Collin Klein

4-2This season at Kansas State
4-2Career
Program lift
Year 1
graded once a job reaches 3 seasons
See Kansas State’s full coaching history →

Career arc

Part one · This week

As of Fri Oct 23

  • Last gameW 35-24 vs. Kansas Sat Oct 17
  • This season4-2
  • On track for8-4 regular season
  • Nextat Arizona State Sat Oct 24
  • Stature29th of 138 FBS programs

What the result changed

  • Playoff odds 0.2% → 0.3% CFB Zeitgeist forecast, before and after

Saturday: at Arizona State

Sat Oct 24, 3:45 pm ET ESPN2 · Arizona State is 3-3 · First meeting between Klein and Kenny Dillingham as head coaches · Kansas State’s chance to win: 76% (the site’s model)

His week

9 stories this week →

The headlines, Oct 18–23 from 3 outlets

On the podcasts

Fans are frustrated with Kansas State

Last year we fumbled away the opening kickoff

UMass has gotten just good enough this year to have heartbreaking losses

I love this tradition of finding new ways to make each game painful in a new way each time.

Fan mood · last 3 weeks · more negative than 3 in 4 FBS fan bases

Offense: 46th of 138 per play. Defense: 100th.

Offense, per play46thOffense, big plays133rdDefense, per play100thDefense, opponents' starting field position14thWorstBest
Offense, per play46th of 138Offense, big plays133rd of 138Defense, per play100th of 138Defense, opponents' starting field position14th of 138WorstBest
Through 6 games. Each tick is an FBS team, adjusted for opponent strength (CFB Zeitgeist model); the dot is Kansas State. The other two rows are where Kansas State stands furthest from the middle. Early-season numbers move a lot.

6 games left

  1. Sat Oct 24at Arizona State (3-3)ESPN276%
  2. Sat Oct 31at Colorado (2-4)TNT71%
  3. Sat Nov 7vs. Oklahoma State (4-2)72%
  4. Sat Nov 14at TCU (3-3)35%
  5. Sat Nov 21vs. Arizona (5-1)36%
  6. Sat Nov 28at Iowa State (3-3)70%

Percent: Kansas State’s chance to win, from the site’s model. Records are through today. Networks as announced; the rest are set closer to kickoff.

How the season got here

Where Kansas State stood among 138 FBS programs by stature after each game (1st is the highest; the CFB Zeitgeist ledger).

22nd28th34thPreseason27thNicholls W 71-3Nicholls W 71-3W 71-3Nicholls27thWashington State W 34-7Washington State W 34-7W 34-7Washington St…27thTulane W 31-20Tulane W 31-20W 31-20Tulane27thCincinnati L 26-31Cincinnati L 26-31L 26-31Cincinnati27thHouston L 16-35Houston L 16-35L 16-35Houston28thKansas W 35-24Kansas W 35-24W 35-24Kansas28thBye28th
  1. Oct 12–18W 35-24 vs. Kansas14 headlines · 25th of 138What Collin Klein said after Kansas State's 18th straight win over Kansas The Topeka Capital-Journal
  2. Oct 5–11L 16-35 vs. Houston10 headlines · 38th of 138Collin Klein Has More Questions Than Answers After K-State's Loss to Houston Sports Illustrated
  3. Sep 28–Oct 4No game9 headlines · 48th of 138Looking Back At One Of Kansas State Coach Collin Klein's Finest Moments From 15 Years Ago Yahoo Sports
  4. Sep 21–27 · rebuiltL 26-31 at Cincinnati8 headlines · 44th of 138K-State's First Road Game Will Put Collin Klein's Demand for Discipline to the Test Yahoo Sports
  5. Sep 14–20 · rebuiltW 31-20 vs. Tulane11 headlines · 38th of 138Kansas State's Collin Klein Admits He's Still Learning On The Job Yahoo Sports
  6. Sep 7–13 · rebuiltW 34-7 vs. Washington State12 headlines · 40th of 138Collin Klein reshaped the Bill Snyder Family Stadium experience from the ground up On3

Each week as this page showed it at the time. Weeks marked rebuilt came before this page existed: they were built afterward from only what was known by the end of that week.

