He’s taking picture after picture inside the white-walled studio on Monday morning, a parade of head pictures in go well with apparel, in polo shirts and quarter-zips, the Kansas State soccer workforce photographer getting each attainable angle simply to make sure. In a approach, the profession of Christian Ellsworth, introduced on December 21 as new quarterbacks coach below head coach Collin Klein, is like a picture album, with every cease alongside his journey telling a story of this 28-year-old’s quest to in the future work alongside his previous quarterbacks coach at Northern Iowa.
Ellsworth involves Ok-State after two seasons on workers at Texas A&M, together with serving as tight ends coach in 2025, below Klein, the offensive coordinator for the Aggies.
Ellsworth grew to become the youngest place coach in the SEC, and he’s famous as a “rising star in this profession,” in line with Klein, and Ellsworth is deeply entrenched in Ok-State tradition having served as an offensive graduate assistant below Chris Klieman in 2020 and 2021 and incomes his Master’s diploma at Ok-State in 2022.
Ellsworth, a native of Grand Island, Nebraska, was a three-time all-state quarterback at Grand Island Northwest and left as the all-time chief in Nebraska historical past in profession passing yards, profession completions and profession touchdowns. He first met Klein when Klein coached him at Northern Iowa in 2016.
Klein and Ellsworth have been reunited when Klein, who had returned to Ok-State as quarterbacks coach, requested Ellsworth to function volunteer coach at Ok-State previous to the 2020 season. Ellsworth finally grew to become an offensive graduate assistant. Upon receiving his Master’s diploma, Ellsworth held positions on the staffs at South Carolina (2022), Nebraska (2023) and Texas A&M (2024) earlier than he was elevated to tight ends coach in 2025.
Now Ellsworth, his spouse, Cassidy, daughter, Ada, and son, Brooks, are embarking upon an thrilling journey at Ok-State.
Ellsworth hasn’t wasted any time. He just lately flew to seven completely different states in a span of 48 hours to talk to present Ok-State gamers.
Things are transferring a lot quick as Ellsworth and the remainder of the newly employed Ok-State assistant coaches be a part of Klein in the early levels of engineering Klein’s imaginative and prescient for the program, however Ellsworth spoke with Ok-State Sports Extra’s D. Scott Fritchen about his story, which in some methods is simply getting good.
D. SCOTT FRITCHEN: It’s been a little greater than a week since Collin Klein introduced your hiring as Ok-State quarterbacks coach. But take me again to that preliminary cellphone name from Collin. Where have been you and what have been you doing at the time that he known as you that fateful day?
CHRISTIAN ELLSWORTH: It’s clearly a super honor to even be thought of and have the alternative to be right here, to have the ability to come again to Ok-State, and to get to educate that place — a place that I do know means a lot to Collin Klein. It’s a place that has a wealthy custom of success and historical past, so it is a super honor. You know, I had a feeling I’d be coming with him. I coached the tight ends at Texas A&M, so when all this began taking place, my spouse and I had a fairly good feeling — we have gotten fairly shut with the Kleins over the years — that we would be coming to Manhattan. He needed to undergo the technique of the whole lot, so we have been sort of a little uncertain what the place was going to be, so we have been simply doing our each day enterprise at Texas A&M and sport planning for Miami in the playoffs. Ultimately, we have been sitting there and received a name late at evening, and he requested me if I needed to be the quarterbacks coach. I took it and ran with it.
FRITCHEN: What is occurring inside your head as you take heed to Collin converse on the cellphone?
ELLSWORTH: He’s the greatest chief I’ve ever been round, and he is a man that cares for you as a particular person. I had the nice alternative to play for him, and he cares about you as a participant. He simply is ready to grasp you along with his phrases and in simply the method wherein he speaks. You can simply inform there’s a real love and care for you as a particular person. I’ll observe that man into battle anyplace, anytime, and he is actually gotten my consideration, as I do know he’ll have the consideration of the total program.
FRITCHEN: What was the very first thing you probably did after you hung up the cellphone with Collin?
