Why K-State QB coach Matt Wells has wanted to work with Chris Klieman for many years

A few years ago, you couldn’t find a friendlier pair of head football coaches in the Big 12 than Chris Klieman and Matt Wells.

Klieman talked up Texas Tech like Patrick Mahomes was still playing quarterback for the Red Raiders all week leading up to their games. Wells returned the favor by speaking about Kansas State as if the Wildcats boasted an NFL roster. Oh, and they each thought the other team was extremely well coached.

Where did all that admiration and respect come from?

Wells, who spent six seasons as a head coach at Utah State and then three at Texas Tech, is happy to tell the story now that he is working for Klieman as K-State’s new quarterbacks coach.

“It started in my early days at Utah State,” Wells said. “I was becoming a head coach and really looking out there at potential defensive coordinators and just studying what (Klieman) did at North Dakota State and how tough they played and how they ran the football and how they tackled. That was important for me as an offensive guy.

“I was like, ‘Who is this guy coordinating this defense?’ Then I found out it was (Klieman) and we started a relationship. And I offered him the defensive coordinator job at Utah State.”

Perhaps there is an alternate universe out there in which Klieman accepted the offer and teamed up with Wells to do big things in the Mountain West and then the Big 12. But that’s not what happened here.

Klieman, apparently sensing that he was on track to become the head coach at North Dakota State, decided to stay put. He was later promoted and then won FCS championships with the Bison. Then K-State came calling.

Wells won on his own at Utah State while coaching current Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love. He led the Aggies to five bowl games and then made the jump to Texas Tech.

Both coaches kept in touch over the years, and a friendship formed. But in an unpredictable twist of fate, it was Klieman who handed Wells his final loss with the Red Raiders. K-State rallied for a 25-24 victory at Texas Tech in October of 2021 and Wells was fired the following day.

That sent Wells out of the business until he became an analyst for Brent Venables at Oklahoma. Now he is getting back into coaching with Klieman a decade after they failed to link up at Utah State.

“He turned me down, and I said yes to him,” Wells said. “Just fast-forward 10 years later.”

Did Wells at least play hard to get?

“No,” he responded. “I said yes pretty quick.”

Wells is the type of person who thinks everything happens for a reason, so he is excited to see how much he can help the Wildcats accomplish as a member of Klieman’s coaching staff. He describes K-State as “a very, very stable program in an unstable world.”

The Wildcats promoted offensive line coach Conor Riley to coordinator after they beat North Carolina State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl and then supported him by bringing in a former Big 12 head coach to lead the QB room.

Talented quarterback Avery Johnson will have a new tutor as he takes command of the K-State offense as a sophomore.

Wells is eager to work with him. That much was obvious when Wells was asked about what most impressed him about Johnson.

“The easy answer is his legs, because he’s got some God-given talent there to escape, as well as just straight-line, linear speed,” Wells said. “He’s fast, but he kid can throw football, too. He really can, and that’s what he’s been doing his whole life. ... The best is yet to come for Avery Johnson, I really believe that he’s got a high ceiling and I think we’re going to see a better version of him this spring and next fall.”

Wells could afford to be picky when it came to his return to coaching, but there was no way he was going to turn down an offer to work with Klieman next season and beyond.

It’s time for two old coaching friends to join forces.