The college football coaching carousel has been rapidly spinning over the last few weeks, and Kansas State football joined the club after its regular season wrapped up with a win over Colorado in Week 14. Following that game and a 6-6 finish, head coach Chris Klieman announced his plans to retire.
On Wednesday, Kansas State held a formal press conference to announce Klieman's retirement, and athletic director Gene Taylor got emotional while talking about his former head coach and his decision to leave due to the changes in college football.
Kansas State Athletic Director Gene Taylor held back tears at Chris Klieman’s retirement announcement while sharing his frustration with the state of college athletics.
“You just saw one of the greatest guys in this industry walk out of this room…from the business that he… pic.twitter.com/PXtyVQr7V1
— Sports Radio 810 WHB (@SportsRadio810) December 4, 2025
“You just saw one of the greatest guys in this industry walk out of this room and retire from coaching,” Taylor said. “From the business that he loves. And what really pisses me off is he’s doing it because of where we are in this industry. If we don't get this thing fixed, and I'm a part of that as well as every other AD in the country and the conference commissioners, if we don't get this thing under control more really, really good guys like Chris Klieman are gonna walk away from this business.”
Klieman cited the decision to retire as a family decision, but the new landscape of college football with never-ending recruiting (including recruiting your own players to come back the following season), NIL and the transfer portal has led to an increase in coaches stepping away in recent years.
The former North Dakota State head coach just wrapped up his seventh season as Kansas State's head coach, leading the Wildcats to a 54-34 record during that time including a Big 12 Championship and a Sugar Bowl appearance in 2022.
Kansas State wasted no time locking down a succession plan for Klieman. Program legend and current Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein is coming back to Manhattan as the program's next head coach after he is done coaching the Aggies in the upcoming College Football Playoff.
Klein started at quarterback for Kansas State in the 2011 and 2012 seasons, winning a conference title and emerging as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy during his senior season after scoring 37 total touchdowns. He will now be tasked with getting the Wildcats back to the top of the Big 12 as a coach after a disappointing 2025 campaign.
