K State’s Chris Klieman Finally Got Some Downtime At North Dakota State's FCS Championship
Between transfer portal moves and Rate Bowl acquisitions, it’s been a long stressful few weeks for Kansas State Wildcats coach Chris Klieman.
Thankfully, he got a little bit of downtime to watch his former North Dakota State football team win their 10th NCAA FCS championship in the last 14 seasons. Klieman was the head coach in four of those titles, winning every year from 2014 to 2018, aside from 2016.
Kansas State HC Chris Klieman is in attendance at today’s FCS Championship. He won 4 FCS Championships as NDSU HC, and was an NDSU coordinator alongside MSU HC Brent Vigen before that. pic.twitter.com/cRlnuwewcG
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 7, 2025
A few days before the bowl game, Klieman spoke about the stressful environment following the regular season.
"It's 20 out of 24 hours a day, and the other four you get a quick nap in," Klieman said. "For me, it's 70 percent trying to continue to build the roster. Then the other 30 percent is working on Rutgers, being around the players and stuff... That's the challenge that everyone's facing."
Meanwhile, Tim Polasek won his first championship as the newest head coach in Fargo, ND. He had an emotional postgame interviewing speaking about what this victory meant in his first season with the program.
"I think doing it with this group is pretty awesome," Polasek said. "We're running a football program with guys that just buy into each other. When you do that, you've got a chance to meet your full potential. I'm so happy for our staff, I'm so happy for the city of Fargo, the region of the Red River Valley, and I wanna go celebrate with my guys."
Jayden Armant is a graduate of the Howard University School of Communications and a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats on SI. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
Jayden is a journalism school graduate of Howard University. He was the 2024 recipient of the Terez Paylor scholarship award. He previously worked at the Orlando Sentinel.