One day after the retirement of head football coach Chris Klieman, Kansas State has hired former Wildcats quarterback Collin Klein to succeed Klieman in Manhattan.
Kansas State made the hiring of Klein official tonight with a post on X, formerly Twitter, as well as a press release.
“We are excited to welcome one of our all-time greats back home to Manhattan,” Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor said. “Collin is a tremendous leader who cares deeply about his players. The grit, toughness and aggression he displayed as a player still fuels him today as a coach, and he is determined to carry on the tremendous success this program has achieved. As we know, college football has changed, and I am confident that Collin is ready to embrace this new model while maintaining the culture that we know as K-State Football. Welcome home, Collin, Shalin, Beric, Rhett, Trek and Briar.”
Got our guy. pic.twitter.com/noyv4A8z7B
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 5, 2025
Klein, 36, has worked the past two seasons at Texas A&M as the Aggies' offensive coordinator, but before that, he spent all but a few years of a 15-year-long span sporting purple, white, and silver.
A native of Loveland, Colorado, Klein arrived in Manhattan in 2008, the final season under Ron Prince before the return of Bill Snyder, the school's greatest coach. Under Snyder, Klein became one of the nation's most lethal dual-threat quarterbacks, totaling more than 6,000 total yards and nearly 80 touchdowns between his junior and senior seasons. As a senior in 2012, Klein was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, a second-team All-American, and a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Two years after leaving Kansas State, Klein returned to begin his coaching career; he spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons as a defensive quality control coach and graduate assistant before becoming the quarterbacks coach at Northern Iowa. One year later, he returned again to K-State, for which he worked as the quarterbacks coach and/or offensive coordinator for six years.
Before the 2024 season, Klein left Kansas State to join new Texas A&M coach Mike Elko's staff as his offensive coordinator. After ranking 50th in scoring in 2024, Klein's unit improved to 16th in the country this season, averaging 36.3 points per game as A&M went 11-1 and has all but guaranteed itself a spot in the College Football Playoff (CFP).
In its press release, Kansas State revealed that Klein will continue to work for the currently seventh-ranked Aggies during their postseason run.
