Why K-State football coordinators will work like NFL assistants for Collin Klein
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Klein will call offensive plays while Gleeson supervises offense and advises.
- Coordinators adopt NFL-style, big-picture roles while still aiding position work.
- Staff structure aims to broaden perspective and concentrate play-calling roles.
The Kansas State football team has never employed an offensive coordinator like Sean Gleeson.
He will supervise the offense at practice, and he will make suggestions during games, but he won’t call plays. That job will instead go to new head coach Collin Klein.
He will help coach every position from quarterback to tight end, but he won’t be in charge of a single offensive group. Those duties will instead go to position coaches.
His job description is brand new for the Wildcats.
“I’m going to be walking around,” Gleeson said. “It’s a little bit more like an NFL model. When they made the rule change a couple years ago and you could have unlimited coaches on the field, that probably ballooned our ability to have a position like this. Obviously, my background is working with the quarterbacks. But what Collin and I have talked about is just in that 10,000-foot view.
“I will be going into meetings that are not of my background, learning about the guys in those different environments and at practice. Instead of being stuck doing individual with the quarterbacks, I will be able to go around and see some things from a different lens, which I’m super excited about.”
Gleeson spent the past two seasons working with quarterbacks at Missouri. But he jumped at an opportunity to join K-State even though Klein will be calling the shots on offense.
He thinks he will make a good tag-team partner with Klein as his offensive coordinator.
“He’s going to be on the field, and he’s going to call the plays,” Gleeson said. “But ... having someone that he trusts in the booth to be able to communicate some of the things, from a defensive identification standpoint, I think there will be some value in me being up there. But I’m really kind of going to be plug-and-play wherever it helps our offense.”
Jordan Peterson is taking a similar approach as K-State’s new defensive coordinator.
He will call plays on defense when the Wildcats take the field next fall, and he will help coach defensive backs at practice. But he won’t have the same job description as his predecessor.
Much like Gleeson, he plans to look at the big picture more than anything else.
“I’ve always thought that the NFL had it right,” Peterson said. “You want to have a coordinator that has an area of expertise. The secondary is my baby. But to make decisions for the betterment of the team as a full unit, by taking your bias of a certain position group out, you can make decisions that are best for the unit. And so although I’m obviously going to be heavily involved with the back seven, I’m not going to directly coach a position.”
Peterson worked as a defensive assistant at Texas A&M last season. He worked alongside Klein on the same staff for two seasons, and they often talked about teaming up at a location if one of them became a head coach.
That’s exactly what happened for Klein in December, and now they are together in Manhattan.
Peterson is eager to get started in his new role, even though it is a bit different.
“We have an unbelievable staff,” Peterson said, “and that allows me to take a big picture of everything and make sure I’m making decisions that are right for the unit.”