(Editor’s note: Montana Tech athletics release)
BUTTE — Montana Tech head football coach Chuck Morrell announced a change to his coaching staff Thursday. Kyle Samson joins the Oredigger coaching staff as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
“I am excited to welcome coach Samson, his wife Brooke and their family to Montana Tech and the city of Butte,” said Morrell.
Samson arrives in Butte after leading the Kalispell Flathead High School football program the past five years. The Braves had one of the top offenses in the state the past two seasons, reaching the Class AA state title game last fall for the first time since 2000. Flathead also made the playoffs three out of the past five seasons. Samson also called the offense and coached the quarterbacks at Flathead.
“Kyle has done a tremendous job as the head football coach at Flathead, bringing that program into the top tier of the AA ranks here the last few years,” said Morrell.
No stranger to the Frontier Conference, Samson served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for seven seasons at Montana State University-Northern, working with the Lights from 2007-2014. The Lights’ offense was ranked in the top 10 nationally from 2011-2013.
“My interest in Kyle dates back to his time at Montana State University-Northern where he and his father, head coach at the time Mark Samson, did some outstanding things schematically and were very difficult to prepare for every time we played them,” said Morrell. “Coach Samson’s scheme fits our personnel here at Tech exceptionally well and will allow us to continue to build off of the success we had under coach Pete Sterbick.”
Samson is a familiar name around the Montana football scene. Kyle Samson was an all-state quarterback playing for his father Mark at Helena Capital High School. He again played for is father at Montana State University-Northern, leading the Lights to the NAIA playoffs. Mark Samson is currently the head coach at Great Falls High.
A three-time all-conference selection for the Lights, Samson was the 2006 Frontier Conference offensive player of the year. He finished his career with 5,303 yards passing and 1,591 yards on the ground. He had a 62.1 career completion percentage, while scoring 45 total touchdowns.
“When searching for a new offensive coordinator, I was looking for three things: Energy, leadership and a fit schematically with what I want to see our offense accomplish. Coach Samson easily checked off all those boxes and as an added bonus has some tremendous internal ties to the state of Montana that will help us continue to bolster our successful in-state recruiting efforts,” said Morrell.
Samson replaces Pete Sterbick on the Tech staff. Sterbick has taken a similar position at the Colorado School of Mines after serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for five seasons.
