Indiana State head soccer coach Paul Lawrence announced on May 5, 2023 the promotion of Adam Kleman to Associate Head Coach. Kleman has served as assistant coach for the Sycamores the past four seasons.
“This promotion to associate head coach was always the natural progression for Adam, and certainly highlights his pedigree as a lead assistant at this level,” said Coach Lawrence. “His professionalism and attention to detail has all the trademarks of a top shelf coach. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with him during my transition, and I’m looking forward to leading this program with him.”
In his four years at Indiana State as an assistant coach, Kleman served as the recruiting coordinator and college camp coordinator while leading team training sessions and overall growth and development of each student-athlete. He also assisted with film analysis and scouting. The Sycamores have racked up 20 Missouri Valley Conference postseason awards under his assistantship in the last four years, and the 2022 season was highlighted by four Academic All-District awards and a State Farm Good Neighbor Award recipient.
Kleman helped lead the Sycamores to multiple program bests on and off the pitch in his third season at ISU. In the fall of 2021, the Sycamores posted back-to-back winning MVC seasons and hosted MVC Tournament games in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history. They scored a program record 16 goals in MVC play en route to the program’s second-best MVC record. CeCe Wahlberg led the league with 13 points that season and was ISU’s first All-Region Team selection since 2013. For the second straight academic year, the soccer program posted the highest departmental GPA at ISU and Jensen Margheim became the first CoSIDA Academic All-District Team selection in program history.
In the spring 2021 season, Kleman assisted in guiding the Sycamores to their most conference victories and shutouts in program history. ISU hosted its first MVC Tournament game since 2016 and advanced to the semifinals as the No. 2 seed, and two Sycamores were selected to the MVC All-Tournament Team. That season, the Sycamores jumped up 176 spots in the RPI rankings from the previous year.
In Kleman’s first season at ISU, he helped the Sycamores to their most conference points and highest conference finish in four seasons. That fall 2019 season was highlighted by the program’s first-ever win over an Atlantic 10 opponent.
“My family and I feel incredibly blessed and grateful to be a part of the Sycamore Soccer program. I am excited for the future here at Indiana State and thankful to Coach Lawrence for his relationship and support,” said Kleman. “This promotion is an absolute honor and it is a dream to be a part of the Sycamore Family.”
Kleman came to Indiana State after spending the 2018 campaign as an assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky. During the fall, the Colonels earned the program's first-ever win over neighboring Kentucky in September and finished the regular season 8-8-4 (4-4-3 OVC). EKU advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference semifinals for the third consecutive season before falling to No. 1 seed UT Martin.
He arrived at Eastern Kentucky following four seasons as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri (2014 to 2017) where he served as the goalkeepers coach, handled team travel and compliance, and led recruiting efforts while assisting in overall player development.
In his first season at SEMO, Kleman helped guide the Redhawks to their fifth OVC title. Kleman mentored freshman goalkeeper Kindra Lierz who went on to be the first player in league history to earn both OVC Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors. Lierz also earned first team All-OVC and All-Newcomer accolades. The Redhawks led the OVC in goals allowed (0.71), goals against average (0.70), and shutouts (8) in 2014.
Kleman's work with the goalkeepers lent to SEMO recording 11 shutouts in 2015 during his second season with the program. The Redhawks finished the 2015 campaign with a goals against average of 0.93 and an 80.7% save percentage. SEMO's 0.93 goals against average and 1.00 goals allowed per game each ranked third in the league while its 11 shutouts ranked first.
The 2016 season featured seven shutouts and was highlighted by a season-opening 1-0 shutout of SEC contender Tennessee. The Redhawks began the season 6-0-1, five of those wins coming by way of a shutout. Their 18 goals allowed ranked third-best in the OVC as did their 0.95 goals against average. SEMO continued to be one of the top defensive teams in the OVC in 2017, ranking third in the league in goals-against average (0.91) and shutouts (7).
Before his stint at SEMO, Kleman served as the graduate assistant at EKU where he was responsible for on-field coaching, off-campus recruiting, travel arrangements, and video editing. He was part of the memorable 2012 season in which the Colonels set then-program records for wins (10), conference victories (6), goals (22), assists (18), points (62) and shots (253). EKU posted an undefeated home record (8-0-1) for the first time in school history that season and had three players named first-team All-Ohio Valley Conference, the most in program history.
A native of Elida, Ohio, Kleman competed collegiately as a defender at Transylvania University (2004-07). The Pioneers posted a 56-10-13 record during his career, won four consecutive Heartland Conference titles, and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2007.
Kleman earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Transylvania in 2008 and a master's degree in Sports Administration from Eastern Kentucky in 2013.
He and his wife, Bo, have three children, Journey, Jett and Jagger.
