BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 8, 2026

Collin Klein

Ford Center at The Star

Kansas State Wildcats

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Our next press conference features Kansas State Head Coach Collin Klein. Coach, we'll start with an opening statement.

COLLIN KLEIN: Thank you. Well, thank you all for being here. Thank you for all that you do for the greatest sport in the world. It's great to be back to the Big 12. I grew up a Big 12 kid and being able to be part of this conference as a fan, as a player, as a coach and now being part of helping move our game and our conference forward is absolutely tremendous to be a part of.

I thank the Lord every day that I get to come to work at a place that has impacted my life tremendously, and our program at Kansas State, my two predecessors have been so much -- it's been so much bigger than just the game of football.

Yes, we're going to do football well, but the impact that we want to have and they have had on young men in setting the trajectory for the rest of their life at an incredible angle, being able to teach them the lessons and give them the opportunity to compete is something that I don't take for granted.

This is home for me. It's a dream come true and so grateful for our administration and our players and all the effort that has been put in in the last six months as we build this thing and move it forward.

We have four of our players with us here today and just how they have led our football team and bought into what we are doing and what we are building is absolutely tremendous. It's incredibly exciting for the future of Kansas State Football, and I'm excited for the season to get started.

Q. You mentioned your two predecessors. Quarterback for one. Coach for the other. Great success. How much will you rely on what you learned from each and sort of putting your imprint on the program?

COLLIN KLEIN: I think it's an incredible situation top to bottom. I think starting most recently with Coach Klieman, I think our relationship is very unique. I think it's very genuine. I think both of us have come at everything through the different course of our professional journey what is best for the other person.

I think that is something that, again, I don't take for granted. He's been there every step of the way, if I've needed something or had a question, with, I know, my and our program's best interest at heart.

Coach Snyder has been tremendous. Again, I'd be here all day if I was going to go through all the ways that his fingerprints have been on my life and probably a big reason I got into coaching, you know, to be perfectly honest with you. All of those little things that I didn't even know he was teaching me at the time, being able to apply those and have those come to fruition through the course of my journey is incredible.

Q. You're back at Kansas State. In a world where it costs you a lot of money to get quarterbacks in the transfer portal; however, you were able to retain Avery Johnson, who seems like he fits your style of offense to a T with his breathtaking mobility, quick release. His style of play is similar to Marcel Reed where you were offensive coordinator at Texas A&M last year. Can you talk about the value that Avery Johnson brings to the offense.

COLLIN KLEIN: Avery and I's relationship goes back a long way. It's incredibly special to me. I would argue that some of his best attributes are not physical. I know everyone sees how fast he is and how well he can run. Everybody sees the arm talent and the zip and spin on the football. He's one of the best competitors I've been around.

He works hard at his craft, and he's a very stoic, laid-back guy, but that process is going and his motor is going hot under there even though he's very, very calm and collected on top. That's why we got so close and why we fit because that gives me energy every day working with him and as we have in the past and now. I know that's what he gets from me, too, because we both love the game of football. We both love competing and winning, and we both love team. That's a good combination.

It's, again, a privilege to be back. The history we have has given us a head start to be able to get back thinking the same way and on the same page to do what we want to do, and I'm excited for the future.

Q. Jordan Peterson comes with you. He's your defensive coordinator from Texas A&M, but he had some time at Kansas before that. How much of this defense will be the 4-2-5, Elko, nastiness, stop the run, everything that they have? Will it resemble that or something different to match your personality?

COLLIN KLEIN: I think in today's world of college football and something that was very, very important to me as I was putting our staff together and then also Jordan and I talking and then me envisioning that position in general is in today's world you have to be multiple, and have you to present different pictures, different fronts. So our ability to be multiple was important.

With his experience level and the different places that he's been, I feel very, very confident that we're going to be able to put the package together that will fit our personnel and also be multiple.

Q. When you took over as head coach, what's the first thing you wanted to preserve for the team and the first thing you wanted to change?

COLLIN KLEIN: I think the transition timing is crazy in college football right now because you're doing 10,000 different things. When you're in the middle of getting ready for a playoff game while starting to put together a staff, start to trying to hold together for the roster, I think I was very fortunate having been here two years before not too long ago to have a little bit of a lay of the land, a little bit of an understanding of the personnel on the roster, personnel staff-wise in the building to give me a head start.

The biggest thing was trying to build relationships with the players as fast as I could and really get to bridge that gap with them to understand where they were at, what they were thinking, doing our own evaluations to see and feel who and how we were going to retain and hold that together.

Coach Klieman had done an unbelievable job. Our culture has been very, very strong. A good situation to walk into as a first-time head coach.

Q. I'm curious about your approach. You mentioned you want this team to have a new old-school sort of way to go out there on the field. You were there for the glory days. The fans back in Kansas remember the '90s and 2000s. What does new old-school mean for the on-field product?

COLLIN KLEIN: You know, from the jump, it's really the only way I know, and I've been very, very fortunate to be around coaches and mentors that have lived that out. I think there's a level of investment, there's a level of sacrifice, there's a level of toughness, there's a level of grit that sometimes can be unpopular from a cultural standpoint or sometimes people don't like it because it's uncomfortable.

That mantra for me is that's a place that we're going to live. If there's people that don't like that or make them uncomfortable, then there's plenty that will embrace it, that will embody that, and when they put on that Powercat, they will represent it in the way that -- and be willing to make the sacrifices work at the level that we need to work and become everything that they can be.

Q. Coach, for your journey to be the quarterback at K-State and now be the head coach, just being on that special road that you've been on that not a lot of people get to take, reflecting on that, what that's meant to you, and then where your faith kind of works into that, because I know you mentioned your faith when you started off today?

COLLIN KLEIN: I appreciate you asking that. I think top to bottom my faith, my relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. These situations are completely because of Him and everything that He has blessed me and my family with. It's not because of how hard I've worked or how smart I am. It has nothing to do with that. He's made all the pieces and put them in place at the right time, the right way to make all of this a reality.

Understanding the reason and the mission that I'm called here and that we are called here, every one of us, is to serve and impact those around us and how that is the most important thing. That's the context that I'm able and very, very blessed to approach this opportunity with.

I'm very blessed that that culture has been laid for a very, very long time here that way from Coach Snyder and Coach Klieman, that it was never about them. It was about the people. It was about serving others. It was about making their life and their situation better while striving for excellence in everything we do.

Q. I wanted to ask about the two defensive guys that you brought, Wesley and (audio interruption). What's impressed you most about what you've seen this offseason?

COLLIN KLEIN: Yeah, I think both are exemplary work ethic, character, investment and care for our team. We've really developed our leadership council through the winter and the spring. Voted on that after that to build that nucleus of guys. We're waiting to vote on captains until two weeks into training camp to give those guys a chance to work and compete with each other and develop with each other, learn one another.

These two guys defensively over the last month in the summer have done a great job in our player representation meetings, bringing issues to the table, helping serve their teammates and solve problems, being sold out to our team concept. All of those characteristics translate directly to the field.

I could say we could definitely have brought 10, 12, 15 guys that are doing that. I thought those two really stood out over the last month.

Q. (Question from Wesley Fair, KSU Football player) I got a question for you. Being a former quarterback, do you find yourself cheering for offense or defense, or how do you go about that?

COLLIN KLEIN: Well, I think I need to answer that by what's on the line of who wins or loses, because after that dinner we had, I think I remember which one I would want to be on. You know?

Q. There we go. I like the sound of that.