A Humbling Promotion
Jan 15, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Conor Riley is ecstatic as he sits in his office in the Vanier Family Football Complex one day in January. Less than a month has passed since No. 21 Kansas State beat No. 18 NC State, 28-19, in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to cap a 9-4 season and Riley's title as interim offensive coordinator has been lifted.
He is now Conor Riley, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
He calls the permanent title humbling. It's a manifestation of more than two decades of work and a product of the faith and trust that K-State head coach Chris Klieman has in Riley, the first coach he hired when he accepted the K-State head coaching job prior to the 2019 season.
In his new role, Riley will also work with Matt Wells, who was hired as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/associate head coach on January 4. The Wildcats return every other assistant coach on staff.
Riley, one of the top offensive line coaches in the FBS, will continue to serve in that capacity as well after producing 15 All-Big 12 honorees, including Consensus All-American left guard Cooper Beebe.
Under Riley, K-State amassed 257 rushing yards and 435 total yards against a Wolfpack defense that entered bowl season ranked No. 16 and No. 25 in those categories, respectively. The Wildcats' 257 rushing yards were fourth most in their bowl history.
Riley sat down with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen to discuss his new position.
D. Scott Fritchen: When you hear "Conor Riley, Offensive Coordinator" what do you think about?
Conor Riley: I've never had that question asked. It's a very humbling question. Probably the first thing I think about is all the people who've helped me along the way getting to this point, from my college coaches who inspired me to get into this coaching, from the players I've had an opportunity to get to know over the years and who've challenged me to be a better person and a better coach, and from a lot of the coaches I've been fortunate to work with and continue to work with who've challenged me to get out of a comfort zone and to help me become a better coach and prepare for this moment, and really just the humbling responsibility of the new task that's at hand. Those are probably the first things that come to mind. That's kind of jaw-dropping question, quite honestly, so I appreciate you asking it.
Fritchen: You've prepared for this moment for more than 20 years, and now you're offensive coordinator of a nationally-ranked Power 5 program. Is this a dream come true?
Riley: It is absolutely a dream that is coming true. For a long time, I've had the desire to be a coordinator and sometimes going the route as an offensive line coach is a little bit more challenging. I wouldn't change any of my experiences that I've had leading up to this moment, but again, it's a tremendous privilege to have this opportunity and it's an opportunity that I certainly am not going to take lightly. It's also a representation of a lot of people who've put some trust in me, and that's something else that won't be forgotten. So many different impactful people who've helped me prepare for this moment. I truly believe that.
Fritchen: You and Chris Klieman have known each other for such a long time. Take me back to the conversation and the emotions you felt when you discussed this role as offensive coordinator.
Riley: Our first conversation really took place after Collin Klein made the decision (to leave for Texas A&M) and Coach Klieman's conversation with me was that you're going to be named interim offensive coordinator through this bowl game and we'll evaluate it after the bowl game. As Coach mentioned, it was not just an evaluation of the outcome of that particular game. I think it was an evaluation of our 10-plus years together, and then also the adjustment of stepping into that role over that three-week period. At the conclusion of it, I knew either way that with this opportunity I was going to be a better person and a better coach, and I told one of the players on our team actually the day of the game, I said, "Whether or not I have this opportunity moving forward, whether I fall flat on my face, whether we have great success, whatever the outcome of that particular game, I know that going through this process has ultimately really impacted me as a leader and it's impacted me as a coach." I knew either way, I knew the morning of January 29th I was going to be better. Fortunately for us things went well that evening.
Fritchen: What was that experience like those three weeks serving as interim offensive coordinator?
Riley: It was a challenge, and it was humbling at times. There were a lot of moments that you sit there and part of it was I'd been doing this so long next to Coach Klein or Coach (Courtney) Messingham, and it was a little bit different not having that person in the room. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have the opportunity to work with the other coaches on the staff, who helped pick up some of that void of not having another full-time coach on the staff. It was exciting. Any time that you have to address the entire offense and put together a Friday night film clip, those were probably the most enjoyable moments. There were some tougher moments like what are you going to want to do on third-and-12. Those are always the challenges and ultimately, collectively we came up with what I consider to be a pretty good plan. It was very gratifying.
Fritchen: What exactly is your offensive philosophy?
