Kansas State coach Chris Klieman is right. He deserves respect | Wheeler

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Below the Wasatch Mountains, overlooking Rice-Eccles Stadium, stood a Kansas State football team that didn’t stand a chance. No one in their right mind would have thought the Wildcats could go toe-to-toe with the Utes, especially as a frustrating regular season nears its end.

No one, except for those on the field wearing purple, of course.

It showed, as the Wildcats went punch-for-punch with a team fighting for a spot in the College Football Playoff. A record-breaking performance on the ground came against one of the nation’s best defenses. As has been the case since the Wildcats’ 1-3 start to the season, the Wildcats didn’t quit.

They just came out on the losing end to the No. 12 team in the country, as Utah pulled off a 51-47 victory. It led to a tearful breakdown from Wildcats coach Chris Klieman, who has heard the criticisms of him and his team throughout a frustrating season.

“I’ve heard it enough that the kids have cashed in and that we need to get new leadership over here and new players, new coaches; I’m tired of it,” Klieman told reporters. “I gotta be honest with you, I’m tired of it. I’ve given my friggin-ass life to this place for seven years; I’ve given everything for seven years, and I think I deserve something, a little respect.”

Klieman isn’t wrong. He is deserving of a little more appreciation from a fanbase that partially wants change in favor of K-State legend and current Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein.

There is plenty of encouragement to be taken from Klieman’s ability to get his players to buy in for the entirety of a season that began as horrendously as it did. That doesn’t mean he’s free from the demands of a better start to 2026, but the calls for his firing right now are unfair.

Kansas State never became the embarrassment that Penn State, LSU, UCLA, Oklahoma State and Arkansas were during the season, which led to hefty buyouts for each of their coaches. The Wildcats haven’t put together multiple seasons in a row that would have had Klieman on a hot seat to begin with.

Rather, this is just one disappointing year after three consecutive nine-plus-win seasons, including a 2022 Big 12 championship and Sugar Bowl appearance. The Wildcats still have a chance to go bowling for the fifth consecutive season, a feat no one thought was possible when K-State lost to Army earlier in the season.

Does Kansas State need to improve moving forward? Absolutely. If seasons like this continue, these types of conversations will be more appropriate. The Wildcats can point to the number of injuries and the Dylan Edwards saga all they want this year, but those excuses will grow stale if they’re battling for a .500 record moving forward.

There is something to be said about the way Klieman and his staff have kept the Wildcats together when the season could have been a total disaster.

Kansas State still believes in Klieman, and he’s deserving of a little more grace from everyone else, too.

“It’s tough because you want to be able to win for your coach, and win a bunch of games just because of how good a person Coach Klieman is,” quarterback Avery Johnson said. “Sometimes, we come up short for him. It’s frustrating for us in that locker room because sometimes, you give it everything you’ve got and you come up short.

“We love Coach Klieman to death, and we laid everything on the line for him.”

Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman deserves more respect

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