What you can expect from Klieman

[Northern Catbacker]

As a K State graduate and someone who has observed Chris Klieman as a Missouri Valley coach, I offer you a perspective that will give both hope and concern for the new coach. I also offer this opinion as a former college player and someone who had a close relative recruited by NDSU while Klieman was on staff.

Strengths - he is a personable individual who appears to relate well with his players, their parents, and the boosters. He appears to know the X's and O's, especially on defense as his teams have almost always played good defense.

Weaknesses - he somewhat melts down after a loss (obviously that hasn't happened very often at NDSU). If you go and look at some of the post game interviews after a loss, you will see somewhat of a whiny response to questions and sometimes complaining about officials and other teams players. He doesn't always recognize that the other team has talent or may have caught the coaching staff unprepared on some things.

Projection at K State - The unknowns are big.

1) Can he recruit to Manhattan? You can't really compare Fargo, because it was fairly easy to convince players to come to NDSU and play for a championship in front of 20,000 fans rather than go to a MAC school and maybe get a substandard bowl bid and play in front of 10,000 fans regularly. Many of the players at NDSU could have played at the FBS level, but winning a national championship at the FCS level seemed more attractive.

2) Indoor home field advantage - a number of Missouri Valley coaches believe that the home field advantage is huge in Fargo (approximately 7 - 10 points) because of how loud the fans are when the opposing team is on offense. This is one reason the defense for NDSU has been successful - because their defensive lineman get the same jump as the offensive lineman since the opposing team has to go on the silent count. Also, NDSU doesn't plan around the elements at home - they know it will be dry and 70 degrees.

3) How will he respond to not getting breaks by the officials? As a defending national champion NDSU gets breaks from the Missouri Valley Officials, especially in Fargo. Will he be able to regain his composure when Oklahoma and Texas are getting the calls? As a K State fan, I've seen plenty of breaks for Oklahoma and Texas.

4) Will he embrace the junior college resources? It is well-known that part of Bill Synder's success has been through the Junior College ranks. At NDSU, very few players are not part of the program for 5 years, which makes it much easier to have player accountability, etc.

Predictions - I suspect he will have success, similar to Craig Bohl at Wyoming. An occasional 8 - 4 year, but more likely regular 6 - 6 years. But, I'm obviously hoping for better!!

[kstueve]

Everyone keeps talking about bill's success being based on Juco's and it definitely was in snyder 1.0 but honestly that hasn't been the case in 2.0 IMO.

[MajorAppleCat]

BS is a hall of fame coach after consistently winning 65% (215/333) of the games that he coached while at KState over a 27 year career, which averages about 7.75 games per season, including bowl games. Almost 50% of those wins came against nonconference cupcakes earlier in his career. To believe Klienman can replace a hall of fame coach and duplicate BS's success borders on the absurdity.

If Klienman has a winning percentage of 55% of his games at KState he will be a considered a success.

On the positive side, he is coming into a league where the only established coaches are Patterson and Gundy.

[hammerhead]

Regarding point #2, NDSU has a more losses at home than they do on the road and at neutral fields going back to the 2011 season.

As a K State graduate and someone who has observed Chris Klieman as a Missouri Valley coach, I offer you a perspective that will give both hope and concern for the new coach. I also offer this opinion as a former college player and someone who had a close relative recruited by NDSU while Klieman was on staff.
...

2) Indoor home field advantage - a number of Missouri Valley coaches believe that the home field advantage is huge in Fargo (approximately 7 - 10 points) because of how loud the fans are when the opposing team is on offense. This is one reason the defense for NDSU has been successful - because their defensive lineman get the same jump as the offensive lineman since the opposing team has to go on the silent count. Also, NDSU doesn't plan around the elements at home - they know it will be dry and 70 degrees.

...
Predictions - I suspect he will have success, similar to Craig Bohl at Wyoming. An occasional 8 - 4 year, but more likely regular 6 - 6 years. But, I'm obviously hoping for better!!

[wazucat]

As a K State graduate and someone who has observed Chris Klieman as a Missouri Valley coach, I offer you a perspective that will give both hope and concern for the new coach. I also offer this opinion as a former college player and someone who had a close relative recruited by NDSU while Klieman was on staff.

Strengths - he is a personable individual who appears to relate well with his players, their parents, and the boosters. He appears to know the X's and O's, especially on defense as his teams have almost always played good defense.

Weaknesses - he somewhat melts down after a loss (obviously that hasn't happened very often at NDSU). If you go and look at some of the post game interviews after a loss, you will see somewhat of a whiny response to questions and sometimes complaining about officials and other teams players. He doesn't always recognize that the other team has talent or may have caught the coaching staff unprepared on some things.

Projection at K State - The unknowns are big.

