North Dakota State’s move to the FBS came with a little help from former head coach Craig Bohl.
Bison insider Mike McFeely of the Fargo Forum said as much in his column on Sunday. Bohl returned to Fargo last weekend to work with a high school football coaches clinic hosted at NDSU.
Bohl coached the Bison from 2003 to 2013 when the program transitioned from Division II to the FCS and began a dynasty with three consecutive national championships at the end of his tenure. He left in 2014 for Wyoming with the Mountain West Conference, and he completed his career there in 2023.
“He was sneakily influential in NDSU’s migration to the Mountain West Conference and the Football Bowl Subdivision, something he said Friday was a great move and one for which he showed great enthusiasm watching the Bison practice at their indoor facility,” McFeely wrote.
NDSU moving up to the FBS chatter began during the Bison’s run of five consecutive championships, which former head coach Chris Klieman continued after Bohl left. Geography, money, and a lack of an FBS conference invite hindered the Bison from making the move.
Instead, NDSU kept dominating the FCS with another five championships over the next decade as the FBS talk waxed and waned. McFeely didn’t provide further details on Bohl’s influence, but Bohl being a prominent Mountain West coach and now executive director with the American Football Coaches Association can’t hurt.
Craig Bohl Coaching Tree Still Running Through NDSU
Bohl’s lasting impact on the program continues through his former assistants continuing the success that began in 2003 when the Bison proved that a move up would work.
His first Bison squad upset then-No. 3 Montana, a longtime FCS power, in Missoula during the 2003 season, and the program grew from there in the early 2000s. NDSU won the Great West Conference in 2006 and beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2007 amid a 10-1 season.
After stumbling in 2008 and 2009, NDSU made a deep FCS playoff run in 2010 and won the national championship for the first time in the 2011 season. Bohl concluded his run with another two titles before Klieman, formerly the defensive coordinator, took the reins.
Klieman led the Bison to four more national championships in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018. After an unbeaten season in 2018, Klieman took a coaching job with Kansas State.
Matt Entz, who served as the defensive coordinator under Klieman, took over as the head coach for the Bison and won another two national championships. While Entz didn’t coach under Bohl, Entz’s successor, Tim Polasek did.
Polasek coached on Bohl’s staff as a position coach from 2007 to 2012, and Polasek did the same for Klieman’s staff in 2014 and 2016. Before his return to NDSU, Polasek spent the previous two seasons on Bhol’s staff in Wyoming.
Craig Bohl Took Over a Bison Program Stuck in Neutral
When Bohl arrived, NDSU had a 13-year national championship drought and a nine-year conference title drought.
Except for a 12-2 season and Division II semifinal appearance in 2000, the Bison hadn’t made it past the Division II quarterfinals in 13 years at the time. NDSU was also sputtering after a 2-8 season under former head coach Bob Babich.
Bohl restored the program to its dominance of the 1960s and 1980s, where the Bison won seven national championships, and took it to another level.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post New Detail Emerges on Craig Bohl’s Involvement With NDSU Move: Insider appeared first on Heavy Sports.