Kansas State University Athletics
The Kingpin of a Player-Led Program
Dec 06, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The son of Waterloo, Iowa, who grew up under a wide blue sky, stands underneath a cloud. The cloud is red, green, white, yellow, and blue, almost like a rainbow, and the cloud rains down upon the man at exactly 3:11 p.m. on Saturday, December 3, 2022. The man stands upon a stage donned in a black ballcap and a purple t-shirt that reads: "BIG 12 CHAMPIONS." He is gifted a chrome football. And this is where the story begins, with Kansas State head football coach Chris Klieman holding the Big 12 Championship Trophy high above his head under a confetti cloud inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He pauses for a moment, taking it all in, no, attempting to take it all in, because feelings have yet to fully take form, about this journey, about what it all means — and where it is headed.
No. 10 K-State has just beaten No. 3 TCU, 31-28, in overtime for the 2022 Big 12 Championship in front of 69,335 and amid a throng of about 20,000 members of Wildcat Nation that traveled hundreds of miles south along Interstate-35 to witness this end of the beginning, where 1,454 yesterdays culminated in one today, and where one today will turn into tomorrow, and royal purple will remain the royalty of the Big 12, and glints of sunlight light might hit the edges of the Big 12 Championship Trophy as it rests inside the Vanier Family Football Complex.
Klieman lowers the Big 12 Championship Trophy from above his head, confetti still pouring down, and he hands the trophy to quarterback Will Howard, because this is about a special group of players, he wants you to know, and more than anything he wants them to cherish these moments — "We're a player-led team," he likes to say — while the 55-year-old points and applauds his players from the stage awash in confetti squares.
Hoisting trophies is nothing new for Klieman, who won four Division I national titles in five seasons as head coach of powerhouse North Dakota State. They were hard-earned trophies, every one of them, and each came affixed with its own journey, and its own story to tell.
This 2022 K-State team writes the book on togetherness.
"I can't say enough about our team leaders and captains because they control that locker room," Klieman says. "This player-led team has taken ownership. I think that's really cool."
And now No. 9 K-State gets No. 5 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
• • •
"This is the best Dr. Pepper I've ever had in my life," K-State junior quarterback Will Howard says, standing near a white wall in the visiting team's interview room at AT&T Stadium 1 hour and 12 minutes after his hands touched the Big 12 Championship Trophy for the first time. He wears a purple shell, his silver uniform pants, a black Big 12 Championship ballcap, and a smile, and yes, there were times when Howard wondered if he'd smile again, what with the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations that went along with being thrust into action not once, not twice, but during each of his three seasons in Manhattan.
There was a time when Howard, who stepped in for injured former quarterback Skylar Thompson in 2020 and 2021, wasn't expected to play this season. That was the hope, that he wouldn't have to see the field. Not this year. Adrian Martinez transferred in from Nebraska and Howard was expected to redshirt this fall, preserving a year of eligibility.
When Martinez went down against TCU on October 22, Howard sprang into action, and valiantly led the Wildcats, albeit in a 38-28 loss to TCU, before tying the K-State single-game record with four touchdown passes in a 48-0 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State. Afterward, teammates carried Howard on their shoulders, the native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, rising from the depths and sitting on top of the world.
"Just to be able to go through 2020 helped me a ton," Howard says. "Having some of those struggles we had and being able to work through that and learn from some of those things that happened, myself personally and as a team, we've been through it as a group. To see it do a 180 and come out on the other side of this thing, it's so cool and such a blessing."
He holds a Dr. Pepper can in his right hand — the hand that gripped a football, the hand that touched the Big 12 Championship Trophy, which once seemed so far away, and was now in his grasp.
• • •
"Belief," K-State senior center Hayden Gillum says. "Coach Klieman believes in us, and he made us believe. He took a misfit set of guys — and we talked about it before the game, and every guy has a story, whether you're Adrian, Will, me, Christian Duffie, I mean, go down the line. Everyone is here for a reason. They were probably doubted at some point.
"Coach Klieman took a group of guys and made them believe together. He knows how to win, and he knows how to get guys to succeed and believe."
