Former Kansas State coach Chris Klieman shed light on his surprising retirement last month, saying the lack of guardrails around players transferring created too much stress in his job.

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years, (but) I’d die if I kept doing this job,” Klieman told The Manhattan Mercury. “If I kept doing this job, I was gonna have a heart attack, or I was gonna have a stroke. My blood pressure was through the roof.”

Klieman added, “The stress and anxiety, not of winning and losing — my legacy is going to be fine on winning and losing.”

The 58-year-old retired on Dec. 3, less than two weeks after the Wildcats’ 51-47 loss at Utah. Klieman fought back tears in his postgame news conference and said the program needed new leadership. Athletic director Gene Taylor comforted Klieman as he spoke that day, telling him, “We’ve got your back.”

Klieman told The Manhattan Mercury that the changes in college football, with players expecting compensation deals and being able to enter the transfer portal at any time to field offers from other schools, wore him down.

“That was where I was kind of at my wits’ end,” he said. “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.”

The Wildcats ended the regular season with a 24-14 win over Colorado to earn a bowl bid at 6-6, but the players voted to skip the postseason after a disappointing finish that fell short of K-State’s expectations following three consecutive seasons of nine wins or more.

Klieman had seven years left on his contract when he decided to retire and told The Manhattan Mercury that he’d rather leave the chaos in college football’s new landscape than work just to keep making money.

In seven seasons, Klieman went 54-34 at Kansas State with five bowl appearances and a Big 12 championship in 2022.

Klieman retired and tabbed then-Texas A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein as his successor. Klein, K-State’s starting quarterback in 2011 and 2012, a 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist, and a former Wildcats assistant, took the job.