The Pirates football team will be under new leadership next season as head coach Scott Wilson resigned from his post last week. Wilson accepted the position Principal at Polson High School.

Wilson was Polson High’s interim principal for the 2016-2017 school year and will retain his position and drop the interim title. He said it was time to “focus his career in a different direction” after his 16 seasons as a head football coach.

“I made the decision to step down just recently,” Wilson said. “It was definitely a difficult decision. I made the choice to move on in my career, become the principal at the high school, and do something else in my career.”

Wilson credits being able to balance administrative duties and being the Pirates’ head coach to the support he received from his assistant coaches and the school’s staff.

“I think I was able to balance the duties because of the people I had around me and my assistant coaches, who I have the utmost faith in and know what they are capable of doing,” Wilson said. “Because of their help, I never needed to be pulled away from the football part. I relied on our coaches to get the kids prepared for the next opponent. I also received a tremendous amount of support from the school and the Polson School District. They allowed me to do both jobs.”

Wilson said he will focus solely on the principal job but has not closed the possibility of a return to the sidelines.

“I really can’t say whether I’ll ever coach again because you never know what is going to take place in the future,” Wilson said. “Part of me feels, deep down, I will coach again someday. There is also a chance that I will never coach again. I haven’t completely made the decision either way.”

Wilson, who began his football coaching career at Big Sky High School in Missoula in 1989, began his career as the Pirates’ head signal-caller in 2001.

“I’ve been so lucky with the opportunity to coach all of the great kids throughout the years,” Wilson said. “I’ve had the opportunity to coach through all of these years and it’s hard leaving something I’ve enjoyed doing because I’ve had the opportunity to be around such great young men.”

As the Pirates head football coach, Wilson guided the team to 14 playoff appearances in his 16 seasons and won his 100th game as a head coach in the Pirates’ season-finale 47-14 victory over Havre on Oct. 21, 2016.

“The years in Polson don’t seem like 16 years,” Wilson said. “It has really gone by fast and you know it doesn’t seem possible that I’ve been the coach that long. I guess because I’ve been doing something that I’ve enjoyed for so long it makes the time go by quickly.”

With Wilson’s resignation, Polson will start the process of looking for a new head football coach, according to Wilson.

“The football position has been opened and that is as far as we’ve gotten in the hiring process,” Wilson said. “I am not quite sure when the position closes. The goal is try to have a coach in place by the end of April to help with planning the summer camps and what commitments are going to look like.”

In Wilson’s final season as head coach, he led the Pirates to a 7-1 regular season record, a Class-A quarterfinal appearance with a 35-34 loss to Billings Central, and had two players, WR/LB Matthew Rensvold and QB Tanner Wilson, both sign letters of intent to play for the NCAA Division-I University of Montana-Grizzles. Offensive lineman and linebacker Jonah Burke also signed with NAIA’s Montana Tech.

“My success had a lot do with having great kids to coach and a great bunch of coaches,” Wilson said. “I would like to thank the coaches, all of the great players that I’ve had the opportunity to coach, and thank the Polson School District that allowed me to have this tenure as the head football coach.”