Courtney Messingham, a 31-year coaching veteran who has served as a coordinator at multiple stops in addition to coaching virtually every offensive position, enters his third season as Kansas State’s offensive coordinator in 2021. In addition to running the offense, Messingham also coaches the Wildcat wide receivers after tutoring the fullbacks and tight ends his first two seasons.

The Wildcats took to Messingham’s offense quickly in his first year as K-State led the nation in red zone offense (96.2%), ranked ninth in the country and first in the Big 12 in time of possession (33:27), and 10th nationally in passes intercepted (5). The red-zone mark was the best by the Wildcats since at least 2001 and the best by a Big 12 team since at least 2004, while their five interceptions tied for the fewest in school history in a 13-game season and tied for the ninth fewest in the Big 12 era.

In his first game coordinating the Wildcat offense, K-State put together a 573-yard effort against Nicholls – tied for the seventh most in a single game in school history – while the Wildcats opened the season with a pair of 500-yard outputs for the first time in school history.

Eight Wildcats on offense picked up all-conference honors in 2019 – the most since 2012 – which included first-team fullback Nick Lenners. Quarterback Skylar Thompson was the first Wildcat signal caller to earn the nod from the league’s coaches since 2014, as he finished the year ranked 10th in school history in single-season completions (177) and touchdowns responsible for (23).

Battling COVID-19 protocols and seeing his senior starting quarterback lost for the season in the third game, Messingham tutored an offense that ranked fourth in the nation – and tops in the Big 12 – in red zone offense (93.9), while the Wildcats ranked 22nd nationally and tied for first in the Big 12 in sacks allowed (1.40).

Three Wildcats on offense earned All-Big 12 honors, including one of his pupils in tight end Briley Moore, who picked up second-team accolades. Another Wildcat to earn second-team honors was true freshman running back Deuce Vaughn, who was also named the True Freshman of the Year by 247Sports, to multiple All-America teams and was the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year. With Messingham’s play calling and scheme, Vaughn broke the K-State freshman records for rushing yards (642), yards from scrimmage (1,076) and all-purpose yards (1,221). Vaughn was one of just three players in the nation with at least 600 rushing yards and 400 receiving yards, joining Clemson’s Travis Etienne and Alabama’s Najee Harris.

Vaughn was one of two K-State true freshmen to start at least seven games in 2020, the other being quarterback Will Howard as Thompson was out for the season with an injury in the third game. The Wildcats were one of just two teams in the nation to start true freshmen at quarterback and running back for at least seven games during the 2020 campaign.

Under Messingham’s guidance, Howard became the first true freshman quarterback in school history to win his first career start when the Wildcats won at TCU, while he was the first to win his first two career starts when K-State took down Kansas in the next game.

Messingham came to Manhattan after an ultra-successful two-year stint as offensive coordinator and running backs coach at North Dakota State under head coach Chris Klieman. Messingham’s offense reset the NDSU and Missouri Valley Football Conference record books in 2018, a year that the Bison went 15-0 and won its FCS-record seventh national championship, all coming within an eight-year span. The Bison set the school and conference marks for points scored (622), touchdowns scored (80), rushing offense (4,293), total offense (7,076) and rushing touchdowns (54). Additionally, the 2018 Bison set a school record for yards per play (7.37) and ranked second in yards per rush (6.41).

NDSU ranked in the top-10 in the nation in scoring offense during both of Messingham’s seasons at the controls, going for 41.5 points per game in 2018 and 38.7 points per game in 2017, helping the Bison earn a combined 29-1 record and two national championships. North Dakota State’s rushing offense also ranked in the top 10 each of Messingham’s two seasons at the helm by averaging 286.2 yards in 2018 to rank seventh and 272.2 yards per game in 2017 to rank fourth. And, although the Bison averaged less than 200 yards passing per game, they were extremely efficient when they did throw, ranking fourth (163.15) and second (169.71) in passing efficiency in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Messingham tutored a three-headed monster at running back in 2018 in Bruce Anderson, Lance Dunn and Ty Brooks as the trio averaged 169.4 yards per game and totaled 26 touchdowns. In 2017, Anderson was a Second Team FCS All-American and All-Missouri Valley Conference player by ranking sixth in the nation with 1,216 yards to go along with 12 touchdowns.

Messingham went to NDSU from Montana State, where he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2016. That season under Messingham’s guidance, quarterback Chris Murray was named Big Sky Freshman of the Year and was a Freshman All-American. Prior to that, Messingham was the offensive and special teams quality control coach at Indiana in 2014 and 2015, aiding an offense with two 1,000-yard rushers, a 1,000-yard receiver and a 3,500-yard passer to mark just the fourth occurrence in NCAA history.

His stint in Manhattan is his second tour of duty in the Big 12 as Messingham spent five seasons at Iowa State, including his final two as the offensive coordinator. He coached the tight ends in 2009 and 2010 before switching to wide receivers in 2011. Messingham took control of the Cyclone offense in 2012 and 2013, helping ISU set a school record for touchdown passes the first year (28), while the Cyclones also ranked in the top five that season in passing yards (fourth), first downs (fourth), total offense (fifth), total touchdowns (fifth) and points (fifth).

Messingham received his first coaching job as a graduate assistant at St. Ambrose (Iowa) in 1990 before being promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. He then moved to Iowa Lakes Community College for the same role in 1993 and 1994 before working at Truman State from 1995 to 1998, the first two years being the running backs and tight ends coach before taking over the coordinator role the final two seasons. In 1996, Messingham coached running back Jarrett Anderson to the Harlon Hill Award as the nation’s best NCAA Division II player.

A teammate of Klieman at Northern Iowa from 1986 to 1989, the duo first reunited in the coaching profession at Missouri State in 1999 when Messingham was the wide receivers and tight ends coach. Following that season, Messingham took over as offensive coordinator from 2000 to 2002. He returned to Springfield in 2008 to serve as Missouri State’s special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach.

After a two-year stint as head coach at Upper Iowa University in 2003 and 2004 while the Peacocks were reclassifying to Division II, Messingham took his first FBS job at Southern Miss from 2005 to 2007, the first two as wide receivers coach before tutoring the running backs. He helped coach the Golden Eagles to a 2006 Conference USA East Division championship, while, the next year, he coached running back Damion Fletcher, the 2007 winner of the Conerly Trophy, which is given annually to the best college football player in the state of Mississippi.

In Messingham’s 11 years of FBS experience, he has helped coach eight teams to bowl eligibility, including three at Southern Miss (New Orleans, GMAC, Papa John’s), three at Iowa State (Insight, Pinstripe, Liberty) and one at both K-State (Liberty) and Indiana (Pinstripe).

A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Messingham graduated from UNI with a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing and mechanical design in 1990 and earned a master’s degree in business administration from St. Ambrose in 1992. He and his wife, Carol, have one daughter, Taylor.