Chris Klieman
Followed Bill Snyder. Chris Klieman held Kansas State at Power Program III for 7 seasons.
In his own words
Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 4th career season — faster than 37% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #215 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
7–0 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Steve Sarkisian.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
3rd-best Kansas State tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Bill Snyder (1989–2018).
| Season | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 8–5 | 4–6 | 8–5 | 10–4 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 6–6 | |
| Postseason | CFP loss | — | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #62 | #51 | #56 | #63 | #33 | #57 | #35 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||||
| Pass rate | 36.0 | 41.2 | 41.6 | 40.5 | 44.5 | 45.8 | 46.2 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||||
| OC | Courtney Messingham | Courtney Messingham | Courtney Messingham | Collin Klein | Collin Klein | Matt Wells / Conor Riley | Matt Wells | |
| DC | Scottie Hazelton | Joe Klanderman | Joe Klanderman | Joe Klanderman | Joe Klanderman | Joe Klanderman | Joe Klanderman | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||
| Offense | 34 | 35 | 67 | 74 | 79 | 87 | 76 | |
| Defense | 37 | 11 | 43 | 53 | 39 | 79 | 67 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 30.3 | 33.9 | 36.6 | 37.7 | 44.2 | 44.3 | 40.8 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 35.6 | 33.7 | 34.0 | 39.1 | 36.1 | 44.1 | 33.3 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 23.7 | 17.9 | 41.9 | 46.2 | 50.0 | 43.2 | 50.0 | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
17 NFL Draft picks: Dalton Risner (2019), Duke Shelley (2019), Wyatt Hubert (2021), Skylar Thompson (2022), Russ Yeast (2022), Felix Anudike-Uzomah (2023), Julius Brents (2023), Josh Hayes (2023) + 9 more
5 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Deuce Vaughn (2021), Deuce Vaughn (2022), Felix Anudike-Uzomah (2022), Cooper Beebe (2022), Cooper Beebe (2023)