Christensen is Northern's new coach

A new era in football at Montana State University-Northern is about to begin. And leading the charge will be former Missouri Valley College assistant coach Aaron Christensen.

MSU-Northern Athletic Director Christian Oberquell announced the hiring of Christensen, who has spent the last three seasons as offensive coordinator at MVC, Wednesday evening.

"Aaron brings a great football knowledge and background to MSU-Northern," Oberquell said in a press release Wednesday night. "His hard-nosed, exciting brand of football, we feel will take us to the next level.  Aaron wants to win, and he also understands Havre and our region and also has great recruiting ties across the country,"

Christensen was one of four finalists for the MSU-N head job, a job that opened after Mark Samson resigned in August. The university conducted a nation-wide search, which turned up 62 applicants, including Northern defensive coordinator Jake Eldridge, who assumed the role of interim head coach for the 2014 season. In the end, the job came down to Christensen, Willamette offensive coordinator Kelly Bills, MidAmerica Nazarene tight ends coach Kyle Kramer and Lead-Deadwood High School head coach Ryan Gatch.

Christensen, who's led one of the top offenses in the NAIA the last three years, interviewed on Northern's campus a week ago Thursday and accepted the position Wednesday afternoon.

"First, I'd like to say this is an excellent opportunity," Christensen said from Marshall, Missouri, Wednesday night. "My wife and I are very excited to get there and be a part of the Havre community. And I'm very excited to get to work."

Christensen has coached at the NAIA level for over 10 seasons. During his tenure, he has been able to work as a running backs' coach, video coordinator, passing game coordinator, and wide receivers' coach. The last three seasons, he's been the MCV offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He has been part of four consecutive HAAC Championships and four NAIA playoff appearances over the past four seasons. Included in that run was the Vikings reaching the 2012 NAIA semifinals, where they played at Carroll College.

During his interview last week, Christensen emphasized bringing a physical brand of football to Northern, on both sides of the ball. He also has a strong and successful model for recruiting and believes in bringing in players with high character, who are good student-athletes and want to compete in small college football.

"We have to get out and get kids who want to come to a small college, and go to college in a rural environment," said Christensen, who has a wife, Jolene, and three young daughters. "We want kids who have good character, who want to succeed academically, who want to come here and get a degree, and help us win football games.

"And I think you have to first recruit your own state," he continued. "We're going to recruit Montana hard. And to do that, you have to be out there, in the high schools, building good relationships with those coaches. So first, we have to recruit the state of Montana, and then you can go elsewhere. As for succeeding academically, with all freshmen, we'll hand them an academic packet when they first get here. It will have all the do's and don'ts to help them succeed on campus. Because that's very important. Those kids need to know we're there for them. We need to show them that we want them to come here and succeed and graduate."

Wednesday night Christensen said there are many things that he must do when he first arrives in Havre to take over the program. He wants to hit the ground running on recruiting, as well as get winter conditioning up and running, because spring football is just two months away. However, he noted that, above all else, there was one thing that's on the top of his priority list when he arrives in Havre, and when classes resume in January.

"The very first thing I've got to do is meet with the team," said Christensen, who has a Master of Arts in management from Lindenwood University and a Bachelor of Arts in management from Si Tanka Huron University. "We have to let them know that we're here for them now. We have to show them that we're moving forward. That's really important right now.

"It's all a little bit overwhelming right now," he continued. "But we're going to take it one day at a time and one step at a time. Again, my wife and I are very excited. This is a very exciting time for us, and I'm really looking forward to all that lies ahead with this great opportunity at MSU-Northern and in the community of Havre."