Friday Night Lights: All-Star Coaching Staff

Coaching always plays an important role in winning games. And whether you're talking about the National Football League or high school football, coaches are game-changers, which is why you should feel very good right now if you are a Havre High football fan.

That's because as far as high school coaches go in the state of Montana, the Ponies couldn't do much better than new head coach Mark Samson.

Samson, who led Helena Capital to three Class AA state titles during his time there, also resurrected the football program at Montana State University-Northern and is looking to do the same thing at HHS.

Yet, Samson is not alone is his quest to bring a state football championship back to Havre, in fact far from it, because when he became the head coach at HHS, he made sure to bring a star-studded staff with him.

Putting together a coaching staff is never easy, but Samson made it look that way with some of the hires he was able to make, none of which were more important than the additions off Scott Leeds and Jarrod Wirt.

Leeds, who was an assistant coach at Northern under Walt Currie and Samson for 16 years, will serve as the offensive coordinator, even though Samson will call the plays. And Wirt, who played and coached at Carroll College, winning a pair of national championships in the process, will run the defense after serving as the defensive coordinator at NAIA school Bethany College in Kansas.

"I am fortunate that I have a really good staff," Samson said. "They have been really great. Scott has worked for years with me at Northern and Jarrod has brought a lot of great ideas for the defense."

Yet, in addition to being proven assistant coaches at the collegiate level, Leeds and Wirt have something else in common, they were both Blue Ponies. Leeds, who graduated from HHS in 1990, earned All-State honors as a wide receiver for Havre, before moving on and earning All-American honors while playing for Carroll College in the Frontier Conference.

Wirt, who graduated in 1998, was part of the 1997 Havre team that lost in the state championship game to Hamilton 21-14, as well as the 1998 team, which bowed out in the semifinals to Sidney. Wirt went on to an outstanding All-Conference career as a defensive back for the Fighting Saints and head coach Mike Van Diest.

Leeds and Wirt have both worn the royal blue of HHS, but they aren't the only ones on the staff to do so. Like Wirt, Kendall Griggs played on the state runner-up team in 1997, earning All-State honors at center before moving on to play at Northern from 1998-2000. Now, he teaches at HHS and enters his second year as the freshman football coach. Before moving back to Havre, Griggs coached football and won two state championships as head tennis coach at Conrad. He also serves as the assistant coach for the Havre High tennis teams.

While three of Samson's six assistants have a direct link to Havre High, the other four came in large part because of their connection to Samson at MSU-N.

Travis Dean, who coaches the quarterbacks for HHS, is one example. Dean, who was Northern's starting quarterback a season ago, spent four seasons at MSU-N with Samson as his head coach. He also happens to be coach Samson's son-in-law after marrying his daughter Tricia, who also coaches at HHS. A quick look at last season's stats shows that Dean, who finished 24th in the NAIA in passing yards last year, despite playing in just eight games, is more than qualified to mentor quarterbacks and was an excellent addition to Havre High's staff.

But, Dean, who also teaches at Lincoln-McKinley Primary School, is not the only recently graduated Light, who will stand on the sidelines with Samson this year. Hunter Chandler, who just needs to finish his student teaching in order to become a physical education teacher, also spent four years at Northern and just graduated last spring. He will coach defensive backs for HHS after a strong career with the Lights. Chandler also played high school football for the last head coach to win a state championship in Havre, Bozeman High head coach Troy Purcell.

James Erickson, who will coach the freshmen along with Griggs, has also played and coached at the college level. He spent two years at Boise State University, before coming to play at MSU-N in 2013. He was also an assistant coach for the Lights last season.

And last but not least is Jake Criner, who played fullback, defensive line and linebacker for the Lights from 2010-2014 and currently teaches at Havre Middle School. He will work with both the offensive and defensive lines.

We all know coaches don't win games, players do. But, when you have a legendary head coach, two former college coordinators and five others who have at least played collegiately, it can't hurt.

Now, it's time for the new Blue Pony staff to make their much-anticipated debut as HHS takes on Whitefish in the BNSF Trophy Game Saturday at Blue Pony Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.