Watch the biggest plays from Kansas State’s games, ranked by how much each moved the chance to win.

Kansas State

9 stories about him this week

Sat Oct 24: Arizona State

46th of 100 FBS head coaches · from 6 outlets and r/CFB

Oct 17: 3Oct 18: 1Oct 19: 1Oct 20: 2Oct 21: 1Oct 22: 1W 35-24 vs KansasWOct 17Oct 23Most in a day: 3
Oct 17: 3Oct 18: 1Oct 19: 1Oct 20: 2Oct 21: 1Oct 22: 1W 35-24 vs KansasWOct 17Oct 23Most in a day: 3
Gold: stories about him each day. W and L: his games.

What they’re talking about

Press conference and quotes2 storiesrising

182 stories about him this season

from 31 outlets and r/CFB

Aug 1 to Aug 7: 5Aug 8 to Aug 14: 26Aug 15 to Aug 21: 11Aug 22 to Aug 28: 12Aug 29 to Sep 4: 32Sep 5 to Sep 11: 22Sep 12 to Sep 18: 13Sep 19 to Sep 25: 13Sep 26 to Oct 2: 11Oct 3 to Oct 9: 9Oct 10 to Oct 16: 19Oct 17 to Oct 23: 9W 71-3 vs NichollsWW 34-7 vs Washington StateWW 31-20 vs TulaneWL 26-31 at CincinnatiLL 16-35 vs HoustonLW 35-24 vs KansasWAug 1Oct 23Most in a week: 32
Aug 1 to Aug 7: 5Aug 8 to Aug 14: 26Aug 15 to Aug 21: 11Aug 22 to Aug 28: 12Aug 29 to Sep 4: 32Sep 5 to Sep 11: 22Sep 12 to Sep 18: 13Sep 19 to Sep 25: 13Sep 26 to Oct 2: 11Oct 3 to Oct 9: 9Oct 10 to Oct 16: 19Oct 17 to Oct 23: 9W 71-3 vs NichollsWW 34-7 vs Washington StateWW 31-20 vs TulaneWL 26-31 at CincinnatiLL 16-35 vs HoustonLW 35-24 vs KansasWAug 1Oct 23Most in a week: 32
Gold: stories about him each week. W and L: his games. Counted from Aug 1, when tracking began.

What they’re talking about

Press conference and quotes34 storiesrising
Profile and feature28 storiesrising
Quarterback and depth chart21 storiesfading
Game preview15 stories
Win8 stories
Loss7 stories

Could another school hire him? What has he said?

Stories are headlines grouped by what they are about, counted through Oct 23.

In his own words

I had every guy — player and staff — from the state of Kansas stand up, and there’s a lot of them in the room
Kstatecollegian · · 2 days before Kansas State's 2026 game against Arizona State
Every quote, back to July 2026

In his own words (11)

I had every guy — player and staff — from the state of Kansas stand up, and there’s a lot of them in the room
Kstatecollegian2 days before Kansas State's 2026 game against Arizona State
I want to say thank you to our fans, and that environment today was unbelievable
Kstatecollegianthe day after the 35-24 game
Can’t have the kick return
Kstatecollegianthe day after the 35-24 game
True competitors respond when challenged; albeit a very, very painful loss, you rise up
Kstatecollegianthe day before the Kansas game
The pride they take in this game and the rivalry is real, and that’s something we’ve embraced for a long time
Kstatecollegianthe day before the Kansas game
They had 30 minutes of possession going into the fourth quarter
Kstatecollegianthe day after the 16-35 game
I think their [Washington State’s] quarterback is dangerous and makes plays and is incredibly tough
Kstatecollegianthe day before the Washington State game
Really good night, I was proud of our players
Kstatecollegianthe day after the 71-3 opener
It’s definitely a lot for sure
Kstatecollegianthe day before the opener
I want him to be extremely confident, to play fast, and to let his fire, his love to compete, and the care and love for his teammates show
Kstatecollegian2 days before the opener
Coach Scalley was tremendous. I mean, he was an unbelievable relationship builder, energy, detailed
FOX Sports
Part two · The hire

Hires into jobs like this

Hired into 45–46, Power Program III. Rough match, not calibrated yet — ranked on what the job inherited alone. Coaches hired into this same job aren’t used as comps.

