Northern State President James Smith annouced four finalists to replace Bob Olson at the conclusion of the 2011-12 season.  Those men are:

Joshua Moon:  Moon is a senior associate director of athletics at Western Illinois University.  He helps oversee 20 Division I sports teams and 450 student athletes.  Moon graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a Bachelor of Science in exercise  and sports science from the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.  He graduated with a master of science in administration from Central Michigan University  in 2006.

Justin Sanford:  Sanford currently serves as the athletic director at Gahanna High School in Ohio.  Sanford manages 27 varsity sports and over 1,000 student athletes.  Under Sanford, Gahanna has won 40 conference championships and state championships in track and soccer.  He is a graduate of Kent State Universityw with a Bachelor of Science in 1998.  He also has a Master of Science in administration from Central Michigan University in 2001.

 James E. Fallis: Fallis is currently the director of Intercollegiate athletics at Northern Arizona University.  During his time in Arizona, the Division I school won nine Big Sky regular season champinshipss; Big Sky tournament championships in women's basketball and women's soccer; and in 2006, NAU won the prestigious Big Sky “Presidents Cup.”  Fallis graduated from Lake Superior State University (Sault Ste. Mich.) and a master in education from Northern Michigan University.

Brian DeAngelis: DeAngelis sits as the director of athletics at East Central Univeristy, a DII program in Oklahoma.  DeAngelis helped raise $2 million over the past several years in hopes to build a new strength and conditioning center.  He is an alum of Florida Southern College where he earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration.  He then received his MBA from Delta State Univeristy.