Kansas State certainly believes hiring one of its greatest players, Collin Klein, as head football coach was a smashing success.
Klein replaced Chris Klieman, who had a successful K-State tenure but suddenly and unexpectedly retired in December.
Klein is a former K-State offensive coordinator. The quarterback was a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2012. He was Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator this past season, as the Aggies went to the College Football Playoff.
The Athletic senior columnist and college football editor-in-chief Stewart Mandel assigned grades to each of the new head-coaching hires this offseason. Klein was given a “B” — an impressive grade for someone who has never been a head coach.
Klein was one of 34 new head coaches hired in this cycle. (Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock recently was hired by the Seattle Seahawks but a new coach had not been hired by The Athletic’s publication date.)
Mandel wrote about K-State: “It’s no surprise K-State brought back its former Heisman finalist and offensive coordinator. He’s a protege of both the legendary Bill Snyder and successor Chris Klieman. It’s impossible to say how Klein, 36, will fare as a head coach, but the fan base would have been bummed if it wasn’t him.”
Kansas State new head football coach Collin Klein poses with former football coach Bill Snyder during his introduction ceremony at Morgan Family Arena on Dec. 5, 2025. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Klein has coached at K-State in a variety of jobs:
* 2014: Assistant director of recruiting/defensive quality control
* 2015: Offensive graduate assistant
* 2017: Quarterbacks
* 2018: Co-offensive coordinator/quarterbcks
* 2019-21: Quarterbacks
* 2022-23: Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks
With Klein as offensive coordinator in 2022, K-State went 10-4, won the Big 12 title and averaged 32.2 points per game. In 2023, the Wildcats averaged 37 points per game.
That’s the kind of offensive prowess that K-State, which was 6-6 last season, envisions with Klein running the program. And with veteran quarterback Avery Johnson returning to Manhattan, Klein will start on a strong foot.
New Big 12 coaches earn good grades
Of the 16 Big 12 teams, three others had coaching changes: Utah, Iowa State and Oklahoma State.
The Athletic gave high grades to the conference’s new hires:
* Utah: Morgan Scalley, from Utah offensive coordinator (B)
* Oklahoma State: Eric Morris, from North Texas (B)
* Iowa State: Jimmy Rogers, from Washington State (B-)
Klein as a player
Klein played at K-State from 2009-12. His first two seasons, he barely played — one pass attempt in 2009, 19 pass attempts in 2010.
As a junior, Klein took off, completing 161-of-281 passes (57.3 percent) for 1,918 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.
It was his senior year when Klein became a national story. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy race, behind winner Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M, and Manti Te’o of Notre Dame. Klein completed 197-of-304 passes for 2,641 yards, with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein (from left), Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o at a news conference before the announcement of the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. | Jerry Lai-Imagn Images
In Klein’s final two seasons, K-State became a national power. In 2011, the Wildcats were 10-3 and ranked as high as 10th in the AP Top 25 Poll.
In 2012, K-State finished 11-2, won the Big 12 title and climbed as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Here are Mandel’s grades for Power 4 schools:
* UCLA: Bob Chesney, from James Madison (A)
* Michigan: Kyle Whittingham, from Utah (A-)
* Florida: Jon Sumrall, from Tulane (A-)
* Kansas State: Collin Klein, from Texas A&M offensive coordinator (B)
* Virginia Tech: Former Penn State coach James Franklin (B+)
* Penn State: Matt Campbell, from Iowa State (B+)
* LSU: Lane Kiffin, from Ole Miss (B+)
* Utah: Morgan Scalley, from Utah offensive coordinator (B)
* Kentucky: Will Stein, from Oregon offensive coordinator (B)
* Oklahoma State: Eric Morris, from North Texas (B)
* California: Tosh Lupoi, from Oregon defensive coordinator (B-)
* Iowa State: Jimmy Rogers, from Washington State (B-)
* Ole Miss: Pete Golding, from Ole Miss defensive coordinator (B-)
* Michigan State: Pat Fitzgerald, former Northwestern coach (C+)
* Auburn: Alex Golesh, from USF coach (C)
* Arkansas: Ryan Silverfield, from Memphis coach (C)
* Stanford: Tavita Pritchard, from Washington Commanders QB coach (C)
Klein’s aspirations
When Klein was hired by K-State, he said this in a news conference:
“I love challenges. I love going and doing hard things. To take this program where it’s never been is going to be hard, and I want it to be hard … I want it to be difficult.
“We’re going to attack it as a staff, with our players, as a fan base, and as an administration. We’re going to take this program where it hasn’t been before. “We’re going to recruit, and we’re going to be really, really aggressive in how we move this program forward, and we’re going to be aggressive in this new era of college football.
“We’ll target the right type of character individuals, get the right type of support and alignment so we can attract and attack the best talent in the country, so when that ball does go down, we can go toe-to-toe with anybody.”
More from Kansas State On SI
Stay up to date with the Wildcats by bookmarking Kansas State On SI.