1) Can he recruit to Manhattan? You can't really compare Fargo, because it was fairly easy to convince players to come to NDSU and play for a championship in front of 20,000 fans rather than go to a MAC school and maybe get a substandard bowl bid and play in front of 10,000 fans regularly. Many of the players at NDSU could have played at the FBS level, but winning a national championship at the FCS level seemed more attractive.

2) Indoor home field advantage - a number of Missouri Valley coaches believe that the home field advantage is huge in Fargo (approximately 7 - 10 points) because of how loud the fans are when the opposing team is on offense. This is one reason the defense for NDSU has been successful - because their defensive lineman get the same jump as the offensive lineman since the opposing team has to go on the silent count. Also, NDSU doesn't plan around the elements at home - they know it will be dry and 70 degrees.

3) How will he respond to not getting breaks by the officials? As a defending national champion NDSU gets breaks from the Missouri Valley Officials, especially in Fargo. Will he be able to regain his composure when Oklahoma and Texas are getting the calls? As a K State fan, I've seen plenty of breaks for Oklahoma and Texas.

4) Will he embrace the junior college resources? It is well-known that part of Bill Synder's success has been through the Junior College ranks. At NDSU, very few players are not part of the program for 5 years, which makes it much easier to have player accountability, etc.

Predictions - I suspect he will have success, similar to Craig Bohl at Wyoming. An occasional 8 - 4 year, but more likely regular 6 - 6 years. But, I'm obviously hoping for better!!

Solid first post , if his main weakness is whiny postgame pressers, then I think we will be able to live with that

Craig Bohl success levels, not so much.

"The unknowns are big" , yes agreed, he has a wide floor to ceiling range. We all hope for the best

[Tbonespop]

Show me a good loser, and I'll show you someone who loses a lot of games. That's not a reason to be unsportsmanlike to the competition. However, I want a coach that hates losing more than he likes winning. And if he hates losing so much it comes off as whiny or bitchy about officials (especially if the officials deserve it), then so be it. I'm actually relieved that he hates losing.

NDSU's winning % while CK was on staff was 93% (92% as HC). NDSU's winning % under Bohl while CK wasn't on staff - 66%. Bohl's winning % at Wyoming the last 3 seasons combined? 56% Seems to me that the key person was CK, not Bohl. But winning in the B12 is more difficult than the FCS. I'm excited to see what CK brings to the program.

[Opensource]

Snyder's success in turning around K-State was tied to the NCCA reducing scholarships in Football from 92 from 95 in Division I-A during the 1992-93 academic year, to 88 during the 1993-94 year and to 85 during the 1994-95 year. This allowed K-State recruit players that used to go to OU and Nebraska and never play. This was also when the majority of the USA had no cell phone or internet service. He was able to identify talented players in the Junior College ranks that major programs did not see. This advantage led to the 1998 team, even though facilitates weren't competitive. Fast forward to today. Snyder 2.0 hasn't worked. Will be fun to watch what Klieman can do. He is a personality. Personality matters today in recruitment and media exposure. Might be more the most important thing today.

[tmcats]

Show me a good loser, and I'll show you someone who loses a lot of games. That's not a reason to be unsportsmanlike to the competition. However, I want a coach that hates losing more than he likes winning. And if he hates losing so much it comes off as whiny or bitchy about officials (especially if the officials deserve it), then so be it. I'm actually relieved that he hates losing.

NDSU's winning % while CK was on staff was 93% (92% as HC). NDSU's winning % under Bohl while CK wasn't on staff - 66%. Bohl's winning % at Wyoming the last 3 seasons combined? 56% Seems to me that the key person was CK, not Bohl. But winning in the B12 is more difficult than the FCS. I'm excited to see what CK brings to the program.

yeah, it would be nice if the bohl/ck thing is like boise state's dan hawkins/chris petersen. hawkins (4 straight wac titles) goes to cu and fails (19-39). peterson continues the bsu tradition of excellence (92-12) and then goes to uw and wins as well (47-20). naturally, petersen is thought to be the coach that made hawkins just as some believe bk made bohl. that said, ndsu has had a long history of winning the precedes both.

[farrout10]

Good Post

[oscar]

Snyder's success in turning around K-State was tied to the NCCA reducing scholarships in Football from 92 from 95 in Division I-A during the 1992-93 academic year, to 88 during the 1993-94 year and to 85 during the 1994-95 year. This allowed K-State recruit players that used to go to OU and Nebraska and never play. This was also when the majority of the USA had no cell phone or internet service. He was able to identify talented players in the Junior College ranks that major programs did not see. This advantage led to the 1998 team, even though facilitates weren't competitive. Fast forward to today. Snyder 2.0 hasn't worked. Will be fun to watch what Klieman can do. He is a personality. Personality matters today in recruitment and media exposure. Might be more the most important thing today.

8 wins per season, no scandals, 8 bowl trips in 10 years, a league title, ranked number one in nation for a portion of 2012. Clearly Snyder two did not work.