Stevie Keller enters his 25th season at North Dakota State and his fifth season as NDSU's director of track & field and cross country in 2025. He was promoted to oversee all four programs -- women's track & field, men's track & field, women's cross country, and men's cross country -- following the retirement of Hall of Fame men's coach Don Larson in the summer of 2020.
Keller has been with the Bison for more than two decades, coaching school records in 28 different events between men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, with events ranging from the 60m to 1000m, 4x400m relay, hurdles, long jump, pole vault, javelin, pentathlon, heptathlon and decathlon. In the Division I era, Keller has coached 15 athletes to 27 All-America honors.
Under Keller's guidance, the Bison women have won 17 Summit League team titles, and the Bison men have claimed seven team conference championships. Keller has been named the Summit League Coach of the Year 23 times -- seven indoor and 10 outdoor on the women’s side, and two indoor and four outdoor on the men's side.
Keller spent six seasons as the head women’s track & field and cross country coach at NDSU from 2014-20, winning all 11 Summit League team championships in that timeframe and directing the Bison women to national recognition. He also directed the Bison men's long sprinters during that time.
In 2023-24, Keller coached Nell Graham to school records in the 300m (37.63), 400m (53.09) and 600m (1:29.91) indoors, and the 400m (52.57) outdoors. The previous season, 2022-23, Keller helped Jacob Rodin to school records in the 600m and 800m indoors and the 800m outdoors, as well as earning honorable mention All-American honors in the outdoor 800m.
In 2021-22, Keller guided the men’s 4x400m relay team to the NCAA Outdoor Championships -- the relay's first trip to the NCAA Championships at the Division I level, and the first Bison men's running event to qualify for the Championships. The quartet placed 18th at the national meet, earning honorable mention All-America honors and setting a new school record in 3:05.24. Keller coached Cody Roder to a school record in the outdoor 400m (46.18) and Adrian Harris to No. 2 all-time (46.57). Indoors, Jacob Rodin set the 800m school record at 1:48.52.
In 2018-19, Keller guided Amanda Levin to a school record and honorable mention All-America honors in the heptathlon.
In 2016-17, Keller coached Rose Jackson to a entathlon school record and first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships. For the outdoor season, Jackson earned second-team All-American honors in the long jump, and Keller coached the women’s 4x400m relay team to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, placing 17th for honorable mention All-America status.
In 2017, NDSU sent its largest group of qualifiers to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, as seven athletes represented NDSU in six events at the national meet. The Bison also had 21 entries at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, setting another all-time high in the school’s Division I era.
NDSU’s 21 entries at the NCAA West Prelims in 2017 were the second-most in the nation outside of the Power 5 conferences, and there were 46 schools from the Power 5 conferences that had fewer national entries than NDSU.
In addition to extending NDSU’s record-setting run of consecutive Summit League team titles, Keller has continued to raise the bar. In 2016 and 2017, the Bison women set new league records for points scored at the outdoor conference meet.
Academically, North Dakota State has maintained its position as one of the highest-achieving women's track & field programs in the nation. The Bison have regularly earned team grade point averages of 3.50 or better during Keller's tenure.
Keller was named the head coach of the Bison women's track & field and cross country programs on Nov. 3, 2014, while remaining as the coach for the long sprinters on the NDSU men's squad. He is now in his 25th year with NDSU track & field, including seven seasons as associate head coach, directing the Bison multi-events, hurdles and pole vault to unprecedented success.
In his first season as the head women’s coach in 2015, Keller led the Bison to their eighth straight indoor and outdoor Summit League team titles, giving NDSU all 16 team conference titles since they joined the league. The Bison also sent 13 athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds with a total of 16 entries, which at the time, was the largest contingent of national qualifiers in the school’s Division I history.
Since the Bison gained full NCAA Division I status in 2008, the number of achievements racked up by Keller’s student-athletes is remarkable. In all, Keller-coached athletes have earned nearly 250 All-Summit League honors and 95 Summit League titles over the past 10 seasons.
Keller directed five athletes to a total of six first-team Division I All-America honors between 2009 and 2017, including a fifth-place heptathlon finish by Whitney Carlson in 2011 and a fourth-place finish in the pole vault by Leslie Brost at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. In addition, Carlson was a three-time second-team All-American in the long jump and multi-events.
Keller coached Willmar, Minn., product Rose Jackson to first-team All-America honors in the pentathlon and nine Summit League titles in 2017 alone. Jackson set a new school record on her way to an 8th-place finish in the pentathlon at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, as well as competing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the long jump and 4x400m relay. She captured four Summit League titles indoor in 2017 to go along with five outdoor, winning the league's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Keller owns coaching experience on the national and international levels. In 2010 and 2011, he coached Heather Zander, Leslie Brost and Whitney Carlson at the USATF Championships. In 2008, Keller served as an assistant coach for Team USA in the Thorpe Cup decathlon and guided Weston Leutz to a 10th-place finish at the Junior World Championships in the decathlon.
Under Keller’s guidance, Brost developed into the most decorated vaulter in NDSU history, with honors including a fourth-place finish and a school record vault of 14-03.25 at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. Brost placed ninth at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials and was the top collegiate finisher in the event.
Keller coached Carlson to the NDSU heptathlon school record on her way to a fifth-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Buchanan, N.D., native also placed ninth in the long jump at the national meet in 2011 and was a second-team All-American in the indoor pentathlon. Carlson was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and was later named the NCAA Elite 88 Award winner as the nation’s top student-athlete in women’s track & field.
In 2010, Heather Zander became NDSU’s first multi-event Division I All-American after placing eighth in the heptathlon under Keller’s guidance.
Matt Bishoff was NDSU’s first male Division I All-American in 2009, taking home the honor in the indoor heptathlon.
Prior to NDSU’s move to Division I, Keller coached 10 athletes to 28 NCAA Division II All-American awards, including Nate Schmidt who won two NCAA Division II national championships in the decathlon.
As an athlete at NDSU, Keller was a two-time North Central Conference champion and a Division II All-American in the decathlon. Keller also competed at Montana State University where he was a Big Sky Conference champion and Division I All-American in the decathlon. He competed in the 2004 Olympic Trials in the decathlon.
He is married to former NDSU distance runner Erin (Klein) Keller. The couple have one son, Kyson, and one daughter, Aspyn.
