When Chris Klieman stepped down as the Kansas State head coach last month, tears filled his eyes as the 58-year-old head coach made peace with the broken machinery that college football had become. The stress had reached an all-time high, and the anxiety of constantly winning the portal battles cost him his health.

“If I kept doing this job, I was gonna have a heart attack, or I was gonna have a stroke,” an emotional Klieman opened up in a conversation with the Manhattan Mercury. “My blood pressure was through the roof.” The breaking point was actually not losing games but the constant churn. Wins no longer got the stability.

“That was where I was kind of at my wits’ end. I don’t blame any of these kids. It’s not their fault, but you get done playing Colorado, and come Monday, man, there’s 20 (players’ agents) that want to know a number, or they’re ready to go into the (transfer) portal.” He was careful not to blame the players.

It was more about a system that no longer allowed the coaches or programs to breathe. This is not the first instance of a coach quitting the game due to the new NIL era. Almost two years ago, the GOAT Nick Saban stepped away from the game as well. And the NIL was mostly to blame. 

Now college football has lost another of its gems. A man who gave 35 years of his life to the sidelines has also chosen to step away.

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The Kansas State legend started off as a Graduate Assistant at Northern Iowa in 1991. After stints as a defensive backs coach at Western Illinois, Kansas, Missouri State, and Loras, he returned back to Northern Iowa in 2006. Klieman then went to North Dakota State, eventually becoming their defensive coordinator in 2012. After then HC Craig Bohl decided he was leaving for Wyoming, then-athletic director Gene Taylor promoted Klieman to become their new HC in 2014.

Klieman served as the HC at North Dakota State University from 2014 to 2018.  He led the Bisons to four NCAA Division I Football Championship titles in five seasons.

He then succeeded the retiring Bill Snyder at Kansas State to become the Wildcats’ new HC in 2019. An era that would later become one of the glorious chapters in K-State football’s history. For seven years, he successfully led the Wildcats to a 54-34 record. In that span of time, he had five victories against top ten opponents. He also had three bowl victories, including the 2022 Big 12 championship title, cementing his legacy at Manhattan.

However, those seven years tested his patience. The aftermath of the COVID-19 era added its own set of disruptions. While at the same time, NIL also received the green light, and student-athletes began to reap the financial benefits from their hard work on the turf. Many analysts and pundits raised an alarm that this new era could spiral into a huge mess. Already, the pay-for-play allegations were rampant, but the dominoes had started to fall.

Four years later, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the revenue-sharing model. Programs could share the financial benefits with their student-athletes. A maximum cap of $20.5 million was decided. But an uneven playing field would soon lead to a college football meltdown.

Coach Klieman was one such voice who cared for the game. A sport stitched on the hearts of its people. From the concrete Manhattan skyscrapers to the country roads of West Virginia and the Appalachian region, and more. However, college football was undergoing a permanent transition. The amateur philosophy quickly faded away when money got involved. And Klieman was not prepared.

“We’ve got the revenue share, but we need to keep that going every year and find true NIL and extra NIL dollars,” AD Gene Taylor said in December 2025. “I’m not ready yet.”

By that point, there was no looking back. Wealthy programs backed by billionaire boosters got a head start. Reports suggested that programs shrewdly found loopholes to bypass the $20.5 million cap and were splurging millions to outpace their competitors.

NIL Woes Push Coaches like Chris Klieman to the Brink

When Chris Klieman was still the head coach, things had already been tough on the NIL front. After his retirement, they have taken a turn for the worse. The Athletic’s report shared that the portal value for the QBs has exceeded the $4 million tag. With premium edge rushers touching the $2 million mark and more.

Now the reins are in the hands of Collin Klein, who played as a wide receiver for the Wildcats during the 2009 season, and made his first career start at quarterback in a win against the Texas Longhorns during the 2010 season.

While Klieman fought back his tears, the entire K-State community felt the weight of this loss.

“You just saw one of the greatest guys in the industry walk out of this room and retire from coaching from a business that he loves; and that’s what really pisses me off,” AD Taylor shared, wiping away his tears.  “He is doing it because of where we are in this industry, if we don’t get this thing fixed.”

Beloved Coach Klieman still had seven years left on his contract. A $5.5 million deal that commanded both respect and comfort in Manhattan. But CFB’s broken machinery eventually pushed him to leave.

Klieman’s decision is among the first major consequences of the NIL-transfer portal saga. He surely won’t be the last.