Gillum's story begins in Plainville, Kansas, population 1,700, and he grew up barrel racing, and farming, and getting dirt on his hands. Once a walk-on, he's starting center for one of the best teams in college football — a team that overcame so much, yet now, like the Big 12 Championship Trophy, shines as a testament of hard work, and togetherness, and heads toward the Sugar Bowl with plenty more stories to tell.
And those stories will be told, again and again, and will not fade underneath the confetti, because when the last of the confetti falls, the story of this team will still remain — a 17-10 home loss to eventual American Conference Champion Tulane, followed by a 41-34 win at then-No. 6 Oklahoma; a 10-point loss at then-No. 8 TCU followed by one of the greatest beatdowns of a top-10 team against Oklahoma State; a 34-27 loss to then-No. 24 Texas followed by three-straight wins at Baylor (31-3), at West Virginia (48-31) and against Kansas (47-27), which earned the Wildcats the right to meet the Horned Frogs again at AT&T Stadium.
Together, the Wildcats beat the third-best team in America.
"The journey we've been on — we lost to Tulane and quite honestly, and rightfully so, people doubted us and didn't know what to expect from this team," Gillum says. "That was an early loss and now we just beat the No. 3 team in the country, who was undefeated.
"We've just overcome so much. The season has been a rollercoaster, but Coach Klieman said those ups and downs are what got us here. It's just another night and another game for us because we've been through so much this year…so many different emotions."
• • •
"Credit our seniors, credit our leaders, and credit to the culture that they've created," Klieman begins. "Credit to player ownership, the power of belief, and all those things."
Klieman sits in the postgame news conference in AT&T Stadium, where K-State beat TCU for the Big 12 Championship — a vision somewhat resemblant to Frisco, Texas — yes, Frisco Texas — back on January 5, 2019.
They chanted Klieman's name as he hoisted his fourth NCAA Division I National Championship trophy in five years at Toyota Stadium. It was his final game at North Dakota State, and Klieman took it all in, the green and yellow confetti firing at him on stage. He was a 51-year-old, wearing a giddy smile like a child. And here it was, the big finish, as Klieman led just the fifth undefeated season in Football Championship Series history, a magical trek that ended in the Bison's familiar January home.
They called it "Stairway to Seven," this 15-game ride that ended with a 38-24 victory over Eastern Washington, giving North Dakota State seven national titles in eight seasons, as the Bison became one of the biggest dynasties in college athletics. Standing on that stage with the trophy, Klieman surveyed the sea of green and yellow engulfing the grass field on a beautiful 58-degree afternoon, like a golfer trying to decide between the seven- and eight-iron, and for a second he could say nothing at all.
The crowd chanted: "THANK YOU, KLIEMAN! THANK YOU, KLIEMAN!"
He just smiled. And he pointed at his players.
As a NDSU assistant coach or head coach, Klieman was a part of 112 victories, eight losses and seven national titles.
"You say 112-8, I mean, holy cow, that's something that movies are made out of, dreams are made out of and books are written about," Klieman said. "It's 112 wins and eight losses and seven national championships. I pinch myself every day. And we were able to win seven (titles) out of eight."
And this was his last one as chief engineer of a North Dakota State kingdom he helped to build.
"He's been a great coach, but more importantly, he's a father to all of us," NDSU senior quarterback Easton Stick said immediately after the game. "We're forever indebted to him for what he's done for all of us. And we love him."
• • •
Deuce Vaughn, the Big 12 Championship Game Most Outstanding Player, sits next to the Big 12 Championship Trophy. He rushed for 130 yards and scored a touchdown on a 44-yard run in which he weaved and juked and made people miss in the open field.
It sometimes appears that Vaughn toys with defenses. He is one of the most dangerous players in college football. He is fire and lightning and everything else. He is also just one of two FBS players to record 1,300 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards in multiple seasons in the last 15 years.
He is a 5-foot-6, 176-pound native of Round Rock, Texas, who a few years ago just sought an opportunity to play for a Power 5 school.
He found a home in Manhattan.
The date is February 14, 2020, and 17-year-old Vaughn, a high school senior and K-State commit, wears K-State gear, holds court with young football players inside the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex.
Vaughn, wearing that purple, long-sleeve Nike t-shirt with a silver Powercat, sounds like a coach, or at least a seasoned college football player, as he stands before these campers at the Texas Youth Football All-Star Showcase. One thing quickly becomes apparent: Vaughn is a born leader.