Of the 5 closest comps, 0 left the program higher than he found it and 5 left it lower. Median stay: 4 seasons.
Every coach hired into a Power Program III job since 1990 (53): typically -1.9 after year 1, -2.2 after year 2.
band ends: fewer than 15 hires still in the job+4what he inherited-4-8hiredyr 1yr 2yr 3yr 4yr 5yr 6Koetter: -5.1 vs. inheritedLuke: -4.3 vs. inheritedRhule: -4.2 vs. inheritedFrost: -4.4 vs. inheritedCrowton: -10.8 vs. inheritedKlein: -0.7 vs. inheritedKlein -0.7▏ Rhule -4.2▏ Luke -4.3▏ Frost -4.4▏ Koetter -5.1▏ Crowton -10.8
→ Arizona State, 2001
4–7 · 8–6 · 5–7 · 9–3 · 7–5 · 7–6
6 seasons
-5.1 vs. what he inherited
→ Ole Miss, 2017
6–6 · 5–7 · 4–8
3 seasons
-4.3 vs. what he inherited
→ Baylor, 2017
1–11 · 7–6 · 11–3
3 seasons
-4.2 vs. what he inherited
→ Nebraska, 2018
4–8 · 5–7 · 3–5 · 3–9
4 seasons
-4.4 vs. what he inherited
→ BYU, 2001
12–2 · 5–7 · 4–8 · 5–6
4 seasons
-10.8 vs. what he inherited
First head-coaching job
No prior college head-coaching tenure on record.
The job he took
Followed Chris Klieman (2019–2025), after the season
54–34
Program was flat in the 2023–2025 run-up.
A Power Program III job.
Rivalry record so far
Sunflower Showdown vs. Kansas1–0
How new coaches start here
  • Chris Klieman20198–5-0.5
  • Ron Prince20067–6-2.9
  • Bill Snyder19891–10-0.3
  • Stan Parrish19862–9-2.5
  • Lee Moon19851–8-2.3
  • Jim Dickey19784–7+0.1
  • Ellis Rainsberger19753–8-1.2
  • Vince Gibson19671–9-0.4

This season

<1%chance he’s out by the end of this seasonCool110th-hottest of 137 FBS jobs
0%50%+

Our hot-seat model, on his record so far, the win chances for every game he has left, and his contract (a bigger buyout, relative to pay, makes a change costlier). Ranked against the 137 FBS head coaches with 3+ games this season.

His first rated season here.

His hot seat, week by week

The chance he’s out by the end of that season, as it stood after every week of his tenure here, by today’s model.

BoilingHotWarmCool20262026, week 3 (3 games in): <1%, 123rd-hottest of 133 FBS jobs2026, week 4 (4 games in): <1%, 120th-hottest of 137 FBS jobs2026, week 5 (4 games in): <1%, 117th-hottest of 137 FBS jobs2026, week 6 (5 games in): 1%, 104th-hottest of 137 FBS jobs2026, week 7 (6 games in): <1%, 107th-hottest of 137 FBS jobs2026, week 8 (6 games in): <1%, 110th-hottest of 137 FBS jobsnow

What drives his number

The biggest factors, each against the typical FBS job today.

  • ▼ Cooler
    Year 1 · tenure, which this model overrates
    (why?)

    Tenure is one of this model’s strongest inputs, but its weight was set when retirements like Nick Saban’s and Bob Stoops’ still counted as being pushed out, so it overstates how much tenure matters.

