K-State Q&A: Markquis Nowell, Jacob Pullen, bracket odds, Collin Klein and Notre Dame
Turns out the rumor about Notre Dame trying to poach Collin Klein away from Chris Klieman’s coaching staff at Kansas State is true.
I have confirmed that the Fighting Irish have had “multiple conversations” with Klein about their vacant offensive coordinator position, and Football Scoop has reported that he is one of three leading candidates for the position. What should K-State fans make of this news? Good question.
First off, I would recommend that you take a deep breath. The K-State football team will still be loaded with potential next season regardless of whether its current offensive coordinator stays on the job or he leaves for a lot more money to coach at the most iconic program in the country.
Secondly, it’s too early to say how serious those “multiple conversations” have been. They sound very serious, considering that Klein reportedly flew to South Bend, Indiana, to discuss the job with Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman earlier this week. But the Irish are considering several other candidates. Klein may not be at the top of the list. He may not get offered the job.
Even if he does, there is a chance he could decide to stay in Manhattan for a significant raise.
Why? Even though Klein is deeply religious, he is not a Catholic. His wife is also a K-State alum and his family loves living in Manhattan. He has told me several times how grateful he is to coach at his alma mater in a town where he feels comfortable. I imagine he would, at minimum, have a long conversation about staying or going if the Notre Dame job is offered to him.
If anyone would turn down that job, it’s Klein. Insiders have told me that Texas A&M asked to interview him when it was searching for a new OC and he politely declined to speak with them, even informally.
Then again, this is Notre Dame. And that school can more than double, or maybe even triple, his current salary of $600,000. He wouldn’t have formally interviewed for the job if he wasn’t interested.
I don’t know what he will decide to do if he is offered the job, but it won’t be an easy decision for him either way.
There is a possibility that K-State will see two of its offensive coaches leave for other teams coming off a Big 12 championship season. The other was receivers coach Thad Ward leaving for Illinois. That is less than ideal.
Let me end this intro with a random thought: It is crazy to think about the dominoes involved in the coaching world. If Alabama doesn’t lose its offensive coordinator to the NFL and then get turned down by Washington’s play-caller as a potential replacement and then settle on Notre Dame’s Tommy Rees, none of this stuff about Klein potentially leaving for South Bend is even a rumor.
Now, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Thanks, as always, for providing so many great questions.
A No. 1 seed is definitely within reach for the K-State basketball team in this year’s NCAA Tournament. But the Wildcats will need to win a lot of games over the next few weeks to climb that high on the bracket.
Right now, Jerome’s Tang is looking at a No. 3 or 4 seed in March Madness. Not bad. That is good enough to give them at a shot at playing in Denver or Des Moines in the first two rounds and then maybe Kansas City if they make it to the Sweet 16.
If K-State splits the rest of its games and finishes in the top half of the Big 12 standings I think it will end up with a No. 4 seed.
Add in a few more losses and you’re looking at 5 or a 6 seed. Add in a few extra wins and all of a sudden you’re looking at a 2 or a 3 seed.
What will it take to get to a No. 1 seed? The Wildcats will probably need to win at least a share of the conference title and then win the Big 12 Tournament in KC.
I don’t see it happening without the combo.
FanDuel currently lists K-State’s odds of obtaining a No. 1 seed at 50 to 1.
I could probably give you this answer if I had access to Synergy. But I don’t. So I can’t tell you exactly how much time Markquis Nowell spent the past few games dribbling the basketball rather than passing it away and playing off the ball.
What I can tell you is that his offensive rating has been on the low side lately. When he was absolutely on fire at Texas earlier this season he logged a O-rating of 176.1, per Bart Torvik. In the rematch last weekend, his O-rating dropped more than triple digits to 65.8.
He was at right about 90 in each of K-State’s past four games, which is below his season average of 112.
Nowell is clearly not playing his best of late. Why? Turnovers seems like the biggest culprit. He has given the ball away at least five times in each of the past four games. Though it’s not the best stat in the world, Nowell has also failed to log a plus/minus number of better than plus 3.6 in his past three games.
All the while he has gone 8-of-27 from three-point range during his “slump.”
He isn’t playing poorly. But he definitely could be playing better. Running more creative plays could definitely help in that area. So could playing better defense so K-State spends more time in fast-break situations.
E-MAIL QUESTION: Hey Kellis. Nice story on Jacob Pullen returning to Bramlage for a game last week. I think it would be amazing if we could actually get Pullen and his entire supporting cast of Frank Martin, Dalonte Hill, Michael Beasley, Denis Clemente, Curtis Kelly, Jamar Samuels and everyone else from his teams back in the building for his jersey retirement. But that also seems like a scheduling nightmare. What will it take to make it happen? - Andrew B.