Riley: Our offensive philosophy here isn't going to deviate very much from what we've done since Coach Klieman's arrival, and it's continually evolved and it's going to continue to evolve. We do want to have multiple personnel groupings and multiple tempos and multiple formations with concepts that our young people can execute at a high level. We still want to be very physical and efficient in the run game, and when it comes to the pass game, we want to be efficient, but we also want to be explosive, not that we don't want to be explosive in the run game as well. At the end of the day, our philosophy has to be putting the ball into our playmakers' hands and allowing them to go out and make plays, but they're not able to make those plays without having a great base of knowledge and confidence in the schemes that they're put in allowing them to play fast and allowing them to play confident because when they do that, greatness can be achieved.
Fritchen: When I say "Avery Johnson" what comes to mind?
Riley: I think the easy thing everybody wants to think of is how talented he is. What really comes to mind with me is how mature he is, and a great sign of maturity is how quick he is to learn and how well he communicates with his teammates and coaches and his desire to be great and the maturity that he showed not only in that particular game that evening, but then also when I was down on the sideline with him and he took the reins against Texas Tech. In that game, he was telling a very veteran offensive line group, "Take a deep breath, relax because we're going to get this done." For a true freshman in college to handle that was phenomenal. You look at a young man who didn't wait until the Monday after the Iowa State game to prepare for this moment (of being a starting quarterback). This young man has been preparing for this moment his entire life, and he certainly had been preparing for that moment since he stepped on campus. It hasn't been without challenges on his part. I can imagine it's difficult to have the performance he had against Texas Tech and then the next week not get as much playing time. He's handled that with phenomenal maturity.
Fritchen: What do you like best about this offense coming back and what will be the biggest challenges?
Riley: The obvious challenge will be replacing so many guys up front, and so many great personalities and players and leaders. I told our guys I'm excited about how the new personality of this new room — it's a new room every single year, it really is — and how that continues to develop. When you look at our offense and the playmakers that we have coming back and the hunger of those guys, and some of that youthfulness that we have and the desire to learn, those are things that I'm really fired up about. You can look at the playmakers of Avery and DJ Giddens and Jayce Brown and Keagan Johnson and Garrett Oakley – and there are names I'm missing – but just their desire to continue learning and continuing to learn in the game is probably the thing that excites me the most about this particular group coming back.
Fritchen: At a glance, what do you feel like is the potential for this offense in 2024?
Riley: I do believe we have the potential to be very special. I'm not going to say we're going to set this record or that record. What I think the great potential is, is an understanding of controlling what we can control and forming some cohesive bonds that's going to allow them to play with confidence in one another and play with a trust relationship that's going to carry out onto the football field. I do feel like we have the ability to be pretty explosive with some of the playmakers we have coming back. I'm very excited. I think the potential within this group is extremely, extremely high.
Fritchen: Can you describe the past week with Matt Wells and conversations you've had here in the early stages?
Riley: When Coach mentioned to me that we would have an opportunity to potentially hire Coach Wells as the quarterbacks coach, I didn't know Coach Wells at that particular point very well. I know Coach Klieman for a long time has had an outstanding relationship and a tremendous amount of respect for him, so the first conversation Coach Wells and I had we spoke very little about football and when we hung up it was at about 3 hours and 15 minutes. Just the man that he is, the person he is, has been very inspiring. I know his track record from competing against him when he was at Texas Tech — I thought he did a phenomenal job at Texas Tech — the respect I had from afar for the challenge he had to take on at Texas Tech and what he was able to accomplish in a short amount of time was very impressive. If you look at his resume even back beyond that and his teams as head coach at Utah State and as the offensive coordinator at Utah State and the players that he coached and the explosiveness he had within that offense, I knew he was going to be a phenomenal asset and a great fit to a great offensive staff room as it is right now.
Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself during your journey?
Riley: That you can overcome. That there are going to be challenges and within each challenge presents an opportunity and the opportunity to grow and to find out a lot about yourself, and that when you're surrounded by great people, which we are surrounded by great people from the players in the locker room to the staff members who are so supportive and encouraging during the process — non-football coaches — and obviously the support of the assistant coaches and Coach Klieman that you really can achieve greatness. You really can achieve great things, and those are probably the greatest lessons I've been reminded of, of how good the people are in this building, and that with every challenge, every adverse situation, there is never going to be a perfect situation. Obviously when Coach told me I was going to be the interim, there were some challenging times at Kansas State and it wasn't "perfect," but what you do with that opportunity is really going to define who you are. That's something I've been telling kids for a long, long time and it was time for me to pony up and live it myself.
Conor Riley is ecstatic as he sits in his office in the Vanier Family Football Complex one day in January. Less than a month has passed since No. 21 Kansas State beat No. 18 NC State, 28-19, in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to cap a 9-4 season and Riley's title as interim offensive coordinator has been lifted.