  • ▼ Cooler
    No previous seasons here to judge him on
  • ▲ Hotter
    4-2, outscoring opponents by 93

What happened to coaches like him, 2004–2025

A different comparison: past coaches, not today’s, grouped by one fact at a time. Neither line knows the games he has left or his contract, so they can sit above or below his chance.

Were 4-2 after 6 games
5% pushed out over results · of 590 coaches
Were in year 1, after 6 games
1% pushed out over results · of 525 coaches
The outcome
Pushed out over results — a firing, forced resignation, mutual parting or non-renewal, each read case by case. Leaving for a better job, or retiring on his own terms, doesn’t count.
Buyout
No figure on file for this coach. The salary database predates the last coaching carousel; a name mismatch is suppressed rather than misattributed.

How good is this number? Checked on every FBS coach from 2010 to 2025, with its percentages calibrated each season on earlier years only: they track what happened — coaches it put near 25% were out about a quarter of the time — and a version pricing the games left with the previous season’s ratings ranked jobs as well as the ranking this page used before. Each week it learns from coaches who were still on the job at that point, so a firing during the season counts. In the Boiling zone it has run a few points high. Every job, and the method.

Poach watch

This winter

1%chance he leaves this winter for a head-coaching job elsewhere, or an NFL coordinator jobSettled100th-highest of 137 FBS head coaches
0%50%+

Our poach model, on his record so far, the win chances for every game he has left, his program, his pay and his background. Ranked against the 137 FBS head coaches this season. The zone words describe the market’s interest; none of them says he is leaving.

What drives his number

The biggest factors in his profile, each against the typical FBS head coach today. The games he has left are priced into the number, not listed here.

  • ▼ Lower
    His first season at Kansas State
  • ▲ Higher
    No record for him here before this season · his first year in the job
  • ▼ Lower
    His team is 4-2, outscoring opponents by 15.5 points a game
How good is this number? It ranks a head coach who leaves for another head-coaching job ahead of one who stays 78 to 82% of the time, and its average came within a point of the share who actually left. What it can’t do

Tested on every FBS head coach from 2012 through 2025, each season scored by a model fit only on the seasons before it. From three games on, given one coach who left for a head-coaching job elsewhere or an NFL coordinator job and one who stayed, it ranked the one who left ahead 79 to 82% of the time; in a season’s first two games, 78%. Its average chance came within a point of the share who actually left. It counts a move a coach makes while he still holds the job; when his school ends it, that doesn’t count, even if another school then hires him.

  • The live number prices the games he has left with the power model’s ratings from this season. The test priced them with each team’s rating from the season before, because ratings made during past seasons were not kept, so this live version could not be replayed.
  • Programs new to FBS have no FBS record before this season in the data it reads, so their coaches are scored without one.
  • It is frozen: it learns nothing from 2026 until a deliberate refit.
  • A coach hired in December needs his background (age, alma mater, the state he was born in) added before his first game, or he shows as not rated.
Part three · The career

Coaching career

2026–now
Kansas State
too new to grade yet

Followed Chris Klieman (2019–2025).

Who they bring in

Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.

Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.

Avg. size (raw)
6′2″, 240 lbs
across 23 of 27 arrivals — unadjusted for position mix
Size vs. position-typical
+4.2 lbs
#119 of 255 · middle half
Avg. class year
Fr
#255 of 255 · bottom quarter
Avg. portal rating
3.0★
rated arrivals only
Top states: FL (3), OH (3), MO (3), GA (2), TX (2)
Notable portal arrivals with a modeled NIL value
Wendell Gregory On3 modeled · $2,000,000
On3’s modeled estimate (social reach / exposure), not money actually paid — shown per player, never totaled.
Who won the portal our read
Talent added
48.3
position-weighted
Talent lost
50.3
position-weighted
Net
-2.0
arrivals minus departures
Best addition: Kaleb Patterson (CB) from Illinois
Biggest loss: Tobi Osunsanmi (EDGE) to Indiana
Position-value-weighted (QB/CB weighted highest, depth-decayed within each position) — the same scoring engine as the Portal Heat feed, not a separate grade.
Where the roster comes from, by position
Buys Running back via the portal
75%
#20 of 208 stints
Buys Linebacker via the portal
67%
#23 of 225 stints
4-2

Big games

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.