"I wake up every morning," he says, "and I strive to be my greatest at what I do."
Today, Vaughn is the second-leading rusher in K-State history. Only Darren Sproles has rushed for more yards in a K-State career.
"When I got recruited to come to K-State, Coach Klieman told me we're going to build a culture that's going to win championships — and it's going to be built on team, player first, a player-led team," Vaughn says. "And we built on that. The good, the bad, everything that we've been through together has brought us so close together.
"That's my family."
Sitting next to Vaughn is senior linebacker Daniel "Deuce" Green, who carries one of the most riveting journeys of this K-State squad.
Arguably the top inside linebacker on the west coast in the 2017 recruiting class, Green, a standout at Madison High School, signed his letter-of-intent with K-State on February 1, 2017, choosing the Wildcats over Oregon State, Utah, Southern California, and Arizona. He was the highest-rated signee for K-State that season and the No. 6-rated high school prospect out of the state of Oregon.
However, dreams of making an immediate impact stalled due to the NCAA Clearinghouse. Green did a lot of thinking during his time away from football. He discovered an emptiness. The experience tested his limits and changed his perspective on the game as well.
Now, sitting in his white No. 22 jersey and Big 12 championship ballcap, Green puts the past four years into perspective.
"Coach came here to build a culture that wants to win championships, like if you're playing Power 5 football you're playing at this level, Big 12 football, it's what you came here to do," Green says. "And to be able to do it with the group of guys that's on this team, a great group of men, a great group of coaches, it's really amazing to see the journey we've been on since January.
"It's a ride I wouldn't trade for anything."
It was 3:03 p.m. when senior kicker Ty Zentner booted the most important field goal in K-State history. Zentner, a Topeka native, made a 31-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Wildcats past the Horned Frogs. He smiled, he made the field goal, teammates carried him on their shoulders, and then he kissed the ground.
"I love this team," Zentner told KAKE-TV immediately following the kick. "I'd die for this team. I love this team."
"Coach always tells us to be where our feet are and to embrace everything, every opportunity, and every moment that we get," he said. "I knew it was special and that we just made history.
"I was trying to soak it all in."
• • •
The K-State football program's four core values — "Discipline," "Commitment," "Toughness" and "Be Selfless" — are nicknamed the "Core Four," and they paper the innards of the Vanier Family Football Complex like organic wallpaper and beam across the videoboards at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in bold black-and-white letters. The Core Four rings across lobbies, hallways, and offices, along with the athletic training room, equipment room, dining room, locker room, and weight room — a harmonic quartet that echoes throughout every crevice of the facility.
Following the pandemic-riddled 2020 season that ended with a 4-6 record, Klieman and the K-State football leadership council devised the four core values — values that bonded together a squad that finished at 8-5 with a dominant 42-20 win over LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl last year.
"We have guys who have challenged each other on the field, and are disciplined to come to work every day, committed to their teammates, committed to their brothers, and committed to K-State football," Klieman says. "That's important."
And yet there was — and is — so much more to the program's pillars. There are aspects beneath the surface that aren't necessarily lauded on television each week — a loyal support staff dedicated toward helping mold young men; the pride derived from success in any and all endeavors, including academics and community service; and the weekly awards reaped by those select players who best demonstrate the core values, thus providing an exclamation point to the virtue of hard work.
"It's become kind of subconscious," K-State senior tight end Sammy Wheeler says. "We talk about them so much. We talk about them every day. They develop our whole lives."
• • •
Shortly after defeating TCU, someone asks Klieman to put it all into proper perspective — how K-State has just captured its fourth conference championship in school history, its third Big 12 title in 26 years, and won its first Big 12 Championship Game since 2003.
"I'll let that sink in at some point," Klieman says. "I'm fortunate to be here. Gene Taylor took a chance on an FCS coach when not a lot of people would. But he believed in me and us. And coming here, I look at these guys that believed in us as a coaching staff when there was a coaching change and stuck with us.
"And the last couple of years, and starting in January of 2021, these guys will tell you, our locker room became so close and so tight. And I'm telling you that this is about the power of belief and the power of player ownership. When you have those two things, I don't think anything will stop you."
Howard doesn't hesitate to put Klieman's impact into words.
