Page 68 - Flathead Beacon // 7.16.14

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68 | JULY 16, 2014
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Montana Sidelines
Roundup of recent sports and outdoors news
By DILLON TABISH
GREEN NAMED NEW WHITEFISH BASKETBALL COACH FOLLOWING DOWNEY RESIGNATION
Curtis Green is the new boys basket- ball coach at Whitefish High School fol- lowing the surprise resignation of the program’s former coach after barely two months.
The Whitefish School District Board of Trustees approved Green’s hiring last week after High School Activities Di- rector Aric Harris recommended the Phoenix, Arizona native as the new head coach.
Green replaces Josh Downey, who abruptly resigned two weeks ago amid a disagreement with the administration over employment. Downey, who accept- ed the Whitefish head coaching job in mid May, claimed administrators prom- ised him a job in the district but failed to help secure anything that would support him and his family beyond the roughly $5,000 coaching stipend. Harris denied the claim.
Green, a finalist during the previ- ous coaching search after Mark Casazza stepped down in March, emerges as the new head coach for a Bulldogs program trying to regain its winning tradition.
Green was born and raised in the Phoenix area and played basketball at Glendale Community College and then Grand Canyon University. After college, he tried out for the Sacramento Kings NBA Summer League Team before shift- ing to teaching physical education and coaching high school basketball.
He has nine years of coaching expe- rience at the high school level, includ- ing the past seven years as head varsity coach at Raymond S. Kellis High School, a Division One school in Glendale with nearly 1,900 students. The high school moved up to the state’s highest classifi- cation last season, and before that com- peted successfully in the second highest division. In 2013, the team went 19-9 and qualified for the state sectional tourna- ment and finished runner-up. The team went 27-3 in 2012 and won the section- al tournament and Green was named Coach of the Year.
Green has friends and family in the Flathead Valley and visited several times over the years.
“I’ve been looking for a change and saw there was a job opening at White- fish,” he said.
He became a finalist in May but even- tually lost out to Downey. He said he still planned on moving to Whitefish regard- less of not earning the coaching job. Har- ris contacted him recently and asked if he was still interested in being the head coach.
“When I was up there visiting, the
community was very nice and receptive. It just felt like a good fit,” he said.
He said he understands that there is not a teaching vacancy in the school district and instead has a few employ- ment options in the community that he is looking into.
He said he’s not worried about any awkwardness following the dustup in- volving Downey and hopes to transition into the new role smoothly by getting to know the kids and community.
“It’s got to be a little more tough on the kids going on their third coach in three months. The transition will be a little more difficult for them,” he said. “I don’t plan on coming in and chang- ing the world. I want to come in and talk to the kids, get to know them and watch them play and get to understand where the program is at. Then I’ll be able to see what we’re good at, what we need to work on and take it from there.”
GLACIER VISITATION DOWN, YELLOWSTONE UP IN JUNE
As the Going-to-the-Sun Road sat closed through June, visitation stalled at Glacier National Park, according to the latest data from the National Park Ser- vice.
There were an estimated 34,074 visi- tors to Glacier Park last month, a 2.8 percent drop over the same time last year. For the six-month period between January and June, Glacier has attracted a total of 510,495 visitors, roughly the same as last year. The slight dip in June visitation is to be expected, considering the park’s main thoroughfare, the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road, did not open until the evening of July 2, nearly two weeks later than originally planned.
There were 140,267 visitors who en- tered the park last month through the West Entrance, more than 4,000 fewer than a year ago. The Izaak Walton/Goat Lick area drew 22,765, nearly 5,000 more than last year. Saint Mary’s saw 55,482 visitors, 20,000 fewer than a year ago.
During a month that saw harsh weather and winter conditions, lodging and camping numbers were down, too. There were 3,000 fewer tent campers, 2,000 fewer RV/motorhome campers and nearly 1,500 fewer backcountry per- mits issued in June.
Meanwhile, Yellowstone National Park saw its visitation numbers increase more than 7 percent for the month of June, compared to a year ago. In ad- dition, visitation to the first national park exceeded the 1 million mark for the first six months of the 2014. The Na- tional Park Service recorded more than 669,642 recreational visits to Yellow- stone in June.
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