ELLSWORTH: I needed to name my spouse. We have been leaving the facility at round 11:30 p.m. She was asleep. I knew if I known as her twice, she’d most likely reply. She was simply so, so elated as a result of we have been right here at Ok-State in 2020 and 2021 as a graduate assistant, and simply the alternative to come back again and to come back again in that position means the world to us.
FRITCHEN: What has your life been like over the previous 9 days because you have been introduced as quarterbacks coach?
ELLSWORTH: We needed to end our job at Texas A&M, and Coach Klein was capable of come again and get into game-planning mode to attempt to beat Miami. That was actually our focus for these days main as much as the sport on December 20. After the sport, it has been strictly cellphone calls and conversations and speaking to our present roster, after which simply on the brink of hit the floor working. This just isn’t a rebuild. We’re profitable now. We received proper to work December 21 after we misplaced to Miami. We have been able to go and get this ball rolling.
FRITCHEN: What are the conversations like with the potential student-athletes coming in to play quarterback?
ELLSWORTH: First of all, you want winners. You cannot play the place should you’re not a winner. That results in toughness. You must be powerful. We want you on the market and it’s a must to be sturdy and be capable of face up to the pressures that occur on the discipline and in addition off the discipline. It’s a powerful place. You’re a quarterback at Kansas State, there’s a lot of individuals which are going to be pointing fingers at you, and a lot of people who find themselves going to have their opinions. You have to have the ability to block out the noise and simply do your job and do it each all the way down to the better of your skill. Lastly, we wish the proper folks. That place, on this program, has a lot energy and a lot weight. We want the guys in there which are going to understand the consideration of their teammates, that their teammates are going to need to observe into battle, and we’re speaking to those guys, and it is actually ensuring they will verify these three issues off. As quickly as they do, we no less than know now we have the proper character, the proper mindset of a child coming in, and we all know that provides us a good basis to win a lot of soccer video games.
FRITCHEN: Describe your first dialog with Avery Johnson. Was it in particular person? Was it a cellphone name? How did that dialog go?
ELLSWORTH: Actually, my first dialog with Avery was again once I was right here as a graduate assistant. Avery and I’ve recognized one another for a little bit. I had the nice privilege of being round him and his household after they would go to. I used to be away when he determined to commit right here, however I actually adopted his profession and the success that he is had. The first name we had this month was most likely about 10 days in the past or so, and shortly after I used to be introduced as quarterback coach, and it was simply pleasure to have the ability to see one another once more, and it was about the alternative to work with one another. We have a particular bond that we’ll proceed to construct on, as each of us have performed at quarterback below Collin Klein, and each of us have the understanding of the sort of males that he wants in that room to assist lead the program. We’re going to have the ability to relate on that. We talked about that. We talked about how this isn’t a rebuild and that is a “win now.” Plenty of occasions throughout change, folks would possibly assume that you will simply attempt to get by.
We’re not going to simply strive. We’re going to win all of it.
Avery desires to listen to that, clearly. He’s a competitor, he is one in all the hardest guys that we’ll have working on the market on Saturdays. For him to listen to, “Hey, we’re getting ready to go, and we’re not messing around,” meant a lot to him. I’m excited to work with him and to be round him, and I’ll proceed to push him to guide this workforce to success.
FRITCHEN: What are a few of the most essential stuff you realized about teaching as a Ok-State offensive graduate assistant?
ELLSWORTH: Great query. I actually need to give the credit score to educate Chris Klieman and being the first head coach I’ve labored for. I realized a ton about loving your gamers and actually being in it for the proper causes, which is to enhance the lives of the younger males you get to be round. That’d be the very first thing. From an Xs and Os and day-to-day work life, it was about how onerous it’s a must to work to achieve success, and in addition which you could work simply as onerous and never achieve success. It’s a part of the job. It’s discovering these little particulars. Over these two years at Ok-State and in the 4 years since then that I’ve been at another spots, it is understanding that once you break all of it down, and everyone in the nation is pushing lengthy hours and doing issues which are onerous, it is the particulars, and it is mastering the particulars and the communication and ensuring that each single particular person in the program is pulling in the proper course. I felt that approach after we have been right here in 2020 and 2021. I’m actually excited as a result of this program, college and neighborhood is hungry for success at the prime. Everything that is helped us be taught over the previous couple years is main us to come back again at the applicable time to get this ship rolling once more.
