Klinkefus, a Harlan, Iowa, native, spent the past 19 years on the coaching staff at South Dakota State prior to joining Drake. During his tenure, he was part of nine Summit League regular season titles and seven conference tournament championship teams. In his time in Brookings, SDSU compiled a 320-141 overall record. That includes a 175-13 record on the Jackrabbits home floor at Frost Arena that has home winning streaks of 17, 21, 30, 33 and 34 games.
Klinkefus played a key role in leading the Jackrabbits consistently to the top of The Summit League as a recruiter, coach and mentor.
Klinkefus coached NCAA Division I All-Americans in Nate Wolters and Mike Daum, and three Academic All-Americans in Jordan Dykstra, Brayden Carlson and Matt Dentlinger. Klinkefus worked primarily with SDSU's front court which most recently saw William Kyle III in 2024 earn The Summit League's Defensive Player of the Year award along with claiming First Team All-Summit League honors.
Prior to SDSU, Klinkefus worked as an assistant coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, from 2001-06 under Brian Van Haaften. Klinkefus helped the Beavers post a 115-33 record in his five seasons, winning nearly 80 percent of their games while claiming five straight IIAC tournament titles and five national tournament berths.
Klinkefus graduated from Buena Vista in 2000, where he was the starting quarterback on the football team for four seasons, with a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education. He also owns a Master of Science degree in education from Drake, which he received in 2004.
He and his wife, Megan, have two sons, Roman and Morris.
