Geopfert's past connection to KSU coach Chris Klieman played a role in hiring

A Northern Iowa connection almost 20 years old proved key in new Kansas State director of track and field Travis Geopfert’s hiring journey.

From 2006 to 2009, both Geopfert and K-State football head coach Chris Klieman called Cedar Falls, Iowa home. After playing at UNI back in the late 1980s, Klieman returned as a defensive backs coach in 2006 and eventually moved up the ranks to defensive coordinator. Geopfert, meanwhile, was a Panther student athlete in the late 1990s and early 2000s and returned to UNI back in 2003, moving from an assistant track and field coaching role to associate head coach, and eventually, head coach for the Panthers for the 2008-09 season.

In the time that they intersected, the two teamed up several times to recruit some dual football and track athletes. They also shared a facility, the UNI-Dome, where the turf rolled out over the flat track. During football season, the track athletes would train by running up and down the sidelines.

“He was just always so gracious and approachable,” Geophart said during his introductory press conference on Monday. “And when he went on to North Dakota State, I was a fan, and then when he got the head job at North Dakota State and started winning, I was a fan. And then when he got the job here at Kansas State, I became a closet Kansas State fan.”

Because of that relationship, and because of Geopfert’s ensuing success at Arkansas and Tennessee after his time at Northern Iowa, when long-time K-State track and field coach Cliff Rovelto decided to call it a career back in May, Klieman sent two texts, one to Geopfert to gauge his interest in the job, and another to his boss, athletics director Gene Taylor, recommending his old co-worker after Geophert said he was interested.

“When you have a head coach that you respect as much as Coach Klieman, for him to reach out and say this is somebody you should look at and get a chance to meet, (you do it),” Taylor said. “What (Geopfert’s) accomplished in Arkansas throughout his career is phenomenal. We’re fortunate to have him here.”

Taylor also mention that Klieman was just one of multiple recommendations he received concerning Geopfert.

Until Geopfert got that text from Klieman, the former co-workers hadn’t kept in too close of contact, but they did check in with each other at least once a year. Geopfert joked that he tried to text Klieman after the Wildcats won the 2022 Big 12 title in last-minute fashion over TCU, but the soon-to-be sixth-year Wildcat coach had changed his phone number since the last time they talked.

Geophert also mentioned that one of his sons, Jax, was quick to bring up K-State football’s recent success when Geopfert and his wife, Nicole, told their kids about the possibility of moving from Fayetteville to Manhattan.

Similarly to Klieman, Geopfert has some unfinished business with his former employer before fully committing himself to the task at hand at K-State.

Klieman was in the middle of the FCS playoffs when he accepted the job at K-State, and took the job with the understanding that he’d be allowed to finish out the season at North Dakota State.

Geopfert has eight athletes at Arkansas who have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which kick off July 26, and he’s going to travel with them.

“That’s what I appreciate about Gene and the staff,” Geopfert said. “They’re letting me, in this moment in time, focus on these young student athletes because this is an opportunity for them (that’s) potentially once in a lifetime.”

Once that over, Geopfert will be back in Manhattan full-time.

“We’re trying to put everything together,” Geopfert said. “And there are still more conversations to be had and processes to go through and all that stuff, but getting the staff’s boots on the ground to get things going, even in my absence, is going to be really important. … We’ll start with that, get cross-country rocking and then go from there.”