FRITCHEN: Collin was a Heisman Trophy finalist as a quarterback, he coached quarterbacks at Ok-State, served as offensive coordinator, helped develop a number of excellent Ok-State quarterbacks, after which he helped develop quarterback Marcel Reed at Texas A&M. For years, being a quarterback or teaching quarterbacks has been huge enterprise for Collin. Can you describe the sense of duty that you just really feel in teaching a place so expensive to Collin’s coronary heart?
ELLSWORTH: It’s a super honor. Obviously, there’s a nice duty to ensure you’re doing it proper. I understand how a lot that place means to him and the way a lot particularly the quarterback place at Kansas State means to him. He is aware of that he’ll get my greatest. The fantastic thing about it’s Coach Klein and I — I’ve been very lucky to be with him at three completely different establishments for a whole of 5 years now, going into six years, of my faculty soccer life. The quantity of occasions we have had conversations about quarterback play and simply the understanding that I used to be capable of get by being below him goes to actually pay dividends for us to proceed to have the working relationship. He’s going to have a say and he’ll be concerned as a result of that is his place and it is what he loves and cares about, so we’ll welcome it. There’s no higher honor to me than being the quarterback coach right here and having him nonetheless to be taught from and nonetheless choose up issues as I’m going. I do know it is going to be superior. We’re going to work collectively and ensure these quarterbacks are the greatest in the nation.
FRITCHEN: From Ok-State, you served as an offensive graduate assistant at South Carolina in 2022, then as an offensive analyst at Nebraska in 2023, then you definitely joined Texas A&M first as a senior offensive analyst in 2024 and as tight ends coach in 2025. In what methods have every of these previous experiences greatest ready you for this position at Ok-State?
ELLSWORTH: Every expertise has been at the good time in my life and in my teaching profession and my spouse and youngsters’ lives. We went to South Carolina, and I received the alternative at a completely different velocity and degree and in a completely different footprint in the nation. The sport is typically a little bit completely different in the SEC as a result of it’s performed a little bit extra on the outdoors, so it was good for me to see. There have been a lot of various protection variations and constructions that basically impacted my development. We additionally had our first youngster, Ada, out in South Carolina. There was a lot of studying there being a first-time dad and managing the soccer schedule that we had. So, there was a lot of studying there.
Then we went to Nebraska, and I’m from Nebraska, in order that was a return house for me. There was a ton of development there with Coach Matt Rhule. The greatest factor from Coach Rhule was how artistic he may be in what he is doing along with his each day. He all the time talked about an previous poem that mainly talks about a blue vase. Basically, he’d stroll via the facility and say, “Blue Vase Mentality,” which meant no matter you needed to do to get the job completed, nonetheless you needed to discover a method to do it, let’s get it completed. I realized a lot from him.
The alternative to go to Texas A&M was superior. I used to be the youngest place coach in the SEC the final two years. Being thrown into the fireplace like that makes you develop up quick. There are some ins and outs of the job that you do not notice once you’re a GA and an analyst, and also you get thrown in that place coach position, and now all the weight is on you. Every-down success from the tight ends at Texas A&M was a reflection of me and my management. The skill to know and be capable of take the stress of being a place coach was one thing I needed to be taught actually quick at Texas A&M, and I’m so grateful I did. We had a lot of success, and I used to be very lucky to educate a lot of fine gamers who helped me develop in that course of.
FRITCHEN: You’re 28 years previous. You can relate to student-athletes at present. What sort of inherent benefit does that offer you and what’s the greatest problem?
ELLSWORTH: There are a lot of coaches on the market in recruiting that use my age as a destructive towards me. I run proper at it. The motive I run proper at it’s as a result of I can relate at a completely different degree. I’m a soccer coach, so I haven’t got a ton of time to be tied up in popular culture, so it isn’t like I do know all their favourite musical artists or video video games, however there’s a commonality of rising up in a related time-frame that helps. I used to be a a part of the social media technology, so I’ve the understanding and know find out how to relate to a man and assist him handle the stress that may occur via social media, or simply present knowledge, or maybe not being on it, or when to be on it. My entire teaching profession has been a a part of the NIL aspect of issues. Maybe I may also help gamers with cash questions that I’ve realized. The alternative as I’m studying via life, I’m studying alongside of them. That permits us to have a lot of nice conversations and break some partitions down and permits me and them to attach at a completely different degree. I do assume it is a bonus that I’ve in recruiting and in teaching generally.