"It's so cool to see what he's done here," Howard says. "Taking over for a guy like Bill Snyder, it's a lot. He set a legacy here and being the next guy after a legend like Coach Snyder is tough. Just to see the culture he's brought us and the strides that he's made and just how good of a guy he is, when you're talking to him, it doesn't feel like he's this big-time head coach who's won seven national championships.
"He's just a guy, man, and he's so easy to talk to. He's a true players' coach. It's so easy to play for a guy like that."
Then Klieman returns to his home, located about 10 minutes from Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He visits with his wife, Rhonda, then "crashes and burns" following one of the most memorable days in his entire life.
On Sunday, he holds meetings with his coaching staff to devise a schedule for a busy December. The coaching staff will be out recruiting over the next week. K-State will host official recruiting visits the following weekend. The Wildcats will squeeze in some practices before fully diving into bowl preparations as well.
At the moment, Klieman is on a Zoom teleconference with reporters, discussing the Big 12 Championship victory, Alabama and the Sugar Bowl.
"It's 4:18 p.m. here central time and it's been a busy day, a good day," Klieman says. "It's a day we're excited about."
It's been a process, 1,454 yesterdays culminated in one today, and today will turn into tomorrow, and royal purple will remain the royalty of the Big 12 Conference.
As Klieman likes to say, "There is another chapter to write about this team."
And assuredly more words to write about the head coach, standing underneath a confetti cloud, looking to hand somebody else the trophy.
The son of Waterloo, Iowa, who grew up under a wide blue sky, stands underneath a cloud. The cloud is red, green, white, yellow, and blue, almost like a rainbow, and the cloud rains down upon the man at exactly 3:11 p.m. on Saturday, December 3, 2022. The man stands upon a stage donned in a black ballcap and a purple t-shirt that reads: "BIG 12 CHAMPIONS." He is gifted a chrome football. And this is where the story begins, with Kansas State head football coach Chris Klieman holding the Big 12 Championship Trophy high above his head under a confetti cloud inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He pauses for a moment, taking it all in, no, attempting to take it all in, because feelings have yet to fully take form, about this journey, about what it all means — and where it is headed.
No. 10 K-State has just beaten No. 3 TCU, 31-28, in overtime for the 2022 Big 12 Championship in front of 69,335 and amid a throng of about 20,000 members of Wildcat Nation that traveled hundreds of miles south along Interstate-35 to witness this end of the beginning, where 1,454 yesterdays culminated in one today, and where one today will turn into tomorrow, and royal purple will remain the royalty of the Big 12, and glints of sunlight light might hit the edges of the Big 12 Championship Trophy as it rests inside the Vanier Family Football Complex.
It was December 10, 2018 that Klieman took the reins of the Wildcats' football program following the Hall-of-Fame career of Bill Snyder, the architect of the greatest turnaround in college football history. Klieman during his first meeting with his new football team, asked the players to "Win the Dang Day" — four words that have spun this tale into a dream, no, a reality, that K-State, which last tasted a top-1o ranking in 2014, is again among the top teams in the country.Character.
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 12, 2018
Work Ethic.
A burning desire to compete.
🎙 Coach Klieman | #KStateFB pic.twitter.com/UkFLGRtAYD
Klieman lowers the Big 12 Championship Trophy from above his head, confetti still pouring down, and he hands the trophy to quarterback Will Howard, because this is about a special group of players, he wants you to know, and more than anything he wants them to cherish these moments — "We're a player-led team," he likes to say — while the 55-year-old points and applauds his players from the stage awash in confetti squares.
Hoisting trophies is nothing new for Klieman, who won four Division I national titles in five seasons as head coach of powerhouse North Dakota State. They were hard-earned trophies, every one of them, and each came affixed with its own journey, and its own story to tell.
This 2022 K-State team writes the book on togetherness.
"I can't say enough about our team leaders and captains because they control that locker room," Klieman says. "This player-led team has taken ownership. I think that's really cool."
