Chris Klieman is back.
Klieman, who retired last November as the K-State football coach, has signed an agreement to serve as a consultant to the athletics department through the end of the year. He’ll help advise Coach Collin Klein and athletics director Gene Taylor, Taylor said in a phone interview with The Mercury Tuesday.
“He’ll come to practice occasionally, just observing and being there for Collin,” Taylor said.
Klieman will also help give Taylor a longtime coach’s perspective in matters related to national committees Taylor serves on having to do with football rules and scheduling. “I’ll feel more educated from a football coach’s perspective,” Taylor said.
Klieman will also meet with donors in an informal fundraising role. “He’s going to use being Chris Klieman to help us.”
Klieman will be paid up to $500,000 during the period through Dec. 31. Taylor said he anticipates Klieman will figure out what he wants to do next by that point, so this role is considered temporary.
Klieman retired at the end of last season, essentially leaving $21 million on the table by walking away from his contract. He and Taylor had been discussing his return on some terms since soon after that; Klieman is back in town and they concluded the agreement Monday. He was also at football practice over the weekend.
Taylor said Klein – who’s in his first year as the new coach – is fully capable of running the program himself, but “it’s nice to have a guy that’s been in the trenches” to lean on as an advisor. Klieman is generally regarded as a defensive-oriented coach, whereas all of Klein’s experience has been on offense.
There’s something of a precedent: Bill Snyder stayed on as a sort of ambassador for several years after his retirement. The department stopped paying him last year, as his involvement wound down.