He is now Conor Riley, offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
He calls the permanent title humbling. It's a manifestation of more than two decades of work and a product of the faith and trust that K-State head coach Chris Klieman has in Riley, the first coach he hired when he accepted the K-State head coaching job prior to the 2019 season.
In his new role, Riley will also work with Matt Wells, who was hired as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach/associate head coach on January 4. The Wildcats return every other assistant coach on staff.
Riley, one of the top offensive line coaches in the FBS, will continue to serve in that capacity as well after producing 15 All-Big 12 honorees, including Consensus All-American left guard Cooper Beebe.
Under Riley, K-State amassed 257 rushing yards and 435 total yards against a Wolfpack defense that entered bowl season ranked No. 16 and No. 25 in those categories, respectively. The Wildcats' 257 rushing yards were fourth most in their bowl history.
Riley sat down with K-State Sports Extra's D. Scott Fritchen to discuss his new position.
D. Scott Fritchen: When you hear "Conor Riley, Offensive Coordinator" what do you think about?
Conor Riley: I've never had that question asked. It's a very humbling question. Probably the first thing I think about is all the people who've helped me along the way getting to this point, from my college coaches who inspired me to get into this coaching, from the players I've had an opportunity to get to know over the years and who've challenged me to be a better person and a better coach, and from a lot of the coaches I've been fortunate to work with and continue to work with who've challenged me to get out of a comfort zone and to help me become a better coach and prepare for this moment, and really just the humbling responsibility of the new task that's at hand. Those are probably the first things that come to mind. That's kind of jaw-dropping question, quite honestly, so I appreciate you asking it.
Fritchen: You've prepared for this moment for more than 20 years, and now you're offensive coordinator of a nationally-ranked Power 5 program. Is this a dream come true?
Riley: It is absolutely a dream that is coming true. For a long time, I've had the desire to be a coordinator and sometimes going the route as an offensive line coach is a little bit more challenging. I wouldn't change any of my experiences that I've had leading up to this moment, but again, it's a tremendous privilege to have this opportunity and it's an opportunity that I certainly am not going to take lightly. It's also a representation of a lot of people who've put some trust in me, and that's something else that won't be forgotten. So many different impactful people who've helped me prepare for this moment. I truly believe that.
Fritchen: You and Chris Klieman have known each other for such a long time. Take me back to the conversation and the emotions you felt when you discussed this role as offensive coordinator.
Riley: Our first conversation really took place after Collin Klein made the decision (to leave for Texas A&M) and Coach Klieman's conversation with me was that you're going to be named interim offensive coordinator through this bowl game and we'll evaluate it after the bowl game. As Coach mentioned, it was not just an evaluation of the outcome of that particular game. I think it was an evaluation of our 10-plus years together, and then also the adjustment of stepping into that role over that three-week period. At the conclusion of it, I knew either way that with this opportunity I was going to be a better person and a better coach, and I told one of the players on our team actually the day of the game, I said, "Whether or not I have this opportunity moving forward, whether I fall flat on my face, whether we have great success, whatever the outcome of that particular game, I know that going through this process has ultimately really impacted me as a leader and it's impacted me as a coach." I knew either way, I knew the morning of January 29th I was going to be better. Fortunately for us things went well that evening.
Fritchen: What was that experience like those three weeks serving as interim offensive coordinator?
Riley: It was a challenge, and it was humbling at times. There were a lot of moments that you sit there and part of it was I'd been doing this so long next to Coach Klein or Coach (Courtney) Messingham, and it was a little bit different not having that person in the room. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have the opportunity to work with the other coaches on the staff, who helped pick up some of that void of not having another full-time coach on the staff. It was exciting. Any time that you have to address the entire offense and put together a Friday night film clip, those were probably the most enjoyable moments. There were some tougher moments like what are you going to want to do on third-and-12. Those are always the challenges and ultimately, collectively we came up with what I consider to be a pretty good plan. It was very gratifying.
Fritchen: What exactly is your offensive philosophy?
Riley: Our offensive philosophy here isn't going to deviate very much from what we've done since Coach Klieman's arrival, and it's continually evolved and it's going to continue to evolve. We do want to have multiple personnel groupings and multiple tempos and multiple formations with concepts that our young people can execute at a high level. We still want to be very physical and efficient in the run game, and when it comes to the pass game, we want to be efficient, but we also want to be explosive, not that we don't want to be explosive in the run game as well. At the end of the day, our philosophy has to be putting the ball into our playmakers' hands and allowing them to go out and make plays, but they're not able to make those plays without having a great base of knowledge and confidence in the schemes that they're put in allowing them to play fast and allowing them to play confident because when they do that, greatness can be achieved.
