University of Montana Associate Director of Athletics Jean Gee announced this week that Scott Kirchmann has been hired as the director of Montana’s Athletic Performance Center. Kirchmann replaces Jared Nessland, who took a similar position at Southern Illinois in January.

Bo Berglund, who will remain on staff as Kirchmann’s assistant, handled the director’s job on an interim basis between Nessland’s departure and Kirchmann’s arrival.

Kirchmann was most recently the strength and conditioning coordinator at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., where he oversaw four assistants and the training of BU’s 17 athletic teams. His primary strength and conditioning responsibility was with the Bruins’ men’s and women’s basketball teams.

The Belmont men’s basketball team advanced to the 2006, ’07 and ’08 NCAA tournaments as the post-season tournament champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Belmont, the No. 15 seed, fell to No. 2 seed Duke, 71-70, in March in a first-round game.

Kirchmann began his collegiate strength and conditioning career as an assistant at Idaho State in the late 90s. After working as an assistant at Idaho from 1999 to 2001, Kirchmann moved to Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., where he had a head position from 2001 to 2005.

Kirchmann worked at Belmont from March 2005 to this spring.

“Getting this job completes the circle for me,” Kirchmann said. “I was in the Big Sky Conference 10 years ago (at Idaho State) and then moved on to Idaho, and both were in the position of looking up at the big brother in Montana.

“Another part of the decision-making process was my wife’s past participation in rodeo and our interest in having our kids in rodeo. I always promised her that if we could mesh our two dreams together we’d do it.

“Along with those parts of the puzzle, it’s just the success and potential of the programs at Montana that makes this an exciting place for me to be.

“I’m proud of the success we had in men’s basketball at Belmont, going to three straight NCAA tournaments. I’d like to continue that streak here and make that four, five and six years in a row as we get going.”

“We’re excited to have this position filled with someone of Scott’s experience, knowledge and enthusiasm,” Gee said. “The excellent work that Bo did will make Scott’s transition that much easier. We’re thankful for the professional way Bo handled things during the interim.”

Montana Sports Information