Kansas State promotes Conor Riley to offensive coordinator, hires Oklahoma's Matt Wells
The Oklahoma Sooners football coaching staff will be losing one of their coaches on Thursday. Former OU analyst Matt Wells is set to join the Kansas State Wildcats, where he will become their quarterback coach/associate head coach/co-offensive coordinator, the school announced on their Twitter page.
The former Texas Tech and Utah State assistant was last an offensive coordinator for the Utah State Aggies, where he guided the nation’s No. 7 offensive attack. It was 101st before he arrived.
The Wildcats also announced the promotion of Conor Riley. He’ll be working with KSU as their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Riley has been with Kansas State for five years and he recently guided the Wildcats’ offense during their recent 28-19 bowl victory over N.C. State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Riley was the interim offensive coordinator in the bowl game, where his offensive unit rolled up 435 total yards of offense on the Wolfpack.
Kansas State HC Chris Klieman on Riley and Wells
In the Kansas State press release, head coach Chris Klieman said a few words about both coaches. “As I have said before, Conor has been with me for more than a decade, and he is deserving of this opportunity,” Klieman said. “He did a phenomenal job of leading the offensive room during our bowl preparation, and our coaches and players have the utmost respect for him and his ability to lead.
“I have known Matt for a very long time, and he is someone who will bring a lot to the table as a member of our staff – from head coaching experience to developing some of the top quarterbacks in the game. He will be a great addition to our offensive room and system, providing tremendous x’s and o’s experience as well as a recruiting prowess that mirrors our philosophy of identifying and developing talent.”
Riley is known as one of the top offensive line coaches in America and he’s worked with the KSU offensive line for the past five years. During that time frame, he’s churned out 15 All-Big 12 honorees, including the 2022 and 2023 Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, Cooper Beebe. Beebe also brought home Consensus All-American honors in 2023, becoming the first KSU offensive lineman to do so. This past season, Riley helped the Wildcats rank in the top 10 in school history in 32 game or season stat categories.
Matt Wells has nine years of head coaching experience, and he joins the Wildcats after spending the last two years at Oklahoma as advisor to the head coach/offensive analyst. Before that, he was the head coach for the Utah state Aggies from 2013-2018. Wells also served as the head coach at Texas Tech from 2019-2021.
One of Wells’ most high-profile success stories was when he tutored quarterback Jordan Love at Utah State. Love accounted for 9,003 yards of total offense in his career. He went on to be selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 2020 NFL Draft, becoming the first Aggie to hear his name called in the first round since 1970.