-time in total yards (8,221), second all-time in passing yards (7,134), and second all-time in touchdown passes (42). His completion rate (69.53%) in 2021 set a single-season record.
"He was phenomenal," Klieman said. "And I think you could see he was healthy tonight. I think the extra week helped us playing this thing on January 4th. And for him to be on point like he was and know that people were coming after him and hanging in there and throwing some strikes, he was phenomenal."
Thompson completed 21 of 28 passes for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns against LSU. In modern football slang, he was "throwing dimes" across the field in his final game, consistency attacking the Tigers' defense under the watchful eye of quarterbacks coach Collin Klein, who served as interim offensive coordinator in the game.
As he came off the field to the sideline for the final time, K-State fans chanted, "SKYYYY-LARRRR THOMPPP-SSSOONNN!!!" "SKYYYY-LARRRR THOMPPP-SSSOONNN!!!" "SKYYYY-LARRRR THOMPPP-SSSOONNN!!!"
"I told him, 'Man, you balled out,'" linebacker Daniel Green said. "That man looked crazy today. I hope NFL scouts saw that today because that man is the truth."
Added wide receiver Phillip Brooks: "I appreciate his leadership. He's one of those guys who's fearless and not afraid to go against anybody. I saw that mentality early. All good things must come to an end. Skylar is a great player and he's ready for the next level.
"I'm just glad to be a part of his legacy with the K-State Wildcats."
• • •
On November 20, in his final home game, Thompson was helped to the sideline, then the injury tent, and then was carted to the locker room with 4 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter against Baylor on Senior Night after he appeared to grab his left calf following a shovel pass to Brooks in the middle of the field. Life isn't fair, but man, this was cruel.
Any question that Thompson wouldn't be able to play in the Texas Bowl?
"I knew my time wasn't done," he said. "I knew I had a pretty severe injury, but it was manageable to get healthy. And my ultimate goal was to be healthy for this game and to go out on my terms. That was my biggest goal, is I want to walk away from this on two feet standing and give everything I've got and get a bowl win. This was a big game for me to go out, and I wanted to get Coach Klieman his first bowl win. And it's huge for our program.
"It's huge."
Together the head coach and 24-year-old quarterback took the victor's podium and hoisted the 135-pound Texas Bowl trophy above their heads shortly before midnight. They look at each other, smiling, a thousand thoughts and moments running through their heads, and the fans cheered, and the players and coaches and their families cheered, and it was one of those moments that cannot be recreated, not in a million years, because this time, these conditions, will never transpire again.
"Known that kid since he was in high school," Klieman said. "And when he got hurt last year I was obviously devastated and crushed for him. Knowing we had the COVID year, he and I had a couple of conversations that we weren't going to announce anything, but he was going to come back and play. But to see what he went through this year getting nicked up early in the season, fighting his way back and playing well on one leg really and then getting banged up late in the season, the kid just means the world to me.
"I love him. I love his family. He's been great to my kids and my wife. And to see him go out like that — this game was huge for him too. He wanted to play well in this bowl game, and he did."
We knew that day that the head coach shook the hand of the young quarterback that this day, too, would come, and yet there's still so much to absorb, these days after the bowl victory, and after that final hug on the sideline when Thompson went off the field for the last time.
But exactly what might those odds be? That the head coach and the quarterback would become reacquainted in December 2018? And that they'd stand together on the victor's podium, having achieved something truly special in their final game together? It's funny, how the days on the practice field can draw on under a summer sun, and then blow away like autumn leaves under stadium lights, and that first pregame warmup flashes into that final hug, when emotions crank, and the head coach and quarterback are left only with memories of their time together.
From the picture-perfect greeting came a picture-perfect end. Go ahead. Walk right over. You won't disturb a thing. You are just in time. On the left is the quarterback. On the right is the head coach.
Together, they are a remarkable story.
Go ahead. Walk right over. You won't disturb a thing. You are just in time. On the left, the 24-year-old in the purple No. 7 uniform, the man with a groomed beard and eyeblack jetting from jawline to those watering eyes — he's the dreamer. He's the one who knew things could have a happy ending. One the right, in closely shaven blond hair, the 54-year-old man in gray long-sleeved Kansas State garb, studying those dark pupils before that final hug on the football field — he's the head football coach. He's knew this all deserved a happy ending as well.
