#KliOrDie

K-State fans, are you ready? K-State fans, ARE. YOU. READY!?! If you didn't read that in Wyatt Thompson's voice, you've probably never been to a Kansas State University football game, and thus you haven't lived. But the question remains. Are you ready? Because our coaching search to replace Bill Snyder is over. We have our guy.

DISCLAIMER: I'm far from a football expert. I cannot recite plays and stats from memory. I barely know the difference between an out route and a post route (I was a lineman in high school, and a mediocre one at that. Just ask the quarterback, Kalen Cromwell, who probably still has bruises from my missed blocks). However, I am a shrewd observer of people and moods and above all, politics. Because what else is a coaching search than a big old game of politics? Balancing the wants of fans and the moods of donors, navigating self-important agents and coaching candidates, and all the while keeping in mind what your rivals are up to. Not to mention the stakes are higher in the Big 12, with the looming possibility of conference realignment in 2025 (K-State is probably screwed in that situation). All this makes me have incredible sympathy for K-State Athletic Director "Mean Gene" Taylor. All the self-proclaimed experts within the K-State fanbase and media could do with having an ounce of sympathy for the guy. He did what he thought was right, so save the #FireTaylor crap for the future.

However, I can also empathize with the fanbase. Change is scary. As a fanbase, K-State has been through exactly TWO coaching searches in the last 30 years. We're not KU or Nebraska here who can't hang on to a coach or fire them for having multiple 10-win seasons - RIP Bo Pelini.

Speaking of KU and Nebraska, we're in good company. See my co-bloggers Kyle Abbott and Jarred Stindt's posts on the new coaching changes at Nebraska and Kansas.

In this article, I'm going to vomit my many feelings all over this webpage. Much of what I say won't be popular with K-State fans. However, unlike many of the complainers on Twitter, I also offer a dash of optimism and what I hope will help us heal.

Change is Scary

In case you didn't hear, Bill Snyder retired. The longtime coaching legend and architect of the greatest turnaround in college football history went out with all the accolades and praise that he so richly deserved. ESPN, Fox Sports, and every major sports contributor and talking head had an abundance of wonderfuls things to say about him. Kirk Herbstreit, my favorite sports contributor and co-host of ESPN Gameday, offered a pithy statement on what Bill has meant to the game of football. And you won't stop seeing Bill Snyder around K-State. Per his contract, he will remain a "special advisor" to the university. Whether that means he remains involved in football, we shall see, but I would doubt it. That's not healthy for anyone. My money is on him teaching a class on leadership at the Staley School of Leadership Studies.

So, forgive us as a fan base for being gun shy. The last time, we had a vacancy, our hire was a young, flashy up and comer named Ron Prince *obligatory hiss and spit*

What We Hoped For

After his retirement was announced on December 2nd amid years of speculation as to when it would happen, the fan frenzy kicked into overdrive. Here were the top candidates from the get-go:

Brent Venebles - Salina native, former K-State player and coach. He was a dream, folks. He's got probably the best coordinator job in the country at Clemson. However, don't let your dreams die. If his son hadn't just started college at Clemson, he probably would've been a real contender. We'd go bankrupt paying for him, but we would've made it happen.

Seth Littrell - North Texas Head Coach. Recruiting ties to Texas, deep Big 12 roots, runs the spread offense that the entire Big 12 runs, and very young. He withdrew because his offer came with strings attached (strings being keeping some of Bill Snyder's staff). Full disclosure, he was the guy I wanted. But if he keeps winning, he can have any job he wants in the future. Possible future openings at TCU or an SEC school are within his grasp.

Neal Brown - Troy Head Coach. Recruiting ties in the South, and an impressive resume with high-profile wins. He'll be the top candidate for whichever SEC school has an opening next (cough, cough, Auburn).

Mike Norvell - Memphis Head Coach. Recruiting ties in the South, impressive wins, and very young (37). He'll also have his pick of SEC or Big 10 jobs.

If you look at all those candidates, you can see why the K-State fanbase got its hopes up. We had the pick of the litter, but instead, Gene Taylor went with what was familiar instead of the sexy new model.

What We Got

Chris "Big Man" Klieman, Heach Coach of the North Dakota State Bison and six-time National Champion (three as defensive coordinator, three as Head Coach). We hired him to the tune of $2.3 million for a six-year contract. During his tenure as the Athletic Director at North Dakota State, Gene Taylor worked with Klieman and promoted him to Head Coach after Craig Bohl left for Wyoming.

You know what? I'm not going to rehash his entire background. ESPN did that for me: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25503179/kansas-state-hires-north-dakota-state-chris-klieman-head-coach.

Reaction

Decidedly mixed. Half the fans are pumped, the other half are screaming for Taylor's head. The players and some coaches are all in, at least publicly. QB Skylar Thompson, Recruiting Coordinator Taylor Braet, and LB Denzel Goolsby (in other words, the future of K-State Football), all Tweeted messages of support for our new coach.

My own knee-jerk reaction was something like this:

This is a guy who is untested at the FBS level. Why was no one else interested in him? He has few recruiting ties in important states where we need to do well (Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, etc). He's no spring chicken at age 51. He runs a power offense, which is straight out of Bill Snyder's playbook and straight out of the 1990's. All of the other successful Big 12 schools run a spread offense, built around a QB with a powerful arm and tall wide receivers who put up 50+ points per game. Plus, he has hardly unified the fanbase. These are all legitimate concerns.

However, like any rational and healthy mind, I've had time to process this. And I will outline each of the issues in turn and why it might not turn out as bad as we think.

