New coach AJ Wilson primed to lead CMR football this fall

A.J. Wilson hasn’t yet taken the sidelines as the head coach of the C.M. Russell High football team, but he’s already feeling the hype.

Often when he’s out and about in Great Falls donning Rustler gear, he gets the same questions.

“Are you a football coach?”

“Is CMR back?”

While there is much to do before the Rustlers open the season on Aug. 29 at Kalispell Flathead, Wilson is eager and grateful for the opportunity to lead one of the most historically successful football programs in the state.

“I was blessed to get the job and get things rolling, hopefully back to the way that people remember Russell football,” Wilson said. “A winning, competitive tradition.

“This town is hungry for it. I see it everywhere.”

The 2012 Helena Capital graduate was named the CMR head coach in January after one season as a defensive assistant under Dennis Morris, who resigned last fall after four years at the helm.

Also a health enhancement teacher at CMR, Wilson said the school provided a welcoming environment from day one, and he felt encouraged by the other coaches to apply for the position when it opened up.

"Everyone made me feel welcome from the get-go, from (Morris) on down," Wilson said. "I gave my two cents of what I know about football the first time I met everybody, and everybody’s eyes lit up. ‘He’s not just some guy who played football and got some accolades out of that.’ I understand the game very well, so the older generation of guys that are still on staff, they recognized that and my knowledge for the game right away."

Wilson comes from a program with championship pedigree at Capital, where he helped lead the Bruins to the Class AA state title in 2011 and at linebacker was named the state’s Defensive MVP. He went on to star at Montana Western, earning first-team NAIA All-American honors in his senior season under mentor B.J. Robertson and finished second all-time in program history in tackles for loss, according to Butte Sports.

While his playing days were done, Wilson had long known he would continue his football career as a coach. Wilson said he learned to love the game in his days at Capital, led by then head coach Pat Murphy and current Bruin mentor Kyle Mihelish and the rest of the staff.

“I come from great football at Capital,” Wilson said. “Great coaches, great teammates, tons of good players that came out of there. We had ways that we believe won games for us, made us tougher, stronger, faster and some mental toughness things as well.”

At Western, Wilson said he soaked up all he could to become a true student of the game.

“I wanted to learn the pure Xs and Os of this game, the strategy of this game,” Wilson said. “When I got to college I wanted to learn everything I could, whether it was meetings, on the field, watching Sunday football, Saturday football, it didn’t matter.”

His first coaching gig was as a graduate assistant at Western in Ryan Nourse’s first year coaching defensive line. He spent another season as a GA at NCAA Div. II Chadron State (Neb.), learning the ropes and working sunup to sundown on some days.

“You’re the graduate assistant, you’re doing every dirty job possible, you’re doing every piece of paperwork possible for your coaches,” Wilson said. “You’re really just learning how the system works and the building blocks to get to the top. Those were horrible jobs, they took from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. but it was worth it.”

Prior to coming back to Montana, Wilson’s first teaching and coaching job was in Elko, Nevada, where he started as an assistant before moving up to head coach for two years. In his last season at Spring Creek High, he led the team to the Nevada 3A state semifinals.

Wilson – now coaching the CMR offense in addition to his head coaching duties – said he’s brought a scheme devised by his former coaching staff in Nevada, a run-first attack that the staff is figuring out how to tailor to the current personnel.

“We’re moving towards a simplified offense,” Wilson said. “They’re still able to play fast and do different things. It’s really based off the guys you have and you’ve got to roll with it. I think the coaches have done a good job evaluating what kind of a running team we’ll be, but we’ll be a run-first team. We’re trying to find our identity up front for what kind of a run team we want to be.”

Also a track assistant to Brian Greenwell in the spring, Wilson said one of his top priorities is to strongly encourage his athletes to play multiple sports and stay competitive year-round.

“I want all my football players doing three sports all year long,” Wilson said. “Whether it’s football first, basketball first, I don’t care…That will be our goal, whether it’s out for track or whatever sport, just getting kids out for anything and everything.”

The Rustlers retained a majority of the coaching staff in the transition, aside from longtime assistant Scott Hartman retiring and veteran running backs coach Travis Crawford taking a new job in Anaconda. Ryan Anderson, who previously spent many years with the program, is returning to coach the offensive line, Wilson said, while fellow former Western player Connor Schulte will coach the backs.

Gregg Dart, the former Great Falls High head coach who had also been a CMR assistant under coaches Gary Lowry and Morris, will assume the play-calling duties.

Wilson said it’s been a productive offseason and he’s excited to see what a strong junior class will be able to do this fall. CMR took second in team competition this summer at the University of Montana camp to Kalispell Glacier, and also performed well at Montana State camp, he said.

“I was talking to the kids (Wednesday), it’s not about what you do in June and July, it’s what you do in October, November when it really, really matters,” Wilson said. “We could sit here and bask in the glory of the summer ball, or we could continue to work and find out if we’re a playoff team or a deep playoff team.”

CMR is coming off a 3-6 season last fall and will be seeking its first winning season since 2014.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: New coach AJ Wilson primed to lead CMR football this fall