He's hugging the dreamer tightly. Because he knew this moment was going to come. They've been together since the start of all of this, back in December 2018, when the FCS National Champion was hired to guide the K-State football program. That's when they got reacquainted. Afterall, they only really started to get to know each other during the college football recruiting process, seemingly a lifetime ago, when the young man starred at Fort Osage High School in Missouri, and the coach was busy winning national titles at North Dakota State.
The high school star ultimately decided to play football at K-State. The man went onto win more national titles at NDSU. Then, as life would have it, they'd be rejoined in Manhattan. Amazing how it all worked out.
And now the moment has come. The 24-yar-old in the purple No. 7 uniform has thrown his final pass at K-State. He has ambled to the sideline one final time, late in the Wildcats' 42-20 win over LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
And as they embraced, the head coach said one thing, perhaps the most important thing of them all.
Chris Klieman told Skylar Thompson that he loved him.
• • •
"That kid is going to have a special place in my heart forever," Klieman said, sitting inside the postgame interview room after the Texas Bowl.
The ghosts of the 4-6 season in 2020 vanished against the glow of an 8-5 campaign. K-State, picked seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll back in July, is one of four league teams to reach eight victories this season, joining Oklahoma State (12-2), Baylor (12-2) and Oklahoma (11-2).
What are the odds, really, that the man from North Dakota State and the young man from Missouri would reunite in northeastern Kansas, in what is touted as "America's No. 1 College Town," the place known as the Little Apple? After the 2018 season, Thompson was wondering what was next. He was looking elsewhere. After winning four FCS national titles, Klieman came to the Flint Hills. K-State Athletics Director Gene Taylor hired Klieman to replace Hall-of-Famer Bill Snyder. And viola, the first handshake and smile between the new head coach and the quarterback took place December 2018 in the team meeting room at the Vanier Family Football Complex — the place where Klieman, during his rousing introductory pep-talk to Thompson and his teammates, instructed his young men to "win the dang day."
"It is so special just being a part of this football program and all the support we have from our fans," Thompson said, sitting inside the postgame interview room.
So many times, Thompson has said that K-State feels like family. And, genuinely, there's something to that.
John and Sue Ellen Thompson lived in a red-brick apartment in Jardine Terrace on the Kansas State University campus. John worked as an umpire and school janitor while going through college before serving as a student assistant for Cotton Fitzsimmons on the K-State men's basketball team. John graduated from K-State in 1971. Sue Ellen put school on hold after giving birth to their son, Brad, in 1969.
Less than a mile from where Brad spent infant years in that red-brick apartment building in Jardine Terrace, Brad, several decades later, found himself watching his son, Skylar, play quarterback for the K-State football team.
"This is the last round, so I'm just trying to enjoy the process," Brad said earlier this season.
John Thompson, Skylar's grandfather, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, and Teresa, Skylar's mother, lost her battle with breast cancer in a span of seven months in 2005. Later, Brad married Kathy. Skylar has two brothers, Anthony and Eric, and one sister, Ashley.
The best part of Skylar's final game Tuesday night?
"Probably looking up and seeing my dad," he said. "You know, my mom wasn't able to make the trip because she has to work tomorrow. But I can only imagine what she was like watching the TV. But my dad and my little brother, he's missing basketball practice. Probably have to do a couple extra suicides, but he doesn't care. My dad, my father, has been everything to me. Him and I have been through thick and thin together.
"In high school, we were driving all over the country to go to camps, to go to visits, and my dad was dragging me everywhere and exhausted. But he was willing to do anything, sacrifice anything for me to do something like this today. And to see the gratitude on his face and share that moment with him, I can't put it into words. I love him so much. I love my family so much.
"It's been a special ride."
• • •
Fast forward past all of the possible derailments — the well-chronicled list of injuries, and the COVID pandemic — and the 6-foot-2, 223-pound Thompson is a granite face among the Mount Rushmore of K-State quarterbacks.