1-0 against his rivals.

Rivalry record
1-0
100.0% · 1 rival
One-score games
0-1
0.0% · margin ≤8
Against the spread
3-3
all 6 had a line
Rivalry ledger
Kansas1-0100%
Performance by opponent class
National Program
1-2 33.3%
Regional Program
2-0 100.0%

ATS is his record against the spread: did his team beat the closing betting line, winning by more than it or losing by less? Lines start in 2013; a dash means fewer than 6 of those games had one. One-score games carry no spread record: a big favorite that wins a close game has almost always failed to cover, so that number would say nothing about the coach.

Signature games

0-1 vs. AP top 25 · 0-0 vs. the top 10
Signature wins
W
Kansas · 2026
35-24
RivalQuality opponent
W
Washington State · 2026
34-7
Quality opponent
W
Tulane · 2026
31-20
Quality opponent
Signature losses
L
Houston · 2026
16-35
Upset
L
Cincinnati · 2026
26-31
Upset

Tags describe each game; they aren’t scores. The weighting that picks these games is still being tested.

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, against the FBS-wide average of 41% pass. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

40%FBS avg 41%Kansas State2026–20261 season
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered season

How good is he so far?

Too new to grade — in-season movement only
Kansas State’s composite stature has fallen since preseason: 45.3 entering the year to 44.8 through week 8 (Power Program III) · #87 of 138 in movement since preseason · middle half.
Part four · How he builds a team

Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

  1. 1His recruiting
  2. 2Roster ownership
  3. 3Where he recruits

His recruiting, really

No class below is fully his yet — every one was inherited or signed mid-transition, so none counts toward a verdict.

2026
#50
Transition

Transition — he was hired mid-cycle

Rank is each signing class’s national recruiting rank (#1 is best). Only a class he had a full signing cycle to build counts as his; inherited and mid-transition classes still show here, faded, but stay out of the average.

Roster ownership

Roster ownership

53%His own players

of his 2026 roster arrived on his watch — 59 of 112 players. The other 53 are holdovers from before he was hired.

Arrived under him 59Inherited 53

Of his own players on this roster, 37% came through the transfer portal; the rest are non-portal arrivals (high-school signees, JUCO transfers, walk-ons).

Everyone he has brought in, 2026–2026Counting players who have since left: 37% of the 59 arrivals we can classify came through the portal.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

Where he recruits

OKTop state

is his biggest recruiting state: 4 of 23 signees (17%) across his 2026–2026 tenure, drawn from 12 states in all. Next: TX (4).

Where his signees came from, 2026–2026 (23 high-school, JUCO and prep signees)

70% of his signees come from OK and its 6 border states (TX 4, KS 3, MO 3, CO 2).

2 signees1 signee1 signee2 signees1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee1 signee

Off this map: 1 signee to the west (CA).

By region
South
12
Midwest
8
West
3
Roster distance from campus (Bill Snyder Family Stadium, KS)
median hometown distance
391 mi
within 100 mi
6%
within 500 mi
62%
beyond 1,000 mi
18%
107 of 112 roster players with a known hometown (96% coverage)

The map counts signed recruits across his tenure; the distance figures cover his current roster, transfers and walk-ons included. Two different groups, kept separate on purpose.

How to read this. "This week" is the real, current season as of its date, rebuilt every night — not a career verdict. Bands and archetypes elsewhere on this page come from the Zeitgeist List’s season-by-season stature model, and only apply once a stint clears 3 coached seasons in our ledger — a newer stint shows its real record with no stature judgment yet.