Fritchen: When I say "Avery Johnson" what comes to mind?
Riley: I think the easy thing everybody wants to think of is how talented he is. What really comes to mind with me is how mature he is, and a great sign of maturity is how quick he is to learn and how well he communicates with his teammates and coaches and his desire to be great and the maturity that he showed not only in that particular game that evening, but then also when I was down on the sideline with him and he took the reins against Texas Tech. In that game, he was telling a very veteran offensive line group, "Take a deep breath, relax because we're going to get this done." For a true freshman in college to handle that was phenomenal. You look at a young man who didn't wait until the Monday after the Iowa State game to prepare for this moment (of being a starting quarterback). This young man has been preparing for this moment his entire life, and he certainly had been preparing for that moment since he stepped on campus. It hasn't been without challenges on his part. I can imagine it's difficult to have the performance he had against Texas Tech and then the next week not get as much playing time. He's handled that with phenomenal maturity.
Fritchen: What do you like best about this offense coming back and what will be the biggest challenges?
Riley: The obvious challenge will be replacing so many guys up front, and so many great personalities and players and leaders. I told our guys I'm excited about how the new personality of this new room — it's a new room every single year, it really is — and how that continues to develop. When you look at our offense and the playmakers that we have coming back and the hunger of those guys, and some of that youthfulness that we have and the desire to learn, those are things that I'm really fired up about. You can look at the playmakers of Avery and DJ Giddens and Jayce Brown and Keagan Johnson and Garrett Oakley – and there are names I'm missing – but just their desire to continue learning and continuing to learn in the game is probably the thing that excites me the most about this particular group coming back.
Fritchen: At a glance, what do you feel like is the potential for this offense in 2024?
Riley: I do believe we have the potential to be very special. I'm not going to say we're going to set this record or that record. What I think the great potential is, is an understanding of controlling what we can control and forming some cohesive bonds that's going to allow them to play with confidence in one another and play with a trust relationship that's going to carry out onto the football field. I do feel like we have the ability to be pretty explosive with some of the playmakers we have coming back. I'm very excited. I think the potential within this group is extremely, extremely high.
Fritchen: Can you describe the past week with Matt Wells and conversations you've had here in the early stages?
Riley: When Coach mentioned to me that we would have an opportunity to potentially hire Coach Wells as the quarterbacks coach, I didn't know Coach Wells at that particular point very well. I know Coach Klieman for a long time has had an outstanding relationship and a tremendous amount of respect for him, so the first conversation Coach Wells and I had we spoke very little about football and when we hung up it was at about 3 hours and 15 minutes. Just the man that he is, the person he is, has been very inspiring. I know his track record from competing against him when he was at Texas Tech — I thought he did a phenomenal job at Texas Tech — the respect I had from afar for the challenge he had to take on at Texas Tech and what he was able to accomplish in a short amount of time was very impressive. If you look at his resume even back beyond that and his teams as head coach at Utah State and as the offensive coordinator at Utah State and the players that he coached and the explosiveness he had within that offense, I knew he was going to be a phenomenal asset and a great fit to a great offensive staff room as it is right now.
Fritchen: What have you learned most about yourself during your journey?
Riley: That you can overcome. That there are going to be challenges and within each challenge presents an opportunity and the opportunity to grow and to find out a lot about yourself, and that when you're surrounded by great people, which we are surrounded by great people from the players in the locker room to the staff members who are so supportive and encouraging during the process — non-football coaches — and obviously the support of the assistant coaches and Coach Klieman that you really can achieve greatness. You really can achieve great things, and those are probably the greatest lessons I've been reminded of, of how good the people are in this building, and that with every challenge, every adverse situation, there is never going to be a perfect situation. Obviously when Coach told me I was going to be the interim, there were some challenging times at Kansas State and it wasn't "perfect," but what you do with that opportunity is really going to define who you are. That's something I've been telling kids for a long, long time and it was time for me to pony up and live it myself.
Players Mentioned
OL
/ Football
WR
/ Football
RB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
TE
/ FootballK-State Rowing | Media Day
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Rowing | Weights Practice
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Tennis | Weekend Recap vs Old Dominion & Minnesota
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Track and Field | Sights & Sounds Steve Miller Invitational
Monday, February 23
