The Chicago Fire have scheduled a press conference for Thursday afternoon to announce the sixth coach in the team's history. And while team officials have remained tight-lipped, sources confirmed Wednesday that Frank Klopas is dropping the "interim" tag and taking on the head coaching role full-time heading into the 2012 season.

Klopas and Fire owner Andrew Hauptman will be on hand for Thursday's announcement.

In the interim coaching role, Klopas posted an 8-5-10 record this past season after the firing of Carlos de los Cobos. The Fire missed the playoffs for a second straight season, but Chicago pieced together a strong run that had the team mathematically still in the postseason hunt heading into the final week of the regular season. The Fire also had a runner-up finish in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Klopas was named the Fire's technical director in January 2008. It is plausible that Klopas' technical director duties will stay in the hands of Andell Sports Group managing director Javier Leon and Fire director of player personnel Mike Jeffries.