BILLINGS — Billings Public Schools has hired four new coaches, director of athletics and activities Mark Wahl announced Tuesday.
Brent Montague and Connor Silliker will take over the girls basketball programs at Billings Skyview and Billings Senior, respectively, while Chez Keehn and Russell Dornish will lead soccer programs. Keehn will lead the girls at Senior, and Dornisch will lead the Skyview boys.
Montague has been a longtime Billings resident after joining the Montana State University Billings men’s basketball program in 1997. He’s been a Yellowjacket since, working as an assistant basketball coach and within the athletic department after graduation. Montague began teaching at Senior last fall.
“We believe that Brent’s ability to develop strong relationships with kids and his experience as an assistant coach will help him build a quality program at Skyview,” Wahl wrote in a media release.
Silliker, a 2010 graduate of Whitefish High School, has been at Senior since 2015. After an all-conference football and basketball career with the Bulldogs, Silliker played college basketball at Montana Western, where he graduated with a degree in art education in 2014.
“We are confident that Conner will continue the growth of the girls basketball program at Senior High,” Wahl wrote.
Keehn is a Senior alum, having played soccer under then-coach Megan Parish. Keehn continued her soccer career at Rocky Mountain College from 2012-16, ultimately becoming an all-conference selection as a senior. She graduated with a health and human performance degree.
“We believe Chez will do an outstanding job as the new head girls soccer coach at Senior High,” Wahl said.
Dornisch will be new to Billings, moving to the Magic City from Denver. He was a two-time all-academic soccer player at Colorado Christian University before earning a masters degree from Colorado State University. Dornisch has served as an assistant boys and girls soccer coach at Heritage High School, Kipp Collegiate Academy and Highland Ranch High School since 2015 and “comes highly recommended for the head coaching position at Skyview,” according to Wahl.
The four hires leave just two open coaching positions at BPS: boys soccer at Billings West and volleyball at Billings Senior.
