When Chris Klieman informed North Dakota State players he was leaving to become the head coach at Kansas State last month, disappointment filled the room.
Defensive end Greg Menard remembers hanging his head and thinking, “Oh man, this (stinks), we’re losing our coach.”
But those emotions only lasted a little while.
“After it all settled down, after the first couple of minutes, the shock factor, everyone was really happy for him,” Menard said Friday at a news conference the day before the FCS championship game. “It doesn’t happen very often going from an FCS school to a Power Five school.