Montana Tech's Kyle Samson earns AFCA regional coaching honor

Montana Tech head coach Kyle Samson was tabbed NAIA Region 5 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association Tuesday morning. It’s Samson’s first regional honor as the Orediggers’ sixth-year skipper. Samson is also the 2025 Frontier Conference East Division Coach of the Year.

Saturday, Samson will guide 11-0 and No. 3-seeded Tech in the NAIA Football Championship Series Round of 16 against I-15 rival Carroll College. Tech completed its first unblemished regular-season dating back to 1904 on Nov. 15 against Valley City State, earning an outright Frontier East Division Championship, the Orediggers’ first standalone title since 2016.

Samson is the second-straight Frontier coach to earn Region 5 honors. Southern Oregon’s Berk Brown shared the award with Texas College’s Jarrail Jackson last season. Carroll head coach Troy Purcell captured the honor in 2022, leading the Saints to an 8-2 regular-season record, share of the Frontier title, and NAIA FCS appearance.

Tech is 39-15 (.722) under Samson’s guidance. That includes four-straight seven-win or better campaigns and three consecutive playoff appearances.

Samson is a third generation Frontier head coach, following his grandfather Bob Petrino Sr. (Carroll College) and father Mark Samson (MSU-Northern). Samson played three seasons for his father in Havre, earning Frontier Offensive MVP honors as a senior in 2006. With the Lights is where Samson began his coaching journey, serving as Northern’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2007 to 2014.

Samson became a head coach for the first time at age 29, helming Kalispell Flathead until Chuck Morrell hired him to run Tech’s offense ahead of the 2019 season. Samson took over head coaching duties Jan. 21, 2020, had to wait until 2021 to coach his first game, and has yet to suffer a losing campaign in Butte.

Samson is a Helena native, graduating from Helena Capital in 2003. With his father as head coach, he quarterbacked the Bruins to a Class AA state title as a senior. Samson was Montana's Gatorade Football Player of the Year that season.

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Montana Tech's Kyle Samson earns AFCA regional coaching honor

“It’s a humbling award,” Samson said. “It’s a staff award, though. I think it just speaks volumes about my assistant coaches, to be honest. I get credit for it, but to me, it’s a staff award. I have to give a ton of credit to the guys that I get to work with every day.”

Tech is the final undefeated collegiate football team in Montana entering Saturday. Eleven victories are the program's single-season most. Tech is the Frontier's first 11-0 team since 2019 College of Idaho.

Award winners are selected by active members of the AFCA who vote for coaches in their respective regions and divisions, according to a press release.

The NAIA's 2025 AFCA National Coach of the Year Award will be announced Monday, Dec. 15. Regional winners in each division are finalists for national coach of the year, according to the release. 

Levi Torgerson, with Samson calling plays, is Tech’s first 1,000-yard receiver since Wyatt Alexander in 2023. His 1,044 receiving yards are currently sixth-most in the NAIA. Torgerson also ranks second nationally with a program-record 1,888 all-purpose yards. Orediggers quarterback Jarrett Wilson hasn’t thrown an interception in eight games and is tied for 15th in the NAIA with 26 passing touchdowns. Wilson’s 76.5% completion percentage paces qualified NAIA signal-callers.

Kick off against No. 14-seeded Carroll College is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. from Alumni Coliseum.