Thompson, a sixth-year senior, finishes his career as the first quarterback since at least 1990 to win 24 games as a starter, as the first player in history to record 6,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards, and he finishes ranked top 10 all-time in 15 different statistical categories. Thompson finishes second all-time in total yards (8,221), second all-time in passing yards (7,134), and second all-time in touchdown passes (42). His completion rate (69.53%) in 2021 set a single-season record.
"He was phenomenal," Klieman said. "And I think you could see he was healthy tonight. I think the extra week helped us playing this thing on January 4th. And for him to be on point like he was and know that people were coming after him and hanging in there and throwing some strikes, he was phenomenal."
Thompson completed 21 of 28 passes for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns against LSU. In modern football slang, he was "throwing dimes" across the field in his final game, consistency attacking the Tigers' defense under the watchful eye of quarterbacks coach Collin Klein, who served as interim offensive coordinator in the game.
As he came off the field to the sideline for the final time, K-State fans chanted, "SKYYYY-LARRRR THOMPPP-SSSOONNN!!!" "SKYYYY-LARRRR THOMPPP-SSSOONNN!!!" "SKYYYY-LARRRR THOMPPP-SSSOONNN!!!"
A special way to end it
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) January 5, 2022
🏆 2021 @TexasBowl Champions 🏆
📄 https://t.co/zgcMDnPBaz
"I told him, 'Man, you balled out,'" linebacker Daniel Green said. "That man looked crazy today. I hope NFL scouts saw that today because that man is the truth."
Added wide receiver Phillip Brooks: "I appreciate his leadership. He's one of those guys who's fearless and not afraid to go against anybody. I saw that mentality early. All good things must come to an end. Skylar is a great player and he's ready for the next level.
"I'm just glad to be a part of his legacy with the K-State Wildcats."
• • •
On November 20, in his final home game, Thompson was helped to the sideline, then the injury tent, and then was carted to the locker room with 4 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter against Baylor on Senior Night after he appeared to grab his left calf following a shovel pass to Brooks in the middle of the field. Life isn't fair, but man, this was cruel.
Any question that Thompson wouldn't be able to play in the Texas Bowl?
"I knew my time wasn't done," he said. "I knew I had a pretty severe injury, but it was manageable to get healthy. And my ultimate goal was to be healthy for this game and to go out on my terms. That was my biggest goal, is I want to walk away from this on two feet standing and give everything I've got and get a bowl win. This was a big game for me to go out, and I wanted to get Coach Klieman his first bowl win. And it's huge for our program.
"It's huge."
Together the head coach and 24-year-old quarterback took the victor's podium and hoisted the 135-pound Texas Bowl trophy above their heads shortly before midnight. They look at each other, smiling, a thousand thoughts and moments running through their heads, and the fans cheered, and the players and coaches and their families cheered, and it was one of those moments that cannot be recreated, not in a million years, because this time, these conditions, will never transpire again.
"Known that kid since he was in high school," Klieman said. "And when he got hurt last year I was obviously devastated and crushed for him. Knowing we had the COVID year, he and I had a couple of conversations that we weren't going to announce anything, but he was going to come back and play. But to see what he went through this year getting nicked up early in the season, fighting his way back and playing well on one leg really and then getting banged up late in the season, the kid just means the world to me.
"I love him. I love his family. He's been great to my kids and my wife. And to see him go out like that — this game was huge for him too. He wanted to play well in this bowl game, and he did."
We knew that day that the head coach shook the hand of the young quarterback that this day, too, would come, and yet there's still so much to absorb, these days after the bowl victory, and after that final hug on the sideline when Thompson went off the field for the last time.
But exactly what might those odds be? That the head coach and the quarterback would become reacquainted in December 2018? And that they'd stand together on the victor's podium, having achieved something truly special in their final game together? It's funny, how the days on the practice field can draw on under a summer sun, and then blow away like autumn leaves under stadium lights, and that first pregame warmup flashes into that final hug, when emotions crank, and the head coach and quarterback are left only with memories of their time together.
From the picture-perfect greeting came a picture-perfect end. Go ahead. Walk right over. You won't disturb a thing. You are just in time. On the left is the quarterback. On the right is the head coach.
Together, they are a remarkable story.
Players Mentioned
Wednesday, June 03
Tuesday, June 02
Monday, June 01
Thursday, May 28
