Kansas State's Collin Klein Plans To Keep "Old-School" Approach

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When Kansas State Wildcats coach Collin Klein was a player, he learned under the legendary Bill Snyder. 

Snyder was known for his tough love. Players respected the coach while having to earn the same from Snyder. There was no sugar-coating anything. 

The coaches led. The players followed. 

And that's the approach Klein is taking into his first year in charge in Manhattan. 

"I think from the jump, it's really the only way I know," Klein said last week during Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas. "I've been very fortunate to be around coaches and mentors that have lived that out. I think there's a level of investment, there's a level of sacrifice, there's a level of toughness, there's a level of grit that sometimes can be unpopular. Sometimes, people don't like it because it's uncomfortable."

Snyder is the perfect person for Klein to model his coaching after. It was Snyder who turned the Wildcats program into a national contender after being a joke for so many years prior. 

Klein played quarterback for Snyder from 2009-2012, finishing as a Heisman Trophy finalist his last season. That was during Snyder's second stint with the program. He retired in 2005 only to return four years later to once again revive things in Manhattan. 

After heading back to the sewers of college football, the Wildcats finished 11-2 in Klein's last season. There was a lot of tough love back then, which Klein plans to implement again. 

That has been tougher in today's NIL era.  Players have more control. They are allowed to transfer school freely because of rule changes. 

Despite it all, Klein wants an old-school approach. 

"That's a place that we're going to live," Klein said. "If there's people that don't like that or make them uncomfortable, there's people that will embrace it. When they put on that Powercat, they will represent it and be willing to make those sacrifices." 

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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