KALISPELL – Kyle Samson is chasing his coaching dream, but that doesn’t make it easy to say goodbye.
The new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Montana Tech had a tough time leaving his old team. Samson spent the last five years with the Kalispell Flathead High School Braves. He led the program to the state championship game this past season for the first time since 2000.
He previously served as offensive coordinator at Montana State-Northern, and he wanted to get back to the college game. But Samson said he learned a ton as a head coach for the first time at the high school level, and he’ll miss his time at Flathead.
“It’s just super hard when you put your heart and soul into a place, and your family is really involved: My wife and my kids are super involved in this program,” said Samson. “There are so many great people here at Flathead and Kalispell that have supported me the last five years. That’s hard. It’s very hard to leave. But my ultimate goal is to be a college head coach. I just felt like this was a great opportunity to hopefully lead me to that goal some day.”
Samson will bring a couple Braves with him to make Butte feel like home. Flathead seniors Blake Counts and Jaden MacNeil have signed to play for the Diggers next Fall. Counts set a new state single-season rushing record with more than 2,500 yards this past season. MacNeil starred at quarterback and on defense, and was a Class AA all-state pick as an athlete.
