Kansas State faces the task of replacing Dana Dimel

After the end of last season, when co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Del Miller retired, there seemed to be one very clear option to replace him. Collin Klein hardly had time to unpack in Cedar Falls before heading back to Manhattan to take over the QB coach role, and Wildcat fans were quickly on board with the obvious choice.

But replacing Dana Dimel will be a bit of a harder feat, because it actually opens up two big holes on offense. When Miller left, it was easy enough just to make Dimel the “sole” coordinator and move on. But now, head coach Bill Snyder will need to replace the coordinator role, as well as hire a running backs and tight end coach to replace the other part of Dimel’s duties on the coaching staff.

Now, obviously Snyder could hire one guy to do both. But it would seem outside Snyder’s previous directions at adding coaching staff to replace an offensive coordinator with someone outside his coaching tree. With a system as complicated as Snyder’s, you need some years of experience to run it well.

Coordinator

So replacing the coordinator role will most likely come from within. And Snyder has several options to choose from.

Option one, Snyder elevates the two guys who are “sub” coordinators, wide receivers coach Andre Coleman and offensive line coach Charlie Dickey, to be co-coordinators. Coleman added the title “pass game coordinator” prior to the 2016 season. Similarly, Dickey added the title “run game coordinator” prior to the 2016 season (yes, in 2016 all four of the offensive coaches had “coordinator” in their title). It would be a logical move for both men adding the full “co-offensive coordinator” responsibilities.

Option two, Snyder elevates just one of those two to be the full, and “sole” offensive coordinator. Of the two, it seems like Coleman may be more likely, but Dickey does have more experience under his belt.

Option three, Snyder elevates one of those two guys, but the other spot is filled by Collin Klein. This would make Klein one of the youngest Division I and Power 5 coordinators in the country, but the former Wildcat signal-caller knows the offense well and has the trust of Snyder dating back to his days leading K-State to a Big 12 title in 2012. Of the two iterations available here, it would seem most likely that Coleman would be the man opposite Klein in the “co-” role.

Option four, Snyder hires a new coordinator from outside the staff. There are some guys floating around with experience either directly in the Snyder system, or in the Snyder tree. One such option is Kevin Wilson, currently the O-coordinator for Ohio State. It would likely take a pay raise to get him here, but Wilson coached for Bob Stoops for many years, and the Meyer offense is built on the late-90’s K-State offense. Another option here, and more on him later, is another former Wildcat signal-caller. Jonathan Beasley just completed his first season as co-offensive coordinator at Division II Tarleton State. It would be a bit of a leap to bring him up to Division I, but his last stop before TSU was as graduate assistant for K-State from 2009-2011. Any version of option four seems considerably less likely than any of the first three.

Writer’s vote: Option three seems to generate the most buzz, so it will probably be option one.

Running Backs/Tight Ends Coach

This is where things get a bit more interesting, and there are far more options available. Also, don’t discount the possibility of splitting these positions now that the NCAA allows ten assistant coaches instead of nine.

First up here is a name we just mentioned, Jonathan Beasley. Yes, he was a quarterback at K-State, but for nearly all his coaching career he has coached running backs and/or receivers. At his current posting in Texas, Beasley coaches the running backs, tight ends, and is the recruiting coordinator for the Texans (and as mentioned, picked up the “co-offensive coordinator” title prior to the start of this season). He’s been at K-State as a player in Snyder 1.0, and as a graduate assistant in Snyder 2.0. Plus, he brings solid Texas and Southwest ties to recruiting.

Our next option is on the Bill Snyder tree as well, though without the coaching experience at K-State. Wildcat fans will no doubt remember running back Eric Gallon from the earliest days of Snyder 1.0. His son, a linebacker who shares his father’s name, just transferred from Virginia before the start of the 2017 season. After his career at K-State concluded, Gallon spent a couple seasons in the NFL before taking some time off from football. In 2008, Gallon returned to the sidelines to coach high school football in Lakeland, FL, and was the head coach for his son’s high school football team for two years. Before his son could graduate high school, Gallon got called up to Youngstown State where he helped fill a coaching slot vacated by Andre Coleman’s departure to K-State. He has also since coached at Tennessee State, and is currently the assistant head coach and running backs coach at Division III Brevard College. Gallon is also noted for his recruiting, and has deep ties to the east coast and Florida.

Another option, again from the Snyder tree, is former Wildcat running back Rock Cartwright. After being selected in the seventh round of the 2002 draft, Cartwright spent ten years in the NFL. And while Cartwright was an All-Big 12 fullback at K-State, he made his mark in the NFL as a return-specialist, including setting the Washington Redskins single-season kickoff return record with 1,541 yards in 2006. He got into coaching in 2015, when he was a training camp intern for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and has been on the staff for the Cleveland Browns since 2016 as offensive quality control/assistant running backs coach.

Other options can vary as wildly as your imagination, in and outside the Snyder tree. However, at this stage, and with Snyder’s advancing age, it is most likely that Snyder will pick someone he knows for this position, and someone that will be very familiar to Wildcat fans.

Writer’s vote: Beasley seems like the obvious choice here, considering his relatively recent experience at K-State, and deep ties to Snyder and Snyder’s system.