MANHATTAN, Kan. – After guiding the Wildcats to a 2022 Big 12 Championship and six bowl games in seven seasons, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman announced his retirement from coaching on Wednesday afternoon.
“After many deep and thoughtful conversations with my family, we have decided that the time is right for me to retire from coaching,” said Klieman, the second-winningest coach in school history with 54 victories. “This decision was not taken lightly and was the culmination of many factors, including my own personal health. I absolutely love coaching the game of football and developing players into young men, but now is the time for me to step away and spend more time with Rhonda and our three kids. I truly am thankful to Gene Taylor for trusting me with this program in 2018, and we have accomplished many great things including winning the 2022 Big 12 Championship. K-State will always be a special part of our family’s story, and we will forever be Wildcats.”
The Wildcats’ 54 wins during Klieman’s seven-year tenure are the most among active Big 12 programs. K-State’s six total bowl appearances are tied for the most in the conference, while the Wildcats are one of two Big 12 programs to advance to the postseason each of the last five seasons. Additionally, Klieman kept the Governor’s Cup in Manhattan for seven-straight years and extended K-State’s winning streak over its in-state rival to 17-consecutive seasons.
“This has been an emotional day for myself, my family and Coach Klieman. Our friendship and family go back to when we first started working together at North Dakota State,” athletics director Gene Taylor said. “Chris Klieman has built a program and culture that embodies what it means to be a K-Stater. Following a legend was no easy task, and he quickly established himself as one of the best coaches in the Big 12 Conference and one of the most successful in our program’s history. He is a special person, and we have been fortunate to have him leading the young men in our program and being a first-class representative of Kansas State University. I will miss being able to work with Coach Klieman on a daily basis, and it has been an honor to do so the last several years. We wish him, Rhonda and the kids all the success and happiness they desire as they enter this next phase of their lives.”
“Coach Klieman is a person of tremendous character, and I appreciate his passion for his players and their success,” University President Dr. Richard Linton said. “Chris is a K-State Wildcat to his core. I am grateful for his dedication and leadership of our football program, and I wish Chris and his family well.”
Instilling a culture of selflessness, discipline, toughness and commitment during his time guiding the Wildcats, Klieman guided K-State to eight or more wins in five of his seven seasons, including five victories over teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 – the most of any active Big 12 program since 2019 – while they have eight wins over top-20 teams since 2019 – tied for the second most among current Big 12 teams. He led the Wildcats to 10 wins in 2022 and nine wins in both 2023 and 2024, the longest streak of nine or more wins since the 1990s.
Klieman presided over 26 First Team All-American designations and eight total All-Americans in Felix Anudike-Uzomah (2021, 2022), Phillip Brooks (2020), Cooper Beebe (2022, 2023), Malik Knowles (2021, 2022), Randen Plattner (2022, 2023), Ben Sinnott (2023), Deuce Vaughn (2020, 2021, 2022) and Joshua Youngblood (2019).
Under Klieman’s guidance, Vaughn became the second player in school history to earn consecutive Consensus All-America honors when he picked up the accolades in 2021 and 2022, while Beebe was the first offensive lineman to be named a Consensus All-American when he earned the honor in 2023.
Klieman also overall 104 total All-Big 12 accolades with 2025 honors pending. Among those were the 2019 Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year (Youngblood), 2020 Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year (Vaughn), 2021 Defensive Lineman of the Year (Anudike-Uzomah), 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player and Defensive Lineman of the Year (Anudike-Uzomah), 2022 and 2023 Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year (Beebe) and 2024 Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year (Bredan Mott).
Not only has Klieman’s tenure produced success on the field, but with his mantra of “how you do one thing is how you do everything” has come success in the classroom. Over Klieman’s first six seasons, K-State produced a combined 212 Academic All-Big 12 honors – the second most in the conference during that timeframe – which included a school record 45 in 2023. Additionally, the Wildcats boasted three National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athletes under Klieman in Adam Holtorf (2019), Adrian Martinez (2022) and Beebe (2023).
A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman began his career as a graduate assistant as his alma mater, Northern Iowa, and made stops at Western Illinois, Kansas, Missouri State, Loras College and North Dakota State. He was a three-time All-Gateway Conference defensive back at Northern Iowa and four-year letterwinner from 1986 to 1990. He graduated from UNI in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in health education and a master’s degree in physical education in 1992.
Klieman and his wife, Rhonda, are parents of two sons, Devin and Colby, and one daughter, Haley.
