Mark Samson moves on to Great Falls High

For the second straight year, the Havre High football team will have a new head coach as Mark Samson, who spent one season at the helm of the Blue Ponies, has accepted the same position at Great Falls High.

Samson, who led Helena Capital to three Class AA state titles before a stint at Montana State University-Northern, was offered the chance to return to the AA ranks Tuesday morning and he accepted it.

"I don't want the people of Havre to think this is me turning their back on them," Samson said. "It had nothing to do with that. I wasn't disappointed by anything. The people of Havre have been great to me. This administration really helped me get back on my feet after everything that happened at MSU-Northern and I can't thank them enough. But, a (Class) AA job opened it and it's one that I think is a pretty good one and I always wanted to coach at a AA school if the opportunity was there."

The Montana coaching legend will finish his career in Havre with just one season in the books, but it was the best season the Ponies have had in four years. Havre finished 8-3, won a playoff game and won the Central A Conference championship for the first time since 2011. After beating Columbia Falls in the quarterfinals of the Class A state playoffs, the Ponies went on the road and were beaten soundly by Dillon in the state semis.

"I think that we did some good things this year," Samson said. "We may not have won a championship. But I think we did some things that they can build off of. I think there is going to be a lot of interest in this position. There are good players here, this is a good junior class and a good sophomore class. Hopefully someone can come in here and build off the things that we accomplished last season."

The Great Falls High job is not the first that Samson showed interest in this winter, as he was a finalist for the head coaching job at Rocky Mountain College. Yet, when the offer to be the Bears head man never came, Great Falls High came calling and after much deliberation, Samson threw his hat in the ring.

"I really wanted to coach in the Frontier again," Samson said. "I just wanted to show people that I could do it. But, when it didn't happen, I wasn't that disappointed. I knew I had a good job here in Havre. But, then this opportunity came up. It was a tough decision, my wife and I discussed it for quite a while and on the last day that you could apply, I applied."

Samson said he would look back on his 12 total years of coaching in Havre fondly and that he would miss the people of Havre.

"There are so many great people in Havre that I have gotten the chance to meet and know personally and professionally," Samson said. "There are too many people to name, I could go on and on. It was just never the right time to leave and I guess now, maybe because of my age, I feel like it's the right time and maybe my last chance to do something like this."

For more details see Friday's edition of the Havre Daily News.