There will be changes in the football staff of the state of Kansas

The Kansas State Wildcats will have new faces on the sidelines as they head to spring rehearsals in 2022. Head coach Chris Klieman announced today that attack coordinator / WR coach Courtney Messingham and TE coach Jason Ray have been fired immediately. Current QB coach and K-State legend Colin Klein is the interim offensive coordinator in the Wildcats bowl game.

This was a very difficult decision For Kliemann, when he and Messingham return to childhood, they grew up together in Waterloo, IA before both headed to North Iowa for college football and later coached together at several locations. After several years of separation, they met again in the state of North Dakota when Klieman brought Messingham as his offensive coordinator and running coach in 2017 before bringing him to Manhattan as OC and then TE coach.

Messingham was known for its strong original game plan and offensive system, which can be very effective when implemented correctly. But his struggles were evident when the original plan broke down, played from behind and after halftime. The Wildcats struggled considerably in the third quarter for most of his tenure, especially in losses, and he seemed slow to make changes as opponents adapted to his game plan. While Wildcat fans often aroused anger, the collapse against Texas, including short-yard-scratching decisions at the end of the game, eventually united the fan base to demand his removal.

Ray was probably the biggest question mark when he was brought in from the state of North Dakota after his career ended in Missouri in 2007. A man from Oklahoma spent four years in Wyoming as a Dave Chrisensen staff member (after college). OC Laramie) before heading to the state of Oklahoma for a couple of years. After leaving Stillwater, Ray coaches in Northern Iowa and Missouri before joining Klieman Fargo. Ray, who is himself a college researcher, coached the receivers except for the first three years of his career before joining K-State. Ray’s first two years in Manhattan were spent coaching the receivers, but advancing from an extensive receiver seemed lacking, and so he was promoted to coach for the 2021 season, swapping places with Messingham.

Both owe the rest of their contract, which runs until the end of February 2022. The early names that have been brought up are Matt Wells, who had served as Texas Tech’s head coach until this season and has been to Manhattan several times since. as well as Tim Polasek, who has spent 2021 in Wyoming as an OC coach under Craig Bohl after spending the previous three years as a coach on the offensive line in Iowa. Polasek was the attack coordinator at North Dakota State before Messingham, and he went to work in Iowa before 2017.