K-State Wildcats Q&A: Chris Klieman, Big 12 football and a fun basketball team
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State offense tops national 3-point and effective FG rates, while defense concedes runs.
- Chris Klieman's stock dipped after a 4-5 slide, yet he remains a top Big 12 coach.
- Dylan Edwards keeps earned NIL payments; K-State will cease payments if off roster.
Kansas State’s wild and crazy 99-96 basketball victory over California gave us a mixed bag of statistics on Thursday at Bramlage Coliseum.
The good: K-State won the first half 55-34 and four of its players finished the night with at least 16 points.
The bad: Cal won the second half 62-44 and nearly pulled off a comeback for the ages.
Fans are welcome to take those results any way they like. I wouldn’t blame anyone for feeling giddy about a K-State offense that is averaging nearly 100 points per game. But I also totally understand why some may still have doubts about a team that has allowed Cal and Missouri (in an exhibition) to light up the scoreboard just as easily.
One thing is for sure: You have to treat these Wildcats like an NBA team. They are going to be in a ton of shootouts.
Personally, I have been encouraged by the first three games. K-State is fun to watch with new assistant Matthew Driscoll in command of the offense. The Wildcats lead the nation in 3-point percentage (54.4%) and effective field goal percentage (69%). The players on this roster also seem to like each other and the fans. That didn’t always seem to be the case last season.
The Wildcats are sitting at No. 77 at Bart Torvik and No. 62 at Ken Pomeroy. So they still have a long way to go before they can be considered a finished product.
But they have flashed potential at times in their first three games.
Now, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
How much has Chris Klieman’s coaching reputation dropped this season? The Big 12 championship season of 2022 feels like it happened ages ago. - Steven U via e-mail.
Allow me to present a contrarian view on this season for the K-State football team.
Some fans have described it as a “nightmare.” I understand the disappointment. The Wildcats have gone 4-5 after opening the season at No. 17 in the national polls. Much more was expected of this group.
But K-State has dealt with injuries at important positions, and its decision to start the season in Ireland really backfired. Still, K-State remains on track to reach a bowl game and the Wildcats steam-rolled Kansas in their annual rivalry game.
Things have gone about as poorly as they possibly could. This is the definition of a floor season for Klieman.
If the result is a 6-6 record with a blowout win over KU, is that really so awful?
There are only two head coaches in the Big 12 that haven’t experienced a losing season since the pandemic. They are Joey McGuire at Texas Tech and Klieman at K-State.
The question with Klieman moving forward is this: How does he lead K-State to another “dream” season like we saw when the Wildcats won the Big 12 and played in the Sugar Bowl three years ago?
K-State has followed up that campaign with a pair of 9-win seasons and then this one. That’s not what anyone was hoping for after Oklahoma and Texas left the conference. But football is filled with ebbs and flows, especially in today’s climate. A head coach is allowed to have the occasional down season, so long as he can produce an up season in the near future.
Klieman has gone 52-33 in seven years at K-State with five bowl trips (soon to be six?) and one conference championship.
His reputation may have dipped some this season. But he’s still one of the best coaches in the Big 12. The pressure is just on him now to have another “dream” season.
Will Kansas State have the guts to go get Collin Klein? -@Wildcatsman69 via X.
Not this year.
If Collin Klein wants to be the head coach at Kansas State he will need to remain at Texas A&M for another year (or more) and wait for the K-State job to open. Or he will need to take a head coaching job at a place like Colorado State and then move up to K-State at a later time.
There are no signs that Chris Klieman is considering retirement. And there is almost zero chance he gets fired this season.
So that would make it hard for K-State to pursue Klein, or anyone else, this offseason.
The dream scenario for many K-State fans is to lock up Klein as Klieman’s successor. But the timing may not work, similar to when Brad Underwood was rising through the ranks as a basketball coach while Bruce Weber was still guiding the Wildcats to NCAA Tournaments.
Will any players that are redshirting this season make an impact in the final games? -@BusMedicMike via X.
A pair of freshmen (Adonis Moise and Linkon Cure) could emerge as playmakers for K-State late in the season while No. 3 wide receiver Jerand Bradley is out with injury. But they have both played in more than four games, so they won’t be redshirting.
There are only two true redshirt candidates that I can envision helping down the stretch.
Monterrio Elston could make an impact in one more game. The Wildcats need additional help at running back now that Dylan Edwards has left the team. Elston has only appeared in three games this season. So he could be useful and still retain his redshirt.
Dylan Villarouel could also be an option on the offensive line.
How much differently might things have gone for Dylan Edwards had he caught that punt against Iowa State? -@ksukid67 via X.
That will forever be a what-if question for K-State fans.
I would love to see the alternate universe in which Dylan Edwards waved for a fair catch and stayed healthy this year.
The Wildcats would have been better with him in the starting lineup for every game. Joe Jackson is trying his best at running back, but he is only averaging 3.9 yards per rush. He’s not a home-run hitter like Edwards.
Can Kansas State claw back any of its NIL money with Dylan Edwards? Certainly he either has to pay it back. No way he just walks with all that cash. -@BruceBenteman via X.
When a K-State football player quits midseason, what happens to his NIL money? I wrote a full story explaining that very topic. I would recommend reading it, as it should answer all of your questions.
To summarize: Edwards leaving the team is no different than an employee leaving any other job. Edwards is entitled to all the money he has already earned through revenue sharing and NIL deals. It wouldn’t be fair to ask for that back. But K-State isn’t going to continue paying him if he’s not on the roster.
That is one thing that made the timing of his departure a surprise. He could have elected to redshirt and remain on the team in order to continue collecting paychecks until the season was over. But he was apparently ready to move on.
Will the Big 12 send more than one team to the College Football Playoff? -@ksubb89 via X.
Texas Tech should be a lock for the playoff, as long as the Red Raiders close out the regular season with wins over UCF and West Virginia. They can afford a loss in the Big 12 championship game and still make it.
The path is trickier for BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and Utah.
Any of them could join Texas Tech in the postseason by beating the Red Raiders in Arlington.
Only BYU and Utah are in the running for an at-large berth.
If the Cougars finish the regular season 11-1 and play Texas Tech close in the Big 12 championship game, that could be good enough.
If the Utes finish the regular season 10-2, and keep winning with style points, that could be good enough even if they miss out on a trip to Arlington.
My prediction: Texas Tech and Utah both get in.
They could both benefit with help from the SEC. Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas and Oklahoma could open up a few playoff spots by beating each other. But if most of them stay at one or two losses, there won’t be many at-large spots to go around.