The easiest way would be to wait until Jacob Pullen retires from international basketball, which he told me will probably happen in the next few years, and then schedule a home game against Massachusetts.
Frank Martin is the head coach at UMass, and that would be the easiest way to get him back in the building.
Dalonte Hill is an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin, so K-State could try to play the Lumberjacks a few days later or just call them up and make sure the game against UMass is played when SFA has an open date on the schedule.
Everybody else should be pretty easy to get to Manhattan.
In the past, K-State probably would have balked at the idea of scheduling a game against Martin. But I think enough time has passed for both sides to play each other, especially if it is a game specifically designed to honor Pullen.
The odds of UMass beating K-State inside the Octagon of Doom seem low. And Jerome Tang didn’t follow Martin as coach the same way Bruce Weber did.
After all these years, I think both sides would look forward to a reunion. And K-State fans are dying to see Pullen’s jersey go up in the rafters. It’s time to make it happen.
Let me start by saying those are all fabulous ideas.
I probably like free breadsticks any time Keyontae Johnson stays out of foul trouble the best, because that would greatly help the Wildcats. I’m not sure why he has such a propensity to commit fouls on offense in the first half, but he is amazing at it.
Some K-State fans have thrown up their hands and simply blamed Big 12 referees for targeting him in some kind of vendetta against him. But I disagree. For starters, he is one of the most inspiring stories in all of college basketball. Why would refs want to park him on the bench every game? Secondly, I agreed with every foul that went against him in the TCU game. He creates too much contact with his defender and leaves himself open to charging fouls way too often.
If he could learn to pass or pull up for the occasional jump shot, those fouls would disappear. Plain and simple.
Winning free breadsticks for the crowd would be a great incentive.
But I digress ...
My suggestion would be to have some kind of giveaway upgrade throughout any game. Every time K-State scores 70 points you get free breadsticks. But 80 points will get you cheesy breadsticks. And 90 points will get you cinnamon breadsticks. Maybe 100 points will get you a pizza.
Now that would really keep the crowd engaged.
E-MAIL QUESTION: I was happy to read that four former Kansas State football players received invitations to the NFL Combine this year. Is that a record for the Wildcats? - Jeff M.
It is not a record.
K-State sent five players to the NFL Draft Scouting Combine in 2013 after the Wildcats won their final Big 12 championship of the Bill Snyder era.
But four is still an impressive number.
Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Julius Brents, Malik Knowles and Deuce Vaughn all will get an opportunity to put up strong numbers and eventually get drafted. I think at least three of them will be picked.
Knowles probably has the most to prove of the group. He can help himself out quite a bit with a good showing in Indianapolis.
My guess is Kansas State will have something to announce in the spring.
It could happen sooner, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting to see a copy of Chris Klieman’s new contract.
Why the delay? Well, because there is no rush. K-State athletic director Gene Taylor has already publicly promised to enhance Klieman’s contract before the start of the 2023 season and it’s not like Klieman is going anywhere.
Right now, hiring a new wide receivers coach seems like a more pressing matter. And trying to prevent Notre Dame from poaching Collin Klein is where all the focus should be.
Both sides might as well take their time and make sure everything looks perfect on a new deal.
Taylor has also said he wants to make sure K-State assistant coaches get taken care of before he hashes out a new deal with Klieman and those haven’t happened yet.
One more thing: Taylor probably needs to raise money from donors before he writes a blank check for his football coach. During his last Q&A session with fans, he encouraged them to donate to the Ahearn Fund through its Powering Excellence campaign, which is specially designed to raise extra money for things like coach salaries.
There are no more grand facility projects on the horizon for K-State. Coming up with enough money to pay Klieman and Jerome Tang as much or more than their Big 12 peers is the new priority.
Once Taylor knows exactly how much he can responsibly pay Klieman (here’s guessing somewhere around $6 million per year) after doing a little fundraising a deal will get done.
K-State was picked to finish seventh in the preseason Big 12 baseball poll, ahead of Baylor and Kansas.
If the Wildcats can marginally exceed expectations and finish in the middle of the conference standings they will have a shot at reaching a NCAA Tournament regional for the first time under coach Pete Hughes.
That won’t be easy, considering K-State has never finished better than seventh under Hughes. But I don think it’s possible if they can find some quality starting pitchers.
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 6:30 AM.