MANHATTAN — Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor sat to the side and wiped away tears, with his face beet red, as he watched football coach Chris Klieman deliver a statement, announcing he was retiring after leading the Wildcats for seven years.
The two have been friends for years , dating back to when they worked together at North Dakota State. After Klieman got up and walked off, he gave his "drinking buddy from Fargo, North Dakota" a hug, then sat down.
He went from wiping away tears to expressing anger over the current state of college athletics .
"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," Taylor said. "He is doing it because of where we are in this industry, if we don't get this thing fixed."
Taylor expressed his frustration over how out-of-control college athletics have become, whether it be Name, Image, and Likeness, revenue sharing, or the many other aspects of the business that seem to change each day.
Klieman didn't mention the current state of college football during his farewell address, but Taylor was quick to do so. Taylor took responsibility, knowing he and every athletic director and conference commissioner needed to get the sport under control.
"If we don't get this thing under control, more really, really good guys like Chris Klieman are going to walk away from this business," Taylor said. "I've already seen some of my colleagues do it because they just aren't ready to deal with what we're dealing with."
Taylor said every school in the country needs to come together and run it as equally as it can. He said it wasn't happening, noting that some schools are "doing some things outside" of the House settlement. He said schools need to get athletes to sign participation agreements and work to improve college sports.
"It really hurts me that guys like Chris Klieman are leaving because what they came into the business for is different," Taylor said. "It doesn't mean it's wrong, it's just different. We have to find a way to make it as fair as possible across the country, and right now, it's not."
Taylor, 68, continued discussing the current landscape of college sports when asked whether he was considering retirement himself. He said he wasn't, noting that he wanted to continue to work with them to improve athletics for the people he's in charge of.
Taylor wants to work toward the goal of leaving Kansas State in a position that will be successful long after he's departed.
He noted that he still has work to do.
"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. "I'm not ready yet, and I want to make sure because of where I am in my experience, that I have a chance to sit on some committees now that can help make some decisions as an industry that can maybe put us in a place that we're gonna be better off."
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_ , contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State AD angry over current state of college athletics