FRITCHEN: How would you greatest describe your management type?
ELLSWORTH: Leadership is available in some ways. There’s completely different occasions and completely different causes for completely different kinds. That’s a part of how I’ve been capable of develop as a coach. There are occasions to be rah-rah and get the guys motivated that is what I’ll do. Sometimes, it is simply working alongside. One of the issues I did at each single apply at Texas A&M — I did not must say something, but when a play was taking place 35-40 yards downfield, I used to be taking off and working alongside them, telling them to complete the play or end the rep. It reveals your coach is prepared to be in the combat with you and in addition, it is a pull from the entrance as a substitute of push from the again sort of management. Lastly, generally management is not saying something in any respect, and it is simply listening. Whether it is Avery or every other quarterback who comes into my workplace, there’s going to be a lot of time for me to hear, and I can lead from listening by having the ability to have a sound judgement of what they want a state of affairs and be capable of information and push. At the finish of the day, it is caring for the guys, loving the guys, and realizing when the proper alternative is to push, pull or simply hear.
FRITCHEN: When you hear the phrases “Kansas State football” what’s the very first thing that involves thoughts?
ELLSWORTH: Tradition, Collin Klein, Bill Snyder. There’s most likely going to be a lot of people that query placing Coach Klein in entrance of Coach Snyder on that one, however no, it is a lovely place, and stuffed with a ton of people that care for this establishment. I really like driving into Manhattan and counting all the Powercats you see. Everyone right here completely loves Kansas State soccer. I’m an alum and received my Master’s diploma right here in 2022. It means a lot to my household and I. I’m past excited and humbled to be the quarterbacks coach right here.
FRITCHEN: What can be going via your thoughts when Ok-State coaches and gamers trot out onto the discipline for the first time at Bill Snyder Family Stadium previous to the 2026 season opener?
ELLSWORTH: I get goosebumps desirous about it as a result of the power now we have proper now as a workers, the momentum that we’re constructing with our roster, the work we’ll put in over this winter and spring and summer time, that is going to be a celebration of all the trials and hardships we’re about to undergo. From a private aspect, I’m going to get on the market actually early as a result of I can’t wait, I need to be in place and settle myself as a result of I can’t wait to look at Coach Klein stroll down that tunnel. It makes me emotional speaking about it as a result of I understand how a lot it is going to imply to him. We’ve sat there and have dreamed about that day for a very long time. When that occurs, it is going to be particular watching it happen. I’m going to be crammed with a lot pleasure and pleasure for Coach Klein.
FRITCHEN: From rising up in Grand Island, Nebraska to the place you’re at present, what have you ever realized most about your self throughout your journey?
ELLSWORTH: I’ve realized that I’m a go-getter and that is stated with humbleness, and it is taken a lot of those that have poured into me to place me into the proper conditions. Out of highschool, I did not have many alternatives to go play faculty soccer and took the one which ended up taking place, and due to the Lord’s steerage, I ended up being coached by Collin Klein and a couple different super males. I did not have a chance to educate after I used to be completed at Northern Iowa, and Collin offers me a name in March and requested if I used to be prepared to volunteer down right here. So, I volunteered a couple months earlier than a GA job opened up. I did not know anyone at South Carolina, then I’m going to Nebraska and was nonetheless battling my approach up the teaching ladder. At 26 years previous, I received the alternative to take over as a place coach in the SEC. All these issues main as much as simply the understanding of it is taken so many individuals to assist me, however we’ll discover a approach and get the job completed. The motive I say “we” is as a result of my spouse deserves as a lot credit score as I do — extra — due to her position in elevating our two youngsters and simply serving to us push towards this dream. Being a go-getter is not only a person effort. It’s taken everyone who’s been capable of pour into me.