K-State Coach Chris Klieman Denies Rumors About Retirement
Kansas State coach Chris Klieman isn't going anywhere any time soon.
On Monday, Klieman emphatically denied rumors he was retiring after the question was posed to him by a reporter.
“I don’t know where you got that from,” he said. “I haven’t said that to anybody.”
Kileman, 57, is in his fifth year coaching the Wildcats. He began his coaching career in 1991 at the University of Northern Iowa as a graduate assistant.
His first head coaching stint came at North Dakota State in 2014 after years of being the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator.
The rumors of him retiring began after he became emotional during the post-game press conference following the 24-14 loss to No. 21 Arizona State.
“I’m just hurting for those kids,” he said. “It’s been a really, really, hard two weeks for me and I feel awful for those older guys that have my back. Like I told them, I let them down. It’s been rough.”
This comes as Klieman dealt with health issues and personal struggles. He suffered from dizziness on the sideline during the Sunflower Showdown against Kansas on Oct. 26.
However, Klieman appeared in a better mood during his weekly press conference on Monday.
“Probably the biggest struggle for me right now is not having family around,” Klieman said. “The people, the guys upstairs and the guys downstairs, everybody in this building has gone out of their way to help the situation that we’re going through. All the wives have been really helpful in the situation we’re going through. It (stinks). I’ll just be honest with you, it does. But when you’re surrounded by people that care and are surrounded by people that love (my wife) and I, it makes it easier. It’s not easy, but it makes it easier. Some positive things are starting to flip for us, and we’re going to kind of pray on that and realize that there are some positive things moving forward.”
Klieman is going to be on the sideline for this Saturday's senior day game against the University of Cincinnati
Zachary Draves is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at zdraves1013@gmail.com and on Instagram @zdraves0633.
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