FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The largest turnover of Big 12 head coaches in seven seasons includes two first-timers at their alma maters, a national championship winner and another who last season almost got a Group of Five team into the College Football Playoff.
“I grew up a Big 12 kid," new Kansas State coach Collin Klein said Wednesday. “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.”
Klein, part of Big 12 titles at K-State as a Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback in 2012 and then an assistant coach a decade later, returned to Manhattan after Chris Klieman unexpectedly decided to step away last December. Klieman was among the newcomers in 2019, when the league last had four new coaches at the same time.
The other coaching changes this time are Utah alumnus Morgan Scalley, who nearly two decades ago recruited Klein as a quarterback, Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State and Eric Morris at Oklahoma State.
Scalley has been part of Utah's staff since being a graduate assistant in 2007, three years after his last game as a defensive back for the Utes. He was their defensive coordinator for 10 seasons before his debut as head coach in a Las Vegas Bowl victory last New Year's Eve, following Kyle Whittingham's surprise departure after 21 seasons and then becoming Michigan's coach.
It was while recruiting the Colorado area as a graduate assistant that Scalley saw “this quarterback that I absolutely loved.” But since GAs can't do off-campus recruiting, he couldn't go see Klein in person.
“So I had him come to us, and on his own dime he flew out, showed up on campus in a suit and tie and left without an offer," Scalley recalled Wednesday. "But you know who offered him? Kansas State. It was Collin Klein. Isn’t that crazy?”
Klein still remembers the visit, including lunch at a burger joint in downtown Salt Lake City with Brian Johnson, then going into his senior season as the Utes QB.
“Coach Scalley was tremendous. I mean, he was an unbelievable relationship builder, energy, detailed," Klein said. “I knew he was going to be an unbelievable coach. I had no idea we’d end up coaching against each other in the same league as head coaches.”
Klein’s coaching career began as a GA at his alma mater in 2014, and he has since remained at Kansas State, except in 2016 as Northern Iowa's QBs coach, and the past two seasons as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, which made the 12-team playoff last year.
After last season at Washington State, Rogers made his debut at Big 12 football media days 18 months after leading South Dakota State, his alma mater, to the FCS national championship. That title game was played only about four miles from the headquarters of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, where the conference's annual two-day event wrapped up Wednesday.
“This is a perfect fit for me. I’m a big people person. I’ve recruited the state for seven years when I was at my prior tenure at South Dakota State, had a prior relationship with (athletic director) Jamie Pollard and felt really confident about the leadership that was in place here,” Rogers said. “(Another) portion of that is the opportunity to compete at a Power 4 school and to compete in the Big 12. ... You win this conference, you punch your ticket into the College Football Playoff, you have an opportunity to compete for a national championship. That is the goal.”
Rogers replaced Matt Campbell, who left Iowa State after 10 seasons for Penn State.
Morris took 21 players with him from North Texas, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, the national passing leader last season as a freshman with 4,379 yards. The Mean Green were ranked for the only time since 1959 and missed out on a CFP berth after losing to Tulane in the American Conference championship game. The Green Wave made the playoff.
Before Mestemaker, Morris had coached quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward and Baker Mayfield in college. The coach now takes over an Oklahoma State team that has lost 19 Big 12 games in a row — a streak that began with a 49-21 loss to Texas in the 2023 championship game before the Cowboys went 0-9 in Big 12 play each of the past seasons.
“Super-excited for Stillwater. It was a big draw for me and my family to come to Stillwater,” Morris said. "I’m from a small town in west Texas, and that’s how I wanted raise my family. So Stillwater has been nothing short of amazing. Super genuine people, hard-working, blue-collar organization.”
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
