Why Chris Klieman got emotional after Kansas State’s home loss against Arizona State

There was a moment during his postgame news conference when it looked like Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman might shed a few tears.

K-State had just suffered a 24-14 loss against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and he blamed himself for the costly result. The Wildcats lost consecutive games for the first time in more than three years and fell into a tie for fifth place in the Big 12 standings. The odds of winning a conference title are now very long.

This isn’t what he wanted for this team, and it showed when he paused a few seconds to compose himself before wrapping up his media session.

“I’m just hurting for those kids,” Klieman 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. And it’s been rough.”

Leading up to this game, Klieman mentioned that he was dealing with a few things away from the football field that have weighed heavily on his mind.

“I’ve had as tough a week as I’ve had — non football related with some family things — and it puts a lot of things in perspective,” Klieman said on Monday. “I’m fortunate, because I have got a ton of people around me that believe in me. I have got an (athletic director) that has got my back. I’ve got a bunch of people in a lot of places that have looked out for the Kliemans, and I’m thankful as heck.”

It seemed like he wanted to express his gratitude by leading K-State to an important victory on Saturday.

The Wildcats (7-3, 5-3 Big 12) could have stayed in third place with a victory and potentially reached the Big 12 championship game by winning out and getting a little bit of help from BYU or Colorado. But this loss will make it difficult for them to claw back into the mix.

With K-State coming off an idle week, many expected them to play inspired football. It didn’t happen.

Sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson threw an interception on his first pass attempt, and things got worse from there as Arizona State raced to a 24-0 lead.

The first half went so poorly for K-State that some fans left midway through the second quarter. The fans who stayed weren’t impressed by the Wildcats as they mounted a comeback attempt that was too little too late and booed at various times.

Klieman couldn’t blame them. He pointed the finger at himself.

“We didn’t play well enough. We didn’t coach well enough. We didn’t do a lot of things very well,” Klieman said. “I’m responsible for everything that happens in this building with regard to football, and that’s on me.

“I’ve got to do a better job getting those kids ready to play. I thought we had a good week of practice. Maybe it was fool’s gold, because we didn’t come out very fast and we turned the ball over right away and got behind quickly and just couldn’t get anything going.”

Interestingly, K-State players didn’t agree.

Even though they appreciated their coach for taking ownership of a bad situation, they pushed back hard against the notion that this loss was entirely on him.

“He’s a selfless guy, but I kind of take that as disrespect to myself, because he’s not out there playing,” K-State safety Marquis Sigle said. “He’s not out there making the plays or attacking the opponent. He’s coaching perfectly fine. We just have to get better technique, and we have got to play better.”

Linebacker Austin Moore told Klieman in the locker room that this loss was on K-State players.

“We talk about how this is a player-led team all the time,” Moore said. “The blame is 100% not on him at all. It’s on us as players, and we’ve got to execute the game plans that the coaches make for us. It’s not on him at all.”

Perhaps that type of respect between players and coach will help the Wildcats finish out the season strong. Even though a trip to the Big 12 championship game is no longer likely, they are in contention for several quality bowl trips, and a 10-win season remains within reach.

Klieman wants all of that and more for this team.

Losing a game like this, and seeing some of those opportunities slip away, was enough to make him emotional.