K-State signs football coach Chris Klieman to 8-year contract

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor announced Monday that head football coach Chris Klieman, who guided the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championship in 2022, has signed a new eight-year contract that keeps him at K-State through the 2030 season. Klieman, who is entering his fifth year in Manhattan in 2023, will be paid an average base salary of $5.5 million throughout the life of the contract.

Klieman holds a 30-20 record at K-State, which includes a 10-4 record last season when the Wildcats won the 2022 Big 12 Championship with a 31-28 overtime victory over No. 3 TCU. It was K-State’s third Big 12 title and first since 2012, while it was the Wildcats’ first 10-win season in 10 years. K-State concluded the 2022 season ranked No. 9 in the College Football Playoff Top 25, the Wildcats’ second-highest ranking ever in the CFP era and the highest for the final poll. The Wildcats also finished No. 14 in the final Associated Press Top 25.

Under Klieman, running back Deuce Vaughn became the second player in school history to earn back-to-back Consensus All-America honors when he made the first team again in 2022. Vaughn was one of three Wildcats to earn First Team All-America accolades in 2022 – the most by K-State in a single season since 2003 – and one of five overall All-Americans – the most since 2012.

The other two First Team All-Americans also earned individual awards from the Big 12 coaches as Felix Anudike-Uzomah, a first round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs last month, was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, while Cooper Beebe was the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year.