Manhattan
The past few weeks have been hard on Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman, but that doesn’t mean he is ready to hang up his headset.
On Monday, a reporter asked Klieman if there was any truth to the rumor that he may consider retiring soon.
His answer was not ambiguous.
I don’t know where you got that from,” Klieman said. “I haven’t said that to anybody.”
K-State athletic director Gene Taylor chimed in a few seconds later and said he would be annoyed if Klieman chose to retire. Then Klieman joked about how much trouble he would be in for retiring without first discussing the possibility with his wife, who is currently out of town.
Bottom line: Klieman is still committed to his job at the age of 57.
Some may have read too much into Klieman’s somber news conference after the conclusion of a 24-14 loss against Arizona State on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Klieman got emotional in front of cameras and fought back tears as he talked about how much he was hurting for his players as the Wildcats dropped to 7-3 on the season with a 4-3 mark in Big 12 play.
Complicating matters is the fact that he has been dealing with personal issues away from football that have weighed heavily on his mind. It has been difficult for him to focus on football.
Add on the fact that he suffered from dizziness on the sideline during a gameearlier this season, and it’s easy to see how some fans jumped to incorrect conclusions about Klieman’s future.
But he was in a much better mood on Monday. He said he was eager to lead K-State back onto the field when it hosts Cincinnati on senior day in Manhattan.
Things are also improving with his life away from football.
“Probably the biggest struggle for me right now is not having family around,” Klieman said. “The people, the guys upstairs and the guys downstairs, everybody in this building has gone out of their way to help the situation that we’re going through. All the wives have been really helpful in the situation we’re going through.
“It (stinks). I’ll just be honest with you, it does. But when you’re surrounded by people that care and are surrounded by people that love (my wife) and I, it makes it easier. It’s not easy, but it makes it easier. Some positive things are starting to flip for us, and we’re going to kind of pray on that and realize that there are some positive things moving forward.”
For now, it seems, retirement is a long way off.
