MATTENTZ
- TITLE Head Coach
* 2019, 2021 Stats Perform Eddie Robinson Award Finalist
* 2019, 2021 AFCA FCS National Coach of the Year
* 2019, 2020, 2021 AFCA FCS Region 4 Coach of the Year
* 2019, 2021 Bruce Craddock MVFC Coach of the Year
* 2018 Football Scoop FCS Coordinator of the Year
* 2008 AFCA Division II Assistant Coach of the Year
Matt Entz was named head football coach at North Dakota State University for the 2019 season after spending five seasons as NDSU's defensive coordinator. The 31st head coach in program history, he’s been part of seven Missouri Valley Football Conference championships and six NCAA national championships with the Bison.
Entz guided North Dakota State to two Missouri Valley Football Conference championships and two NCAA Division I FCS national championships in his first three seasons as a head coach. He enters the 2022 season with a 37-4 overall record and 20-3 in the MVFC.
Named the FCS National Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021 by the American Football Coaches Association, Entz is a two-time finalist for the Stats Perform Eddie Robinson Award, presented to the FCS National Coach of the Year as selected by a national media panel. He is a two-time recipient of the Bruce Craddock MVFC Coach of the Year award.
Entz became the first Division I head football coach to go 16-0 in his first full season at the helm, and the 2019 Bison became the first modern-era college football team in any division to finish a season 16-0, joining the 1894 Yale Bulldogs as the only 16-0 teams in college football history.
Following the departure of 24 seniors, and with five new assistant coaches, North Dakota State completed the 2019 season with an FCS-record 37-game winning streak. The streak extended to 39 games in the spring of 2021 and is the third longest winning streak in Division I football history.
This is the first head coaching job for Entz, who was an assistant coach for more than 20 years including 15 years of experience as a defensive coordinator and eight as an associate head coach in two programs.
Entz, who was named the 2018 FCS Coordinator of the Year in his third time as a finalist for the award, led a Bison defense that allowed less than 14 points per game over his five seasons as the defensive coordinator and consistently ranked in the top five of FCS in scoring defense and total defense.
NDSU had eight FCS All-America honorees on defense during his five seasons, including linebackers MJ Stumpf, Nick DeLuca and Jabril Cox. Two of Entz’s former linebackers, DeLuca and Chris Board, went on to the NFL.
The Missouri Valley Football Conference is familiar territory for Entz. He came to NDSU in January 2014 under head coach Chris Klieman after one season as the associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Western Illinois in 2013, and spent three previous years at Northern Iowa.
He was named defensive line coach in 2010 at Northern Iowa and assumed the defensive coordinator duties at UNI in 2012 after Klieman departed for NDSU.
Entz was the defensive coordinator from 2002 to 2009 at Winona State, where he was promoted to associate head coach in 2003 and was with the defensive line for three years before becoming linebackers coach in 2005. He was named the AFCA Division II Assistant Coach of the Year in 2008.
Prior to that, Entz was the assistant head football coach and linebackers coach at Wayne (Neb.) State from 1999 to 2001 and the defensive coordinator at Illinois College in 1998. He holds certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach during his time at Wayne State.
Entz earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Wartburg College in 1995 and a master's degree in education and exercise science from Wayne (Neb.) State College in 1998.
He and his wife, Brenda, have two sons, Kellen and Konner.
| Matt Entz Year-by-Year Coaching History | ||
| Year | School | Position |
| 1998 | Illinois College | Defensive Coordinator |
| 1999 | Wayne State (Neb.) | Asst. Head Coach/Linebackers |
| 2000 | Wayne State (Neb.) | Asst. Head Coach/Linebackers |
| 2001 | Wayne State (Neb.) | Asst. Head Coach/Linebackers |
| 2002 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line |
| 2003 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line |
| 2004 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line |
| 2005 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2006 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2007 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2008 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2009 | Winona State | Assoc. Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2010 | Northern Iowa | Defensive Line |
| 2011 | Northern Iowa | Defensive Line |
| 2012 | Northern Iowa | Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line |
| 2013 | Western Illinois | Assoc. Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line |
| 2014 | North Dakota State | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2015 | North Dakota State | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2016 | North Dakota State | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2017 | North Dakota State | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2018 | North Dakota State | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers |
| 2019 | North Dakota State | Head Coach (16-0, 8-0 MVFC, 1st in MVFC, NCAA Champions) |
| 2020-21 | North Dakota State | Head Coach (7-3, 5-2 MVFC, 4th in MVFC, NCAA Quarterfinals) |
| 2021 | North Dakota State | Head Coach (14-1, 7-1 MVFC, 1st in MVFC, NCAA Champions) |
| Totals | 3 seasons | 37-4 overall, 20-3 MVFC, 2 MVFC titles, 2 NCAA titles |
