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Missoula, Mont. (AP) The University of Montana has hired a new head coach for strength and conditioning.

UM announced the hiring of Scott Kirchmann (KURCH'-mun) as director of Montana's Athletic Performance Center. Kirchmann replaces Jared Nessland, who took a similar position in January at Southern Illinois.

Bo Berglund handled the director's job on an interim basis and will remain on staff as Kirchmann's assistant.

Kirchmann was most recently the strength and conditioning coordinator at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. He began his collegiate strength and conditioning career as an assistant at Idaho State in the late 1990s. He was an assistant at Idaho from 1999 to 2001 and head coach at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., from 2001 to 2005.

Kirchmann worked at Belmont from March 2005 to this spring.

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