Today, the lights shine upon K-State football, its players, its staff, and upon its head coach, who left Fargo, North Dakota, and joined K-State athletic director Gene Taylor in the Little Apple four years ago.Made the right call 😏 https://t.co/J4iMWRopgz
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 4, 2022
And now No. 9 K-State gets No. 5 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
• • •
"This is the best Dr. Pepper I've ever had in my life," K-State junior quarterback Will Howard says, standing near a white wall in the visiting team's interview room at AT&T Stadium 1 hour and 12 minutes after his hands touched the Big 12 Championship Trophy for the first time. He wears a purple shell, his silver uniform pants, a black Big 12 Championship ballcap, and a smile, and yes, there were times when Howard wondered if he'd smile again, what with the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations that went along with being thrust into action not once, not twice, but during each of his three seasons in Manhattan.
There was a time when Howard, who stepped in for injured former quarterback Skylar Thompson in 2020 and 2021, wasn't expected to play this season. That was the hope, that he wouldn't have to see the field. Not this year. Adrian Martinez transferred in from Nebraska and Howard was expected to redshirt this fall, preserving a year of eligibility.
When Martinez went down against TCU on October 22, Howard sprang into action, and valiantly led the Wildcats, albeit in a 38-28 loss to TCU, before tying the K-State single-game record with four touchdown passes in a 48-0 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State. Afterward, teammates carried Howard on their shoulders, the native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, rising from the depths and sitting on top of the world.
"Just to be able to go through 2020 helped me a ton," Howard says. "Having some of those struggles we had and being able to work through that and learn from some of those things that happened, myself personally and as a team, we've been through it as a group. To see it do a 180 and come out on the other side of this thing, it's so cool and such a blessing."
He holds a Dr. Pepper can in his right hand — the hand that gripped a football, the hand that touched the Big 12 Championship Trophy, which once seemed so far away, and was now in his grasp.
• • •
"Belief," K-State senior center Hayden Gillum says. "Coach Klieman believes in us, and he made us believe. He took a misfit set of guys — and we talked about it before the game, and every guy has a story, whether you're Adrian, Will, me, Christian Duffie, I mean, go down the line. Everyone is here for a reason. They were probably doubted at some point.
"Coach Klieman took a group of guys and made them believe together. He knows how to win, and he knows how to get guys to succeed and believe."
Gillum's story begins in Plainville, Kansas, population 1,700, and he grew up barrel racing, and farming, and getting dirt on his hands. Once a walk-on, he's starting center for one of the best teams in college football — a team that overcame so much, yet now, like the Big 12 Championship Trophy, shines as a testament of hard work, and togetherness, and heads toward the Sugar Bowl with plenty more stories to tell.
And those stories will be told, again and again, and will not fade underneath the confetti, because when the last of the confetti falls, the story of this team will still remain — a 17-10 home loss to eventual American Conference Champion Tulane, followed by a 41-34 win at then-No. 6 Oklahoma; a 10-point loss at then-No. 8 TCU followed by one of the greatest beatdowns of a top-10 team against Oklahoma State; a 34-27 loss to then-No. 24 Texas followed by three-straight wins at Baylor (31-3), at West Virginia (48-31) and against Kansas (47-27), which earned the Wildcats the right to meet the Horned Frogs again at AT&T Stadium.
Together, the Wildcats beat the third-best team in America.
"The journey we've been on — we lost to Tulane and quite honestly, and rightfully so, people doubted us and didn't know what to expect from this team," Gillum says. "That was an early loss and now we just beat the No. 3 team in the country, who was undefeated.
"We've just overcome so much. The season has been a rollercoaster, but Coach Klieman said those ups and downs are what got us here. It's just another night and another game for us because we've been through so much this year…so many different emotions."
• • •
"Credit our seniors, credit our leaders, and credit to the culture that they've created," Klieman begins. "Credit to player ownership, the power of belief, and all those things."
Klieman sits in the postgame news conference in AT&T Stadium, where K-State beat TCU for the Big 12 Championship — a vision somewhat resemblant to Frisco, Texas — yes, Frisco Texas — back on January 5, 2019.
They chanted Klieman's name as he hoisted his fourth NCAA Division I National Championship trophy in five years at Toyota Stadium. It was his final game at North Dakota State, and Klieman took it all in, the green and yellow confetti firing at him on stage. He was a 51-year-old, wearing a giddy smile like a child. And here it was, the big finish, as Klieman led just the fifth undefeated season in Football Championship Series history, a magical trek that ended in the Bison's familiar January home.
