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Casazza Steps Down as Whitefish Basketball Coach

By Beacon Staff

Mark Casazza has resigned after five seasons as head coach of the Whitefish High School boys basketball team, the school announced this week.

Casazza’s departure comes a month after the Bulldogs narrowly missed out on the Class A state tournament, losing to Polson in a challenge game after the Northwestern A divisional.

The Bulldogs were 11-10 last season and 55-47 overall under Casazza, who was promoted to head coach in the summer of 2009 after serving as assistant for several years. He has been involved in the boys basketball program for 14 years.

“I would like to thank Mark Casazza for his 14 years of service to the boys basketball program at Whitefish,” Whitefish Activities Director Aric Harris said in a statement. “He has served countless hours and gave an enormous amount of energy to our program. ?Mark Casazza is a man of great character and integrity, these same traits were ultimately instilled in every basketball player that has gone through our program the past 14 years. He has taught the boys in our basketball program how to become responsible, hardworking young men.”

The position was posted last week and is now advertised out of district. The stipend for the position was $5,518 from 2012-2013. The application states a preferred requirement would be for the candidate to work at the high school and have a state teaching certificate.

“I would like to thank the Whitefish School district for allowing me to coach in the boy’s basketball program for the past 14 years,” Casazza stated in his resignation letter. “I started coaching basketball to try to make a positive impact in some young men’s lives. Instead, they ended up changing my life and for this I will be forever grateful. It is time for me to open a new chapter in my life.”