Chris Klieman’s new approach to roster management is paying off for K-State football

Chris Klieman likes to say that “football is football.”

It’s one of his favorite lines, because it helps him explain why he was prepared to win at a high level with Kansas State immediately after he made a big leap up in class from his coaching days at North Dakota State. He may even say it more often than he tells his players to “win the dang day.”

While the simple expression certainly remains true whenever the Wildcats line up against Big 12 opponents on fall Saturdays, it is beginning to feel out of date during the offseason. These days, football is much more than just football in the spring, summer and winter. Things like NIL and the NCAA transfer portal have made it harder than ever for coaches like Klieman to manage their rosters.

The job now requires a lot more work than recruiting high school players and devising game plans.

With that in mind, Klieman asked one of his most trusted analysts to try a new job. Instead of helping the K-State offense in an off-field role, Clint Brown is now the program’s director of roster management. You could say it’s his job to handle the things that aren’t football, kind of like a general manager in the NFL.

“He has taken a lot off my plate,” Klieman said at the end of spring football practices. “When we spoke in December it was a bad month. It was a really hard month. You can’t do everything as a head coach. Our assistants and our support staff do a great job, but I needed some help. I needed some people to take some things off my plate and Clint has done a really good job of that.”

It sounds as if Brown’s main priority this offseason was to work with Wildcat NIL, the collective that supports K-State, and make sure that K-State’s best returning players were being taken care of financially.

The Wildcats like the team they have coming back, and if everyone stays together they could make a run at a Big 12 championship next season behind starting quarterback Avery Johnson.

Limiting outgoing transfers during the spring window was deemed very important. The results are in: K-State only lost two transfers — defensive lineman Jevon Banks and walk-on QB/safety Max Marsh.

“We expressed that we wanted the guys to be here,” Klieman said. “With (NIL) at Kansas State improving really well, I think that will really help us. Keeping everybody was our main focus with NIL for myself and Clint Brown. It was to take care of the guys on the football team so they didn’t leave, and that’s something that I’m really excited about.”

Things got even better for K-State after the bulk of its roster opted to stay in Manhattan. The Wildcats went out and added Colorado transfer Dylan Edwards at running back and New Mexico transfer Alec Marenco at linebacker.

Those moves solidified K-State as one of the preseason favorites in the Big 12.

Brown deserves credit for that. The veteran football coach who has spent most of his career helping players in an on-field role as an assistant or a coordinator was able to transition into a new role and help streamline roster decisions.

“Clint has done a really good job,” Klieman said. “He has also been a defensive coordinator. He’s a longtime coach who knows the business and who knows our players because he has been here as an analyst. He knows about them from the weight room to the field and to the classroom. He’s also got a really good pulse (on things) because he’s contacted all these other roster-management guys and GMs and he has come up with ideas and plans.”

The early returns are positive, even now that football is sometimes about more than just football.

“We have got to make sure that our guys know the value they have is really good here,” Klieman said, “and that we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we keep those guys because they want to be at K-State. We’ve really made some great strides in that area.”