Northern Game Day: Life Changing Move

Life can change in the blink of an eye. So can a career. One day, you're here, and the next you're there.

That's exactly what happened to Montana State University-Northern first-year head coach Aaron Christensen. On Thanksgiving Day of 2014, Christensen was on the offensive coordinator at Missouri Valley College, and on Christmas Day, he was the head coach of the Lights.

Christensen was announced by Northern Athletic Director Christian Oberquell as the Lights third head coach in the era since football was brought back to MSU-N – the announcement coming on Christmas, and just a few weeks later, he was in his office at Northern and his family, wife Jolene, and daughters Olivia, Avery, and Adalynn were headed for a Montana they had never really seen.

And from that point, life has been different. Good, but different.

"It all happened really fast," Christensen, who spent three years as MVC's offensive coordinator said. "But that's coaching. "It's been really busy since I got here, just getting things going. So I really haven't had much of a chance to reflect on it a lot. But it's been good. Everything is going in the right direction, and that's what we want."

Going in the right direction from a football standpoint has been Christensen's main focus since he took over the program in January. A program that lost 11-year head coach Mark Samson prior to the star of the 2014 season, and saw Northern defensive coordinator Jake Eldridge take over as interim head coach for the year.

So, while Christensen is essentially the third head coach at Northern since August of last year, the program has certainly gone through some turmoil, and that means there's been challenges in his first months as head coach. But challenges are part of the gig, especially when it's your first time as a head coach of a college football program.

"My old head coach always told me, everyone can tell you what it's like to be a head coach, but you don't know until you actually do it," Christensen said. "It's a lot like having kids. People can tell you what it's like, but until you have them, you really don't know."

And while the challenges have been plenty, Christensen certainly came to Havre prepared for the job.

During his time in Missouri, MVC won three consecutive Heart of America Athletics Conference Championships, had three NAIA FCS appearances, and one NAIA Football Championship Series (FCS) semifinal appearance. Prior to becoming offensive coordinator, Christensen served as running backs' coach, wide receivers' coach, video coordinator and passing game coordinator for MVC. Christensen was on staff at MVC for five Heart of America Athletic Conference championships, seven NAIA Football Championship Series appearances, and three NAIA FCS semifinal games. And for many of those seasons, his MVC offenses ranked among the best in the NAIA.

Before arriving at MVC, Christensen attended Huron University where he earned All -Conference honors as a TE. Following his playing career, Christensen spent two seasons as a student coach coaching the tight ends at Huron. Prior to Huron, Christensen played at San Jose City College near his hometown of Hayward, California.

But as well prepared as Christensen was coming in, there were things, like in all jobs where you climb the ladder, that he's had to learn and adjust to on the go.

"I think the biggest challenge has been just dealing with the things you don't anticipate or really have to deal with before," he said. "When you're an assistant coach, it's definitely a full-time job, but you're not responsible for every little thing like the head coach is. So, as head coach, there's just a lot more attention to detail. You are responsible for making sure every little thing is taken care of, not just on the football field, but off it too. So that's probably been the biggest adjustment for me."

And while Christensen has certainly been paying attention to every detail of the Northern program, he's still managed to get acclimated to Havre and Montana life. And it's a life he said he and his family are thoroughly enjoying.

"It's been great," he said. "My family loves it here. The first thing you notice about Havre is how nice everyone is. Everyone has been so great in welcoming us here. Everyone has been really supportive of us. And we're definitely settling in. My oldest daughter is now in school, my wife is coaching soccer here. So we are really a part of this community now, and we're very happy to be here."

And, Northern fans are going to be happy to have Christensen as well. While the Lights have always been a source of pride in Havre, with pride, integrity and commitment to excellence being the mantra of every head coach the Lights have had, those are things that Christensen takes very seriously, and they are things that are certainly going to be a staple of the program he wants to build at MSU-N.

"As far as what I want this program to be, to look like," he said. "The first thing is the academic side. I want to make sure we're doing it right there. That's really important to me. And overall, we just want to make sure we can say, we're doing this the right way, not just with the football, but with all aspects of our program.

"On the field," he continued. "We always want to be a physical football team. I know I've said that 100 times probably since I got here, but it's true. Being a physical team will eventually lead you to where you want to go, especially in this conference (Frontier Conference). So we have to be that physical team in order to build the type of program that we want to be."

Christensen also knows that getting the program to where he wants to be will take time. After all, the roster in his first season has seen plenty of change, and while there's talent on his first Northern team, Christensen marched into his first season as a head coach with a team with just four seniors. And that young team suffered a season-opening setback at Dickinson State on Aug. 22.

Still, listening to him talk about what he is doing with the program, and what he envisions the Lights to be, now and in the future, you can tell Christensen won't waver or deviate from that plan. He's excited about being the Lights' head coach, and more importantly, he's very proud of it.

And while it may not have all sunk in just yet, because all of this happened so fast, there's no doubt, the man who came to Havre from Missouri Valley College, is now 100 percent Northern, and he's darn proud of it.

"I'm very excited, every day," Christensen said. "This is an opportunity I'm very thankful for, and it's one you don't want to take for granted. So while I haven't had a chance to really reflect on it a lot, it does feel good to be the head coach here at Northern, and it's something I take a lot of pride in."