The Aquinas athletic department has announced the hiring of Chris Klaiber as the new head coach of the AQ men's lacrosse program. Klaiber comes to Aquinas after spending the past four seasons as the head coach of Monmouth, an NCAA Division III school in Illinois. A men's lacrosse coach at NCAA Division II and III institutions, Klaiber also competed as a student-athlete at the NCAA Division I level.
Monmouth began men's lacrosse in 2017 and totaled a 3-11 record in its first-ever season. Klaiber took over the program in August 2017 and led the Fighting Scots to a 23-23 record over the last four years. He coached 14 all-conference selections, including the program's first Defensive Player of the Year and Academic All-American.
In his first year as head coach, Klaiber helped Monmouth double its win total (from three wins to 6-9 in 2018) from the inaugural year. The Fighting Scots improved to 7-9 in 2019 and the team was off to a 4-2 start in 2020 before COVID shut down the remainder of the season. Monmouth went 6-3 in 2021 and advanced to the Midwest Lacrosse Conference championship game, the first in program history. All three of the team's losses last season came to Northwestern (Minn.), while the Fighting Scots recorded five of their six victories by at least eight goals.
Klaiber becomes the third full-time head coach in AQ history and takes over a Saints program that went 5-4 last season, faced five top-10 opponents during the year, and advanced to the WHAC Tournament semifinals. In the last full, non-COVID affected season, Aquinas advanced to the 2019 NAIA National Invitational championship game.
"I'd like to thank everyone at AQ for this incredible opportunity to lead the men's lacrosse program," commented Klaiber. "I appreciate the hospitality shown to me by the Saints community during my transition. I can't wait to begin to build relationships with the student-athletes, my colleagues, our alumni and within our local lacrosse community in Grand Rapids. I'm looking forward to building on the foundation of what has been one of the top programs in the nation. We will continue that momentum by bringing a fast and fearless style of play to the field. I'm excited to get to work with the men this fall and see what we can do together."
Prior to his tenure at Monmouth, Klaiber served as a graduate assistant coach at Adams State, an NCAA Division II school in Colorado. He was in charge of the Adams State goalies; the team's starting goalie was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference rookie of the year in 2016 and a First Team All-RMAC selection in 2017. Klaiber also spent a season as an assistant coach and was in charge of the goalies at Carroll, a Division III school in Wisconsin.
"We're really excited to bring Chris into the Aquinas community as the head coach of our men's lacrosse program," explained Logan Weis, Associate Athletic Director of Internal Operations. "His experience throughout the NCAA levels as a coach and student-athlete are very impressive and our committee thought he did a terrific job during the interview process. We're looking for big things from Chris and expect him to continue our strong men's lacrosse tradition and keep us as one of the top lacrosse teams in the country."
Klaiber has club coaching experience with the Milwaukee Select, Maryland Elite, and Maryland Raptors. As a player, he was a two-year starting goalie at Mount Saint Mary's, an NCAA Division I school in Maryland. The team won the 2011 Northeast Conference championship and were 2012 conference runner-up. Klaiber was also an All-Central New York selection at nationally-ranked Lafayette High School.
He earned his Master's degree in Human Performance and Physical Education from Adams State in 2017 and received a Bachelor's degree in History from Mount Saint Mary's in 2014. Klaiber has already began his duties at Aquinas and is in preparations for the upcoming 2022 season.
