Kansas State coach Collin Klein: 'This has always been a dream of mine'
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MANHATTAN — Nearly 13 years since Collin Klein’s last touchdown for Kansas State, he had another one when his plane landed at the Kansas Jet Center on Friday morning.
Klein’s plane touched down at around 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5, to the tune of The Pride of Wildcat Land playing the Wabash Cannonball, welcoming home the legendary quarterback, who was announced as the program’s next head coach on Thursday.
Klein exited the plane with a smile, as his younger children and wife followed behind him. He walked down the stairs and greeted athletic director Gene Taylor with a hug before interacting with the many familiar faces who had loved him for more than a decade, while wishing this day would come.
“This is very surreal,” Klien said. “I still feel like I’m going to wake up.”
A couple of dozen Kansas State supporters gathered to be among the first to welcome Klein home, after he agreed to a five-year contract that will pay him an average base salary of $4.3 million. He returns to The Little Apple after spending the last two seasons as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator. He will continue to coach the Aggies during their upcoming College Football Playoff run.
One of the more beloved players in K-State history, Klein will always be remembered for becoming a Heisman Trophy finalist throughout a Big 12-championship-winning 2012 season. He also served as an assistant coach for the Wildcats from 2017-23.
Klein said he was “ecstatic” and “in shock” when the opportunity to coach his alma mater presented itself. Chris Klieman, whom Klein coached under at Kansas State and won a Big 12 championship as offensive coordinator in 2022, announced his retirement after seven seasons as Wildcats coach on Wednesday.
“God’s timing is perfect with how everything went down, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be home,” Klein said. “This is family. I’m lost for words.”
Klein will be introduced during a welcome event on Friday at Morgan Family Arena beginning at 4 p.m. It will be streamed live on ESPN+.
“This has always been a dream of mine,” Klein said. “In this world, sometimes it doesn’t always work out. For it to be able to work out, for the timing to be right and for me to be able to work out, it’s absolutely incredible.”
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 Collin Klein arrives in Manhattan
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