In two ways as well. He let himself get promoted, and left starfleet.
Although I suppose with the promotion he could still command a fleet or something. Part of Kirk's problem is that he was pretty much given a desk position for the most part, the TWOK thing was kind of unintended, if nothing had happened it would've been a smooth ride with Spock in command, and of course in III and IV he was unauthorized. (in TMP he demoted himself, although it's a bit unclear how long he stayed in that role before the ship was given over to Spock and the Academy, since TWOK is set about a dozen years later. Although he might've been semi-retired for a bit as Generations hinted).