Bohl to finish season at North Dakota State

Dec 9, 2013 - 12:09 AM (SportsNetwork.com) - Head football coach Craig Bohl will finish the season at two-time reigning FCS champion North Dakota State before departing for his new duties leading the University of Wyoming program.

Wyoming introduced Bohl as its new head coach at a news conference Sunday evening just hours after North Dakota State athletic director Gene Taylor said the 11th-year Bison coach and his assistants would finish leading the team's playoff run.

The Bison beat Furman in the second round this weekend and will host Coastal Carolina in the national quarterfinals on Saturday in Fargo. They are seeking to become the second program to win three straight FCS national titles, following Appalachian State from 2005-07.

"We have decided that Coach Bohl is going to coach the rest of the season," Taylor said. "My personal feelings felt it was best for continuity at this point in time - let the coordinators coordinate and focus on game preparation and game planning.

"Certainly after meeting with the team, a lot of emotion in the room as you can imagine, but (we) had a lot of good discussion."

Taylor added team captains were consulted about the current coaching staff finishing the season. If Bohl wasn't going to remain in charge for the rest of the playoffs, it's questionable who would have considering Footballscoop.com reported Bohl has offered positions at Wyoming to five of his NDSU assistants, offensive coordinator Brent Vigen, defensive coordinator Chris Klieman, recruiting coordinator/receivers coach Kenni Burns, linebackers coach Steve Stanard and offensive line coach Scott Fuchs.

Bohl, who is 101-32 at North Dakota State, including 12-0 this season, said Sunday morning on his regular coach's show on KFGO 790 AM in Fargo that it was time for somebody else to lead the Bison program.

"There is no perfect time (to announce his departure)," Bohl said, "but I can tell you the No. 1 goal is the 2013 Bison, for us to take this football team as far as we can go. There may be all kinds of emotions and I certainly have tons of emotions in my heart, but this is about this collective team."

At Wyoming, Bohl replaces Dave Christensen, who was fired after five seasons and a 27-34 record.

Bohl reportedly made around $350,000, including bonuses, last year at NDSU. Wyoming signed him to a five-year contract, starting with a guaranteed $750,000 in the first year, but expected to go higher with incentives.

"Rarely do you get an opportunity to hire a head coach who has won multiple national championships and has a reputation as a program builder," Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman said.

"I am absolutely confident we hired one of the best football coaches in the country. All you have to do is look at his record, including several wins over FBS programs."

Taylor said Bohl informed him after the 38-7 playoff win over Furman that he had accepted the Wyoming job. Considering Bohl's success at NDSU, Taylor said he felt the day was coming that he would be hired away from the Bison program.

"In regards to the future and the timeline of the replacement for Coach Bohl, I'm still working through that a little bit," Taylor said. "I'm going to spend the next few days talking to our folks on campus, talking about the processes that I'd have to go through."

Bohl was the 2012 Eddie Robinson Award winner as the FCS coach of the year. This season, he was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference coach of the year for the third straight year.