Professional Pedigree
New Glacier girls soccer coach Damion Blackburn, a former MLS player, brings a formidable playing and coaching resume to a program fresh off the state title
By Micah Drew
For half a year, Glacier High School boys soccer coach Ryan Billiet watched from the sidelines as the school tried, and failed, to find a replacement after Brenden Byrd stepped down as the girls coach in January.
“We have worked collaboratively for the last eight to 10 years to make sure there’s a synergetic approach to the boys and girls program,” Billiet said. “Losing Brenden, we wanted to make sure there was a quality replacement to pick up where he left off.”
The search for Byrd’s replacement stalled out a few times — a top candidate backed out of the interview process, while another turned down the job. During the intervening months, assistant coach Matt Ford oversaw training for the Wolfpack.
But on July 26, Glacier Athletic Director Mark Dennehy made the long awaited announcement: Damion Blackburn will take over the program this fall. His hiring is not final until the school board approves it.
“Right away, Damion has a lot more experience than most coaches locally have,” Billiet said. “He has the foundation — he’s literally helped write curriculum for coach development — and he wants to enhance the training environment for kids.”
Billiet first met Blackburn a decade ago, when Blackburn started coming to the Flathead during the summers to work with the Flathead Rapids club team during summer camps. As a former MLS player, Blackburn had a reputation as a highly skilled player and boasted an enviable coaching resume spanning all age groups. Billiet often brought him to Glacier to do short summer camps with the boys team and observed his coaching prowess first hand.
“He has a nice balanced approach with his focus on the tactical aspects and having a purpose to each session,” Billiet said. “He’s an authority on the field and just brings such a high standard to practice.”
Last fall, Blackburn moved to the Flathead Valley fulltime to take a position as technical director of the Flathead Rapids club team.
“I was told that there was a ton of potential in the Flathead, some great talent here,” Blackburn said. “When I stopped playing professionally and was pretty serious about the coaching craft full time, I moved out here.”
“This is a passion project that deeply matters to me,” he continued. “I don’t feel we have enough advocates for our players in Northwest Montana.”

Blackburn was raised in the Midwest and starting playing the game when he was just four years old, although he “didn’t get serious until I was around eight.”
Blackburn played in high school and at the University of Dayton, an NCAA Division I program. He calls his college career “decent, but hampered by ACL tears,” although he had enough success to bypass his senior year to play professionally in the MLS with the Columbus Crew until an ACL tear, his third, sidelined the striker.
He later played four years for the Cincy Saints, a now defunct professional team that competed in both indoor and outdoor leagues where he was the club’s all-time leader in goals and points.
His first foray into coaching was as a teenager, working with local youth teams and he has since developed a diverse coaching resume, including coaching club teams, as an MLS scout working with soccer academies and as a member of the United Soccer Coaches national staff.
When he first moved out to the Flathead Valley fulltime, Blackburn spent time at practices and games of every team in the valley to get a feel for the different coaching styles and program philosophies, but didn’t expect to step into a full-time coaching role at a school so soon.
“It’s a new challenge that I’m excited to have,” Blackburn said, a day after his first meeting with members of the Wolfpack. “I think the players are excited and I’m excited to work with them.”
Coming on the heels of a championship run last year, Blackburn said there is a bit of pressure and extra scrutiny on the program during the coaching transition, but he doesn’t want his players to be concerned.
“My primary objective here is not necessary to go out and start worrying about winning. It’s absolutely important to win games, no questions, but it’s not the number one focus for us right now,” he said. “My primary role is to develop good people, good soccer players that love the game.”

The Wolfpack graduated a talented group of nine seniors who were instrumental in the teams 14-4-0 season that culminated in the state title.
Among the graduates were forward Taylor Brisendine, whose time stoppage goal in the first half of the state final netted the only point of the game, and defender Kenzie Williams, the Gatorade Montana Girls Soccer Player of the Year.
“Anytime you lose the state player of the year, it’s a challenge for sure,” Blackburn said. “But what I would say is I think we have a lot of excellent footballers —soccer players — that have had opportunities at the club levels beyond Montana, with regional camps and Olympic development programs.”
“I think we’ve got a lot of pieces I’m excited to work with,” he continued. “It’ll be intriguing to look at the group as a whole and see how they mesh.”
Byrd was one of the pillars of Flathead Valley soccer culture, and Blackburn is poised to immediately be an additional pillar for players, coaches and fans.
“He’s so passionate about the sport and it’s just electric being on the field with him,” Byrd said. “It’s his program now, with whatever flair he brings to it, and it’ll be a fun program to watch. I couldn’t have asked for a better coach to take over.”

Blackburn said he plans to meet with Byrd in the next week to talk about their views on the team, compare philosophies and swap notes going forward.
“I want to develop players that love the game, maybe even have a borderline obsession with it, in a positive way,” Blackburn said. “The goal is to see what the game can provide them with, and prepare them for the opportunity to look beyond the valley, to the collegiate level or beyond that. We have players here that can open doors to a lot of opportunity.”