Untested at the FBS Level

Yes, while Klieman has yet to be a Head Coach at a Power 5 or Group of 5 program, he does have experience BEATING them. In the past five years, NDSU has wins over Iowa, Minnesota, K-State, KU, and Iowa State. While these are hardly playoff contending schools, the mentality it takes to face down these schools with more money and better recruits than you could dream of is the same mentality you need to win at K-State. We play the big boys, e.g Texas and Oklahoma, every year. If Klieman brings that same underdog mentality to K-State and convinces his players they can beat these guys, his hire will have been worth it. And lastly, there were very few K-State fans who were happy with the hire of an untested football coach in 1988.

No One Else Was Interested In Him

Untrue. The other team I support (Purdue, because my wife is a fan and they sign my paycheck) strongly considered Klieman in 2016. After beating Iowa in 2016, the Hawkeyes were chattering about picking him up. Minnesota talked about hiring him over PJ Fleck in 2016. His stock has only gone up, but K-State finally decided to take the gamble. True, he was never going to be in the conversation for SEC or ACC jobs, but K-State isn't one of those jobs. It has the potential to be, but it isn't yet.

Recruiting

This seems to be the biggest thing that sticks in the fanbase's craw. I've seen countless tweets saying Klieman can't recruit in the markets K-State needs access to or putting down the recruits he gets out of places like North Dakota. Looking at the current NDSU roster, Klieman does pretty well in Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. He's even landed a couple of Florida guys. And while most of K-State's out of state recruits have come out of places like Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana, Klieman will likely keep the K-State recruiting staff with those ties in place. Taylor Braet is a good recruiter and he's out there right now doing what he does best.

Plus, K-State was at or near the bottom of the Big 12 in recruiting in recent years anyway, so we have nowhere to go but up. With Les Miles in Lawrence, it only gets that much more important that we continue our robust walk-on program and maybe start throwing some more scholarship money towards the Kansas kids. A good walk-on program is what made NFL stars like Jordy Nelson, BJ Finney, and Ryan Mueller. You can be sure KU will be going after our wheat-fed kids. We'd better get more serious about it too.

Plus, if Klieman is half the coach North Dakota fans say he is, he'll be able to work wonders with what players we can get, much like his predecessor who coached walk-ons and junior college transfers into national contenders in 1998, 2003, and 2012. Next year might be a bit rough. We're way behind where we should be and our compatriots elsewhere in the Big 12 have a head start, but I'd rather be starting where we're at than rebuilding a football culture from scratch.

His Age

This is the weakest of all arguments. Yes, we did just hire the fourth oldest coach in the Big 12 (behind KU, WVU, and TCU). But age is not necessarily a predictor of success. Klieman has something to prove. I'd rather have him than someone who has had their shot and has comfortably settled into a routine like Holgerson, Gundy, or Patterson. I want someone hungry, not necessarily young and hungry.

His Offensive Scheme

With almost the entire Big 12 moving to the Air Raid/Spread offense, K-State was getting left in the dust. Snyder was either unwilling or unable to compete with the likes of Oklahoma and West Virginia and Texas on that front. And as someone said, "you're not going to out Air Raid Oklahoma". There's some truth to that.

But what the fans really want is something exciting to watch. They want entertainment and new traditions and alternate uniforms, something Snyder was unwilling to deliver. But on offense, they want explosiveness. Maybe we'll get that, maybe we won't. We'll certainly need to do a better job of defending against explosive plays. The passing attack has left K-State scrambling for an answer in recent years. I don't know if Klieman has it, but he is a defensive-minded coach moving into an offensive-minded conference. Maybe he has some tricks up his sleeve to stop the up-tempo offenses of our rivals and control the ball with an explosive and exciting running game. What will be really telling is who he'll be able to land as coordinators and who he keeps around. My sense is that Bill Snyder was unwilling to let K-State offensive coordinator Andre Coleman off his leash and to keep doing what K-State has always done: run the QB and control the clock. I think Coleman, Klein, Norwood, and Braet have earned the right to stay.

I wish I could be more comforting, but we'll have to wait and see. Klieman enters as the lowest-paid coach in the Big 12, as he should. But that leaves us a lot of wiggle room to hire good support staff, which is often more telling than the HC hire. We'll see what Fisch we can land *wink wink*.

Expectations

Look people. We're in for a rough year or two, maybe four or five. We just don't know. Gene Taylor staked his reputation on this hire, so no matter what happens, his destiny is tied to Klieman's and vice versa. Rarely does the HC keep his job if things go south for the AD (think Zenger/Beatty, Eichorst/Riley, etc.) We're starting near the bottom in recruiting. We have catch-up to play, and for the first time since 2007, KU is starting out ahead of us. We're currently ranked 82 in recruiting. That can be fixed.

I expect Klieman to win over the media in these first few press conferences. That's the first step to winning over the fan base, which is the first step to winning football games. As for the players, they seem hyped. They seem more hyped than KU's players did to land Les Freaking Miles (I have yet to get a statement from Pooka Williams from inside his prison cell). K-State has the reputation statewide for being "the football school". That's not going away anytime soon.

Final Thoughts

Initially, I was not on board with this hire. This seemed like a long-shot and there were better candidates out there. We've got a long way to go. However, we've always had a long way to go. We've always been recruiting underdogs. We've found success running an offense different from our peers. And we built a national contending team with an untested coach. That's the thrill of gambling. If it pays off, it's a great feeling.

All that said, I'm proud of the house we built. What will be will be. And to the rest of the Big 12, I say