Minot State’s search for a new football coach is over.

Former Augustana University head coach and Southwest Minnesota State University assistant Mike Aldrich has been selected to lead the MSU football program, the university announced Monday.

MSU Director of Athletics Andrew Carter picked Aldrich from a trio of finalists that included former Lindenwood University head coach Patrick Ross and former Missouri Western coach Jerry Partridge.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, that’s for sure,” Carter said. “I feel like the thing that separated him from other candidates is he’s just a better fit for what we’re trying to do. I’ve paid attention to Mike and his career from afar and noticed his success and maybe some of his failures and how he reacted to those. That’s an important thing for a coach to able to learn from along the way. At the end, I felt like he was the best fit to lead Beaver football.”

Aldrich was the only candidate to have prior coaching experience in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. During an on-campus interview last week, he said that could work to his advantage.

“Either I don’t fit the cookie cutter and I’m the black sheep or (I’ll have) the substantial edge in knowledge of the area and the competition of Minot State in general,” Aldrich said. “Having played against Minot in two of the last three years and just having the general idea of the way the league fits together – who is good, who is bad and how you want to attack certain things – and knowing the teams we are going to play, which helps quite a bit by already knowing their identities, will give you a little bit of a heads up on preparing each week.”

Aldrich becomes the university’s 21st head football coach and was a finalist for the same job in 2014 before the Beavers eventually hired Minnesota State Mankato coach Todd Hoffner.

At SMSU, Aldrich was named the 2016 American Football Coaches Association Division II Assistant Coach of the Year.

Carter said he hopes the hiring of Aldrich brings some much needed stability to a Minot State program that has now employed four head coaches in four years, including Paul Rudolph, Hoffner, Tyler Hughes and now Aldrich.

“It’s always paramount,” said Carter, who is in his first year in charge of the MSU athletic department. “Nobody plans on four coaches in four years, I can’t even fathom that. I’ve never been through anything like that as an athletic director. I didn’t ask for this one, it was thrust upon us at a somewhat inopportune time. But I think we found the best possible fit for what we were trying to accomplish.”

With National Signing Day set for Wednesday and a possible shuffling of at least some of the coaching staff en route to MSU, several Beavers assistant coaches could learn their fate soon. Carter said Aldrich plans to evaluate the remaining Minot State assistant coaches employed by the university this week.

“It’s one of the parts in this business that no one likes to talk about, but I can’t hand (Aldrich) the reins and hold him accountable while saying ‘You have to do this and you have to do this,’ “ Carter said. “He’ll evaluate them, but I can say those guys have been awesome. I’ve been through these transitions several times in my career, but I haven’t had a better group of men that continue to lead and stay focused on their jobs than I have with this crowd. There’s not one of those guys I wouldn’t put my name on for a reference or hire again someplace.”

This will be Aldrich’s second head coaching stint in the NSIC, as he went 22-13 as Augustana’s coach from 2010-2012, making one NCAA Division II tournament appearance (2010). Before that, he spent three seasons as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator and coached at Augie for 11 years total. He was named the 2010 AFCA Region 5 Coach of the Year and was a Liberty Mutual National Coach of the Year finalist that same season.

“I’d like to thank Andy Carter and (MSU president Dr. Steven Shirley) for the opportunity to guide the Minot State football program,” Aldrich said in a press release. “Their leadership and vision for the future is exciting and infectious. We are going to do things the right way, with the right people, by being competitive in every aspect of the program. There will be no fear of failure, only positive energy and grit, as we work to accomplish our goals.”

Aldrich will officially be introduced as the Beavers’ head coach at a press conference at 4 p.m. Wednesday on MSU’s campus.

Garrick Hodge covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @Garrick_Hodge.