They called it "Stairway to Seven," this 15-game ride that ended with a 38-24 victory over Eastern Washington, giving North Dakota State seven national titles in eight seasons, as the Bison became one of the biggest dynasties in college athletics. Standing on that stage with the trophy, Klieman surveyed the sea of green and yellow engulfing the grass field on a beautiful 58-degree afternoon, like a golfer trying to decide between the seven- and eight-iron, and for a second he could say nothing at all.
The crowd chanted: "THANK YOU, KLIEMAN! THANK YOU, KLIEMAN!"
He just smiled. And he pointed at his players.
As a NDSU assistant coach or head coach, Klieman was a part of 112 victories, eight losses and seven national titles.
"You say 112-8, I mean, holy cow, that's something that movies are made out of, dreams are made out of and books are written about," Klieman said. "It's 112 wins and eight losses and seven national championships. I pinch myself every day. And we were able to win seven (titles) out of eight."
And this was his last one as chief engineer of a North Dakota State kingdom he helped to build.
"He's been a great coach, but more importantly, he's a father to all of us," NDSU senior quarterback Easton Stick said immediately after the game. "We're forever indebted to him for what he's done for all of us. And we love him."
• • •
Deuce Vaughn, the Big 12 Championship Game Most Outstanding Player, sits next to the Big 12 Championship Trophy. He rushed for 130 yards and scored a touchdown on a 44-yard run in which he weaved and juked and made people miss in the open field.
It sometimes appears that Vaughn toys with defenses. He is one of the most dangerous players in college football. He is fire and lightning and everything else. He is also just one of two FBS players to record 1,300 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards in multiple seasons in the last 15 years.
He is a 5-foot-6, 176-pound native of Round Rock, Texas, who a few years ago just sought an opportunity to play for a Power 5 school.
He found a home in Manhattan.
The date is February 14, 2020, and 17-year-old Vaughn, a high school senior and K-State commit, wears K-State gear, holds court with young football players inside the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex.
Vaughn, wearing that purple, long-sleeve Nike t-shirt with a silver Powercat, sounds like a coach, or at least a seasoned college football player, as he stands before these campers at the Texas Youth Football All-Star Showcase. One thing quickly becomes apparent: Vaughn is a born leader.
"I wake up every morning," he says, "and I strive to be my greatest at what I do."
Today, Vaughn is the second-leading rusher in K-State history. Only Darren Sproles has rushed for more yards in a K-State career.
"When I got recruited to come to K-State, Coach Klieman told me we're going to build a culture that's going to win championships — and it's going to be built on team, player first, a player-led team," Vaughn says. "And we built on that. The good, the bad, everything that we've been through together has brought us so close together.
"That's my family."
Sitting next to Vaughn is senior linebacker Daniel "Deuce" Green, who carries one of the most riveting journeys of this K-State squad.
Arguably the top inside linebacker on the west coast in the 2017 recruiting class, Green, a standout at Madison High School, signed his letter-of-intent with K-State on February 1, 2017, choosing the Wildcats over Oregon State, Utah, Southern California, and Arizona. He was the highest-rated signee for K-State that season and the No. 6-rated high school prospect out of the state of Oregon.
However, dreams of making an immediate impact stalled due to the NCAA Clearinghouse. Green did a lot of thinking during his time away from football. He discovered an emptiness. The experience tested his limits and changed his perspective on the game as well.
Now, sitting in his white No. 22 jersey and Big 12 championship ballcap, Green puts the past four years into perspective.
"Coach came here to build a culture that wants to win championships, like if you're playing Power 5 football you're playing at this level, Big 12 football, it's what you came here to do," Green says. "And to be able to do it with the group of guys that's on this team, a great group of men, a great group of coaches, it's really amazing to see the journey we've been on since January.
"It's a ride I wouldn't trade for anything."
It was 3:03 p.m. when senior kicker Ty Zentner booted the most important field goal in K-State history. Zentner, a Topeka native, made a 31-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Wildcats past the Horned Frogs. He smiled, he made the field goal, teammates carried him on their shoulders, and then he kissed the ground.
"I love this team," Zentner told KAKE-TV immediately following the kick. "I'd die for this team. I love this team."
