- Curt Wiese and Karen Stromme
Wiese (left) was the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator. Stromme has been with UMD athletics for 30 years. (Photo courtesy of the University of Minnesota Duluth)
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University of Minnesota Duluth assistant football coach Curt Wiese has been named the Bulldogs’ new head football coach while longtime athletic department staffer Karen Stromme will assume the role of interim athletic director, UMD Chancellor Lendley Black announced today in a news release.
Wiese, the team’s offensive coordinator, replaces Bob Nielson, who resigned as UMD’s head football coach and athletic director earlier this week to take over as the head football coach at Western Illinois University.
“Over the past few days, I have talked with many people who offered overwhelming support for Curt Wiese to be promoted to the position of head football coach,” Black said in a statement this afternoon. “I repeatedly heard about the strength of the UMD football program and the respect Curt has among his coaching peers. It is important to me to have continuity in Bulldog football and to position the program to go to new heights of excellence. I am confident that Curt is the right person for the job.”
Black said Stromme, the school’s former women’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director “is certainly the most qualified person to step in and serve in the role of interim athletic director.”
Wiese, 36, becomes the sixth head coach in the 80-year history of Bulldogs football. He joined the UMD staff on Feb. 12, 2008. During his five years as offensive coordinator, the Bulldogs finished near the top of the NCAA DivisionII leaderboard four times in scoring. The Bulldogs are an Division II-best 62-7 and have won two national title (2008 and 2010) since Wiese came to UMD.
He came to UMD after two years as head coach at Marietta College in Ohio. Wiese also worked as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Wiese graduated from Minnesota State-Mankato in 2000 for a degree in technology education. He got a master’s degree in educational professional development from Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2002.
“Since coming to UMD five years ago, I have had the chance to grow professionally, coach a tremendous group of student-athletes, and be part of a program that has enjoyed a great deal of success both on and off the football field,” Wiese said in a news release. “It is my hope to continue this tradition of excellence and reach even greater heights.”
Stromme, 53, is in her 30th year with UMD athletics and since 2003-04 has served as its assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator. She has extensive Division II committee experience, having previously worked on the Committee on Infractions, the Membership Committee and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, among others and this past November was elected vice chair of the NCAA Division II Management Council.
UMD’s statement today said a national search for a permanent athletic director will begin immediately with the position expected to be filled in the spring.
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