FARGO, N.D. – North Dakota State athletic director Gene Taylor today announced defensive coordinator Chris Klieman (KLY-men) will be the next head coach of the Bison football team following the conclusion of the 2013 season.  Klieman will follow Craig Bohl, who accepted the head coaching position at Wyoming one week ago but will stay at NDSU through the end of his 11th year.
 
Klieman, 46, is completing his third season at North Dakota State and his second as the defensive coordinator.  He joined the Bison staff in March 2011 as defensive backs coach following a nine-year stay at Northern Iowa where he was the defensive coordinator, co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach from 2006-10 under head coach Mark Farley and 1991-93 under then head coach Terry Allen, who is now at Missouri State.
 
NDSU will be Klieman's second head coaching job.  He was the head coach for one season at Division III member Loras College where he went 3-7 in an injury-plagued 2005 season.  He had been the defensive coordinator at Loras the previous three seasons and transformed the Duhawks into one of the Iowa Conference's most feared defensive units.  Klieman took Loras from ninth in the league in defense to leading the league in rushing defense, passing defense and total defense.
 
North Dakota State has led the nation in scoring defense each of Klieman's three years on staff, and the Bison have improved every year.  NDSU allowed 12.73 points allowed per game in 2011 and are allowing just 11.4 points per game this season.  He was named the 2012 Football Scoop FCS Coordinator of the Year and has coached a two-time Buck Buchanan Award finalist in cornerback Marcus Williams.
 
A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman was a three-time All-Gateway Conference defensive back at Northern Iowa and a four-year letterwinner from 1986-90.  He graduated from UNI in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in health education and earned a master's degree in physical education from UNI in 1992.
 
Following his playing career, Klieman was an assistant coach for the Panthers from 1991-93.  He also had assistant coaching stints at Western Illinois (1994-96), Kansas (1997), Missouri State (1999) and Loras (2001-04).
 
Klieman and his wife, Rhonda, are the parents of two sons, Devin and Colby, and one daughter, Haley.