Chris Klieman set to hire veteran NFL special teams coach as K-State football analyst

Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman will have a new special teams analyst on his staff next season.

The Wildcats are close to hiring Nate Kaczor to their support staff. Kaczor is a longtime assistant coach who has spent many years overseeing special teams in the NFL.

Under Klieman, K-State has never employed a special teams coordinator. He has opted to spread those coaching duties across his staff with an analyst providing guidance and advice in an off-field role.

Kaczor will replace Chili Davis, who recently left the Wildcats to take a special teams job in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams.

K-State lost an analyst to the NFL and then gained an analyst from the NFL.

He is expected to arrive on campus and begin working for Klieman later this week.

“What a coup for us to get a guy that’s got as much experience as he does in the National Football League,” Klieman said. “He’s from Scott City, Kansas so he wanted to come back to the great state of Kansas and be a part of the Wildcats.”

Kaczor was most recently with the Washington Commanders, where he spent four seasons as the team’s special teams coordinator. Before that, he held the same title with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans. He also coached special teams with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In all, he has 16 years of coaching experience in the NFL.

He began his coaching career in 1991 at Utah State and also worked at Nebraska-Kearney, Idaho and Louisiana-Monroe before moving up to the pro ranks.

This will mark his return to college.

Kaczor will have an important role on Klieman’s staff. There is a reason K-State likes to call itself “Special Teams U.” The Wildcats are almost always one of the best teams in the country when it comes to kicks, punts and returns.

Next season, he will try to help K-State in those areas by bringing his NFL experience to the Big 12.