photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman talks to Kansas quarterback Jason Bean (9) after their NCAA college football game against Kansas Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Lawrence. Kansas State won 31-27.

Kansas coach Lance Leipold and his counterpart at Kansas State, Chris Klieman, have often spoken over the years about their friendship.

They share common roots as former Division III head coaches — Leipold at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Klieman at Loras — who worked their way up through the college football ranks to take over the premier programs in the Sunflower State. And they maintained a strong relationship as they did battle as foes each year on the football field.

“I know sometimes, especially being at rival schools, people don’t understand sometimes the relationship part of that,” Leipold said, “and competitiveness but yet respect.”

Leipold was therefore sad to learn what was perhaps the biggest news in college football on Wednesday: Klieman announced his retirement after seven seasons with the Wildcats.

“First of all, congratulate Chris on a great career and what he’s done,” Leipold said.

Before K-State made it official in the afternoon, Klieman had called Leipold to let him know.

“(I) wished him and his wife Rhonda the best in retirement,” Leipold said. “You know, it’s too bad. It’s too bad because I think Chris has a lot of good football yet ahead of him. But when you feel like it’s time, the drain it takes on you personally, he just felt it was time.”

In KSU’s press release, Klieman, 58, said, “This decision was not taken lightly and was the culmination of many factors, including my own personal health. I absolutely love coaching the game of football and developing players into young men, but now is the time for me to step away and spend more time with Rhonda and our three kids.”

“Anytime good people get out of this profession, it’s not good,” Leipold said, “but understandably so.”

The native of Waterloo, Iowa, who made a name for himself winning FCS titles at North Dakota State, continued the pattern of success established by Bill Snyder at K-State, leading the Wildcats to bowl eligibility six times in seven seasons — he is expected to coach them in their upcoming postseason game — and a Big 12 title in 2022.

Klieman’s retirement comes after a turbulent season for the Wildcats in which they started 2-4 but flipped the script in the second half of the year — including with a 42-17 victory at KU — and beat Colorado on Saturday to earn a sixth win and bowl eligibility. Along the way, there was an emotional postgame press conference after K-State lost to Utah in which Klieman pushed back against criticism of his coaching staff and players and said, “I’ve given everything for seven years, and I feel like I deserve a little bit of respect.”

Over the course of that tenure, as K-State notes in its press release, Klieman won the Sunflower Showdown seven times in a row, five against Leipold. That included a pair of nailbiters in 2023 in Lawrence and in 2024 in Manhattan. The Wildcats hold a 17-game winning streak against the Jayhawks.

The next time Leipold faces Kansas State, there will be a different coach on the opposing sideline. Multiple reports suggest it could be Collin Klein, the former KSU quarterback and later offensive coordinator, who is currently serving as the OC at Texas A&M.