After 41 years on the job, legendary Great Falls C.M. Russell football coach Jack Johnson has decided to hang up his whistle, stepping down as the only head coach the program has known. The school district announced his retirement Tuesday.

The winningest coach in Montana prep football history, Johnson won 340 games and 13 state championships in his tenure, including seven runner-up finishes. He is in the top 20 for wins all time at the national level.

“He’s a great man and a great football coach,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “He’s going to go down as the greatest of all time. I can’t imagine anyone ever matching what he’s done.”

The Rustlers dominated the decade of the 80s, winning eight state titles in the years from 1980-92. CMR’s most recent title came in 2009.

Glacier beat CMR in what is now Johnson’s final game, blowing out the Rustlers 52-7 in the state semifinals. CMR started the season 0-4, only to win seven straight and finish the season 7-5.

“He set the standard for so many years,” Bennett said. “Year after year, you knew CMR was going to be exactly where they were.

“CMR was a team you had to beat. They were so well coached. You had to beat them, they weren’t going to beat themselves. You had to line up and they were going to execute and be very disciplined and sound. That was the thing. When you beat CMR, that was a big time win because you earned it.

“When I was looking at building a brand new program at Glacier seven years ago, a lot of the ideas the philosophies of building a successful program came from Jack Johnson.

“If you’ve been in the state of Montana and coached football or played football, Jack Johnson has had an influence on you in some way, shape or form.”

Flathead coach Russell McCarvel, who has family members that played under Johnson, fondly remembers the first time they lined up across the field.

“When I talked to him on the field before the game, he told me that he visited with my aunt and uncle that week and asked them if they were going to cheer for the Rustlers or Russell? That was the line,” McCarvel said.

“I’m happy for him that he’s had such a tremendous career, but any time somebody like that steps down, I think its a loss for the coaching profession. Great for him, he’s had an unbelievable career.”

CMR produced a number of fantastic players throughout Johnson’s tenure, including quarterbacks Dave Dickenson and Ryan Leaf. Bennett credits Johnson with advancing the quality of play at every level in Montana.

“For the state of Montana, for the size of our population, I really believe Montana high school football is very good,” Bennett said.

“I think you really see that with how many players the high schools at all levels — AA, A, B and C — how many of our good quality players from our programs go and play and help Montana and Montana State be top-tier, national championship-contending type programs. That’s with a corps of Montana kids that are very well coached.

“I think Jack Johnson deserves a lot of credit for that. He raised the standard of excellence in this state of high school football and pushed everybody to get better and coach better to chase after CMR. I think he deserves a ton of credit for where Montana high school football is at.”

For many, including Bennett, who has been playing or coaching football in Montana since 1982, Johnson has been a mainstay in the state, leading the Rustlers since their inaugural season in 1973.

“It was stunning (hearing of his retirement),” Bennett said. “He’s been a fixture my entire life. All I’ve known growing up here, all those years playing here and then coaching all these years. All I’ve known is Jack Johnson at CMR.

“It’s pretty crazy that his last game was against us. I guess it’s an honor to know that his last game was here at Glacier against our program.”