$5.5M Ex-HC Says College Football Nearly Gave Him ‘Heart Attack’ and Forced Him to Quit
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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 the transfer portal 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.
And College football has seen this movie before!
Almost two years ago, legendary Nick Saban stepped away from the harsh stadium lights. And the NIL was mostly to blame. Soon enough, college football lost another of its gems, whose 35-year-old grind on the sidelines ended abruptly on a painful note. Eventually, he called it quits.
Klieman came to the Wildcats 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. He had five celebrated victories against the top ten opponents, and the five bowl victories, including the 2022 Big 12 championship title, cemented his legacy at Manhattan.
However, those seven years tested his patience. The aftermath of the COVID-19 era added its own disruptive equation. While at the same time, NIL received the green light, and student-athletes dialed down to reap the financial benefits from their hard work on the turf. At that time, analysts and pundits raised an alarm that it could spiral into a huge mess. Already, the pay-for-play allegations were rampant, but the dominoes had just 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 college football. 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 transition.
Once the amateur philosophy quickly faded away when money got involved. And Klieman was not ready. Yet.
“We’ve got the revenue share, but we need to keep that going every year and find true NIL and extra NIL dollars,” Taylor said in December 2025. “I’m not ready yet.”
By that point, NIL had turned into a boulder already off the cliff, picking up speed with each passing day. 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 are splurging millions to outpace their competitors.
How NIL Pushed 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, things 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.
While Klieman fought back his tears, the entire K-community felt the weight of the matter.
“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 Gene 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 had still seven years 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 the cusp. Eventually, he called it quits.
Klieman’s decision is among the first consequences of the NIL-transfer portal saga. The dominoes have just started to fall, and there’s more to come.
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