Jason Christenson not returning as HHS head football coach

The Havre High football team will have a new head coach in 2015. Jason Christenson, speaking with the Havre Daily News Monday night, confirmed that he had submitted his letter of resignation and will not return to lead the team next season.

“As a head football coach, there are a lot of intangible things that you have to do and take care of. And there were some areas where I wasn’t doing such a great job in and wasn’t improving,” Christenson said. “It wasn’t necessarily the X’s and O’s part of it. I think I still have a lot to offer as a coach and people that know me and understand the game of football would agree with me. It was just more of the administration part of it. Dealing with budgets and purchasing. Dealing with parents, media, and trying to organize certain things. It was those things that I was not doing in a timely fashion and not improving on, so it was time to step away and go in a different direction.”

Christenson, who graduated from Havre High in 1991 and was an All-State defensive lineman for the Ponies, spent five seasons at the helm for HHS and in that time compiled a 25-25-1 record. He led Havre to the playoffs in all five of his seasons as the head coach and made it as far as the Class A state semifinals in 2011. He also served as defensive coordinator for former head coach Troy Purcell and was on the staff in 2004 when the Ponies last captured the state championship.

“Jason coached for us in 2004, then he left us and he came back and gave us five good years as a head football coach,” HHS athletic director Dennis Murphy said.

For full coverage see Wednesday’s edition of the Havre Daily News.