MANHATTAN, Kan. – After serving the last three seasons as Kansas State’s tight ends coach, Brian Lepak will now work with the Wildcat offensive line, head coach Chris Klieman announced Thursday. Additionally, Drew Liddle, who has spent seven years on the K-State staff over two different stints, has been named the assistant offensive line coach after serving as an offensive analyst in 2024.
“Not only is Brian one of the top young coaches in our conference, but his background and experience with the offensive line made him the logical choice for this role,” Klieman said. “It was also important to have two coaches work in the trenches with our guys, and elevating Drew to assist Brian provides us stability and allows for a smooth transition.”
Lepak’s move to offensive line is part of K-State’s new-look offensive staff as Matt Wells was elevated to offensive coordinator earlier this week following the departure of offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Conor Riley last week.
“I am grateful that Coach Klieman and Coach Wells have the faith in me to take this next step in my career,” Lepak said. “I am excited to get back to coaching the offensive line and building on the many things I learned from Coach Riley. Whomever becomes the new tight ends coach will be getting a group that is extremely coachable and gave Kansas State their very best the last three seasons. I cannot thank those guys enough for all they have done for me.”
Lepak (pronounced luh-PACK) found quick success during his first three years as a full-time coach for the Wildcats, tutoring Ben Sinnott to All-Big 12 First Team accolades in both 2022 and 2023, while the Wildcats had two tight ends pick up All-Big 12 honors in 2024 in Garrett Oakley (second team) and Will Swanson (honorable mention). It was the first time since 1997 that the Wildcats had a pair of All-Big 12 tight ends in the same season, while Oakley’s second-team designation marked the first time in the Big 12 era that K-State had a first- or second-team all-conference tight end in three straight seasons.
Under Lepak’s guidance, the K-State tight end unit combined for a nation-leading 13 touchdown receptions in 2024. Five of those came from Oakley, which tied for the second most in school history by a tight end and third by any sophomore. Oakley enters his junior campaign of 2025 with seven career receiving touchdowns to rank third in school history among tight ends.
Over his first two seasons tutoring the K-State tight ends, Lepak coached Sinnott to top-10 rankings nationally among the position group in receiving yards (third), receptions (fourth) and receiving touchdowns (tied for eighth).
Under Lepak’s leadership, Sinnott earned 2023 Honorable Mention All-America honors from Phil Steele and was a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award, the first player in school history to be named a semifinalist for the award that is presented annually to the nation’s top tight end. Sinnott was selected in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft – No. 53 overall – by the Washington Commanders, the highest-drafted tight end in school history.
The 2025 season won’t be the first time Lepak has coached an offensive line as he guided that position at Southern while also holding the title of run game coordinator. During his lone season in Baton Rouge, Lepak helped the Jaguars earn a top-20 final ranking during the 2021 spring season as all five Southern offensive linemen earned All-SWAC honors, including three first-team performers. Southern finished the COVID-shortened spring season with a 5-1 record.
Lepak spent the previous three seasons as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma, assisting with an offensive line that helped pave the way for multiple national award winners – including two Heisman trophy winners – and helped lead the team to three consecutive Big 12 Championships and College Football Playoff appearances. In 2018, the offensive line was honored by winning the Joe Moore Award for the nation’s most outstanding offensive line unit. He went to Oklahoma after spending the 2014 through 2016 seasons as a graduate assistant at Indiana.
A native of Claremore, Oklahoma, Lepak was an offensive lineman for two seasons at Colorado State before transferring to Oklahoma where he spent three years, including the 2010 Big 12 Championship season, while he was an Academic All-American that year.
After completing his playing career, Lepak was awarded the Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholar Award and attended law school at the University of Oklahoma College of Law where he was a member of the Oklahoma Law Review. He graduated in 2014 and was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association the same year. In addition to his law degree, he has dual degrees in Accounting and Finance from the OU Price College of Business where he was the Outstanding Senior in Accounting.
Lepak and his wife, Colleen, have three children, Thomas, Penelope and Luke.
Liddle, a former K-State football player and staff member, returned to Manhattan for his second coaching tenure prior to the 2024 season as he served as an offensive analyst.
Liddle worked the previous two seasons as the tight ends/fullbacks coach at UTEP, while he was the
offensive line coach at Abilene Christian during the 2021 season. While at ACU, Liddle served on the same staff as K-State’s current Director of Roster Management Clint Brown and Director of Scouting Dimitri Donald. Under Liddle’s guidance, the ACU offensive line ranked No. 19 nationally in fewest sacks allowed (1.27 per game) in addition to a No. 35 national ranking in rushing offense (164.2 yards per game).
A veteran of 26 games throughout his four-year K-State career, Liddle was an Offensive Graduate Assistant at K-State for the 2015 and 2016 seasons before working as an Offensive Quality Control Coach and Assistant Director of Recruiting for the 2017 through 2020 seasons.
A native of Oak Grove, Missouri, Liddle earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Kansas State in 2014, while he obtained his MBA in 2017. He is married to the former Kelli Krier.
THE BRIAN LEPAK FILE
Hometown: Claremore, Oklahoma
College: Oklahoma – Bachelor’s in Accounting and Finance (2010); University of Oklahoma College of Law (2014)
Family: Wife: Colleen; Children: Thomas, Penelope, Luke
Playing Career: Colorado State (Offensive Line), 2006-07; Oklahoma (2008-10)
COACHING CAREER TIMELINE
2014-16, Indiana (offensive graduate assistant)
2017-19, Oklahoma (offensive graduate assistant)
2020, Southern (run game coordinator/offensive line)
2021, Kansas State (senior offensive quality control)
2022-24, Kansas State (tight ends)
2025, Kansas State (offensive line)
THE DREW LIDDLE FILE
Hometown: Oak Grove, Missouri
College: Kansas State – Bachelor’s in Political Science (2014); Master’s of Business Administration (2017)
Family: Wife: Kelli
Playing Career: Kansas State (Offensive Line), 2010-14
COACHING CAREER TIMELINE
2015-16, Kansas State (offensive graduate assistant)
2017-20, Kansas State (offensive quality control)
2021, Abilene Christian (offensive line)
2022-23, UTEP (tight ends/fullbacks)
2024, Kansas State (offensive analyst)