Zentner still buzzed with euphoria nearly one hour after his historic kick. He talked about his smile. He talked about the kick. And then he talked about kissing the ground.He knew#KStateFB ⚒️ @tyxzentner pic.twitter.com/X9fUV4gszt
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 4, 2022
"Coach always tells us to be where our feet are and to embrace everything, every opportunity, and every moment that we get," he said. "I knew it was special and that we just made history.
"I was trying to soak it all in."
• • •
The K-State football program's four core values — "Discipline," "Commitment," "Toughness" and "Be Selfless" — are nicknamed the "Core Four," and they paper the innards of the Vanier Family Football Complex like organic wallpaper and beam across the videoboards at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in bold black-and-white letters. The Core Four rings across lobbies, hallways, and offices, along with the athletic training room, equipment room, dining room, locker room, and weight room — a harmonic quartet that echoes throughout every crevice of the facility.
Following the pandemic-riddled 2020 season that ended with a 4-6 record, Klieman and the K-State football leadership council devised the four core values — values that bonded together a squad that finished at 8-5 with a dominant 42-20 win over LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl last year.
"We have guys who have challenged each other on the field, and are disciplined to come to work every day, committed to their teammates, committed to their brothers, and committed to K-State football," Klieman says. "That's important."
And yet there was — and is — so much more to the program's pillars. There are aspects beneath the surface that aren't necessarily lauded on television each week — a loyal support staff dedicated toward helping mold young men; the pride derived from success in any and all endeavors, including academics and community service; and the weekly awards reaped by those select players who best demonstrate the core values, thus providing an exclamation point to the virtue of hard work.
"It's become kind of subconscious," K-State senior tight end Sammy Wheeler says. "We talk about them so much. We talk about them every day. They develop our whole lives."
• • •
Shortly after defeating TCU, someone asks Klieman to put it all into proper perspective — how K-State has just captured its fourth conference championship in school history, its third Big 12 title in 26 years, and won its first Big 12 Championship Game since 2003.
"I'll let that sink in at some point," Klieman says. "I'm fortunate to be here. Gene Taylor took a chance on an FCS coach when not a lot of people would. But he believed in me and us. And coming here, I look at these guys that believed in us as a coaching staff when there was a coaching change and stuck with us.
"And the last couple of years, and starting in January of 2021, these guys will tell you, our locker room became so close and so tight. And I'm telling you that this is about the power of belief and the power of player ownership. When you have those two things, I don't think anything will stop you."
Howard doesn't hesitate to put Klieman's impact into words.
"It's so cool to see what he's done here," Howard says. "Taking over for a guy like Bill Snyder, it's a lot. He set a legacy here and being the next guy after a legend like Coach Snyder is tough. Just to see the culture he's brought us and the strides that he's made and just how good of a guy he is, when you're talking to him, it doesn't feel like he's this big-time head coach who's won seven national championships.
"He's just a guy, man, and he's so easy to talk to. He's a true players' coach. It's so easy to play for a guy like that."
Shortly after K-State lands at Manhattan Regional Airport on Saturday evening, the team heads to Bramlage Coliseum and presents the Big 12 Championship Trophy at midcourt during halftime of a men's basketball game. The crowd erupts.LOVE 💜#KStateFB ⚒️ @KStateMBB pic.twitter.com/aVAryDu2Wu
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 4, 2022
Then Klieman returns to his home, located about 10 minutes from Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He visits with his wife, Rhonda, then "crashes and burns" following one of the most memorable days in his entire life.
On Sunday, he holds meetings with his coaching staff to devise a schedule for a busy December. The coaching staff will be out recruiting over the next week. K-State will host official recruiting visits the following weekend. The Wildcats will squeeze in some practices before fully diving into bowl preparations as well.
At the moment, Klieman is on a Zoom teleconference with reporters, discussing the Big 12 Championship victory, Alabama and the Sugar Bowl.
"It's 4:18 p.m. here central time and it's been a busy day, a good day," Klieman says. "It's a day we're excited about."
It's been a process, 1,454 yesterdays culminated in one today, and today will turn into tomorrow, and royal purple will remain the royalty of the Big 12 Conference.
As Klieman likes to say, "There is another chapter to write about this team."
And assuredly more words to write about the head coach, standing underneath a confetti cloud, looking to hand somebody else the trophy.
Players Mentioned
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