Nick BrombergSenior writerWed, December 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM UTC·3 min readKansas State coach Chris Klieman is retiring after over a decade as a college football head coach.
According to multiple reports, the 58-year-old Wildcats coach is stepping down and is set to be replaced by former Kansas State quarterback and current Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementKansas State went 6-6 in 2025 and is 54-34 in Klieman’s time with the school.
Klieman came to Kansas State after the 2018 season following Bill Snyder’s second retirement. He arrived from North Dakota State, where he had led the Bison to four FCS national championships in five seasons. NDSU was 69-6 in Klieman’s five seasons and went 15-0 in 2018.
Kansas State won at least eight games in five of Klieman’s seven seasons. The team’s best season came in 2022 as the Wildcats went 10-4 with a loss to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
Back-to-back 9-4 seasons followed before Kansas State dropped to 6-6 in 2025. KSU opened the season with a loss to Iowa State in Ireland and hung on for a late win over North Dakota in Week 2. The Wildcats then lost back-to-back games against Army and Arizona — a game that was classified as a non-conference game — before finally clawing back to .500 at the end of October.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementKlieman was very emotional following a 51-47 loss to Utah in the penultimate week of the season that dropped Kansas State to 5-6. Kansas State rushed 42 times for 472 yards in the loss that Klieman said was “one of the greatest efforts I’ve been a part of as a coach.”
As he fought back tears and said he’d “given my friggen-ass life for this place for seven years,” Klieman was embraced by athletic director Gene Taylor as he trailed off. Taylor told Klieman that he wasn’t going anywhere as the team’s coach.
Klein, 36, has been Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator for the past two seasons after he was hired by Aggies coach Mike Elko. A&M is averaging over 36 points per game and 6.6 yards a play in 2025 as QB Marcel Reed has 31 total touchdowns.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBefore his two seasons with the Aggies, the former KSU QB was an assistant with the Wildcats for seven seasons. He started as the team’s QB coach before becoming the offensive coordinator in 2022.
Klein was one of the most productive quarterbacks in Kansas State history during his playing career. He rushed for 1,141 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior in 2011 and then threw for nearly 2,500 yards and rushed for almost 900 yards with 37 total touchdowns as a senior. His performance as a senior made him a finalist for the 2012 Heisman Trophy and he finished third in the voting.
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