TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) About the only thing the football programs at Kansas and Kansas State have had in common much of the past three decades is the often desolate stretch of Interstate 70 that connects them.
The Jayhawks have the proud tradition of John Riggins and Gale Sayers, yet recent success has been so scant that theyve churned through five coaches in the past 10 years. The Wildcats had virtually no tradition until Bill Snyder arrived, and he built a consistent winner tucked away in the Flint Hills.
Makes sense the two schools would take vastly different approaches to hiring new head coaches.
Kansas settled on 65-year-old Les Miles, the Mad Hatter with Big 12 success at Oklahoma State and a national title at LSU on his resume. The quirky, defensive-minded coach known for nibbling grass and his recent foray into films has personality, energy and experience on his side.
Kansas State went with Chris Klieman, the 51-year-old former North Dakota State coach whose only experience at the Football Bowl Subdivision level came 22 years ago a single season as an assistant at Kansas. Yet the blue-collar, hard-working Klieman proved his coaching chops at North Dakota State, where in five seasons he went 69-6 and won four Football Championship Subdivision national titles.
Flashy and familiar.
Down-to-earth and largely unknown.
I dont know what it was like a year ago. Everybody asks me about what it was, Klieman told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview. I know what were trying to instill here. Guys taking ownership of the program, guys getting invested in the program. Its their program. Were just guiding them. I want them to have input. I want them to have ownership. What was, I dont know.
So maybe Klieman and Miles arent quite polar opposites.
The new Kansas coach said basically the same thing.
I think our players anticipated there being a new feeling, Miles said. I think its going to be a challenge to win games and win championships, but yeah, were ready for that challenge.
To be sure, Miles understands the gargantuan task ahead of him.
Kansas hasnt been to a bowl game since 2008, the penultimate season of Mark Manginos stunningly successful tenure. That was also the last time the Jayhawks won more than five games, let alone had a winning season. Four times in the intervening years theyve won two games or fewer.
With losses along the way to the likes of Nicholls State, South Dakota State and seemingly every school in the Mid-America Conference, the Jayhawks had become not just the laughingstock of the state or the Big 12, they were the butt of jokes nationwide. Rarely did more than 15,000 fans show up to Memorial Stadium for home games, and even more rarely did anybody stick around for the second half.
Kansas has tried just about every avenue to land a winning coach, too.
