K-State’s Klieman is one of 12 first-year head coaches taking teams to bowl games

Twelve of the 26 first-year coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision are taking their teams to bowl games.

Ohio State’s Ryan Day is among six first-year coaches at bowl-bound Power Five schools. His unbeaten Buckeyes are the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff and will play Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Military Bowl will pit first-year coaches in Temple’s Rod Carey and North Carolina’s Mack Brown. Brown took off five years from coaching after leaving Texas in 2013. He’s in his second go-round at Carolina, where he coached from 1988-97.

Chris Klieman, who jumped from FCS powerhouse North Dakota State to Kansas State, is heading to the Liberty Bowl to face Navy. Louisville’s Scott Satterfield, who won bowls his last four years at Appalachian State, leads Louisville into the Music City Bowl against Mississippi State.

Manny Diaz will take Miami to the Independence Bowl to play Louisiana Tech.

Other first-year coaches heading to bowls are Central Michigan’s Jim McElwain, Utah State’s Gary Andersen, Liberty’s Hugh Freeze, Charlotte’s Will Healy, Western Kentucky’s Tyson Helton and Appalachian State’s Eli Drinkwitz.