Northern names new head football coach

The Montana State University-Northern Lights have their new head football coach. On Wednesday afternoon, Northern Athletic Director Christian Oberquell announced that Missouri Valley offensive coordinator Aaron Christensen has agreed to become the Lights head coach.

“My family and I are excited for this great opportunity and look forward to becoming part of the Havre community," Christensen said. "As the Head Football coach I plan on working to bring a physical, disciplined, and hard working team to MSU Northern and put a team on the field that will make the college proud. I look forward to getting to work.”

Christensen is currently the Offensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator at Missouri Valley College. Christensen has coached at the NAIA level for over 10 seasons. During this time, he has been able to work as a Running Back Coach, Video Coordinator, Passing Game Coordinator, and Wide Receivers’ Coach. He has been part of four consecutive HAAC Championships and four NAIA Playoff appearances over the past four seasons (including a NAIA Semi-Final Appearance in 2012). Christensen has an M.A. in Management from Lindenwood University and a B.A. in Management from Si Tanka Huron University.

Christensen was one of four finalists for the job, which was vacant after Mark Samson resigned in August. Current Northern defensive coordinator Jake Eldridge assumed the role of interim head coach for the 2014 season. The Lights went 3-7, but won their final game, on a last-second field goal Nov. 15 at Rocky Mountain College.

The other finalists for the position were, Ryan Gatch, head coach of Lead-Deadwood High School in Lead, South Dakota, Kelly Bills, offensive coordinator at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and Kyle Kramer, tight ends coach at MidAmerica Nazarene in Olathe, Kansas.

See Friday's Havre Daily News for a complete story.