Chris Klieman had the impossible task of trying to fill the shoes of legendary college football coach Bill Snyder. While Klieman may never be able to fill those enormous shoes, he is doing a pretty good job at getting there.
Klieman is heading into his sixth season with the Wildcats in 2024 and while he still has a lot of work to do before he catches Bill Snyder at Kansas State, he is making his mark with emphasis early. However, Klieman has a long history as a coach both in the assistant position and as a head coach. Klieman has been coaching for 31 years but has been a head coach for 12 years.
So looking at Chris Klieman's coaching career, how did he end up at Kansas State? What avenues did Klieman go down in order to be with the Wildcats right now? Let's take a look at Klieman's journey to becoming the Wildcats' current head coach.
Playing career
Klieman attended the University of Northern Iowa from 1986 to 1990 and played for the Panthers all four seasons. Klieman was a defensive back for the Panthers, however, playing in the NFL was not in the cards for him.
Early coaching career
Right after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa, Klieman decided to start his coaching career by becoming a Graduate Assistant with UNI from 1991 to 1992. After two years as a graduate assistant, Klieman moved into the defensive backs coaching position for one season at UNI, the position he played just three years before.
After three seasons at Northern Iowa, Klieman made the move to Western Illinois to become their defensive backs coach from 1994 to 1996. He then made the move to a familiar foe of Kansas State and spent a season as a Graduate Assistant at Kansas in 1997 and another season with Missouri State as a defensive backs coach for one season in 1999.
After short stints as a defensive backs coach at a few different schools, Klieman made his way to Loras College and took a step forward taking the defensive coordinator position. He spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator and even because the head coach for one season in 2005.
Klieman chose to return home after his time at Loras College and become the defensive backs coach yet again at Northern Iowa from 200 to 2007 and in 2008 was promoted to the defensive coordinator position. He spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Northern Iowa before making the move to North Dakota State University.
North Dakota State University
In 2011, Chris Klieman got his first position at North Dakota State University as the defensive backs coach, which is practically his specialty at this point. He spent only one season in that position before being promoted to the defensive coordinator position.
Klieman spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach before taking on the position that made him as well-known as he was before heading to Kansas State.
In 2014, Klieman was named the next head coach for North Dakota State and he would stay in that position through the 2018 season. In his five years as the head coach for the Bison, Klieman won four Division I FCS Championships and was a 5-time Missouri Valley Football Conference Champion.
The success that Klieman has at North Dakota was the very reason Kansas State targeted him for the head coach position after Snyder retired. In five seasons at Kansas State, Klieman has won a Big 12 title and been in the mix for the Big 12 almost every season, and now he has more work to do.