Flathead girls soccer coach resigns following investigation into altercation with official
FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 months, 2 weeks AGO
Flathead High School on Saturday, Jan. 17. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
SPORTS EDITOR Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast. IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together. | January 16, 2026 6:00 PM
Flathead High School will be looking for a new girls soccer coach after Kalispell Public Schools announced Friday that Cassie Congdon resigned after one season at the helm.
Congdon’s departure is related to an incident in December at the Santa Slammer travel basketball tournament in Anaconda. At the tournament, volunteer official Shawn Wetzel was reportedly involved in a physical altercation with a parent, who was later identified as Congdon. Wetzel was officiating a game that involved a Kalispell team coached by Congdon’s husband.
Kalispell Public Schools sent a brief statement to the media on Friday.
“Kalispell Public Schools has accepted the resignation of the Flathead High School girls varsity soccer coach following an internal investigation into an incident that occurred during the Santa Slammer basketball tournament in Anaconda in December 2025.”
The one-sentence release ends there.
Congdon did not respond to a voicemail left by the Daily Inter Lake on Friday evening.
Congdon went 2-12-0 in her one season guiding the Bravettes.
Wetzel, a Montana Grizzlies recruit out of high school who played more extensively at Montana State-Northern, described the alleged incident to Buttecast.com’s Bill Foley on Jan. 6. By then his position as a volunteer freshman coach at Butte High had apparently been terminated.
The dismissal seemed to be related to complaints made to the Butte school district. Butte High boys basketball head coach Matt Luedtke was reportedly told Wetzel was no longer approved to coach.
Wetzel has since decided to take legal action. He told both Foley and NBC Montana's Alex Hoffman that Congdon had entered the basketball court, tried to make physical contact and then spit on him.
Cellphone footage of the incident, which he said began as he tried to lower fans’ temperatures after a tense first half, was turned over to the Anaconda Police Department.
“I talked to some veteran officials that I’ve known for years and consulted in them,” Wetzel told NBC Montana on Monday. “They were all pretty emphatic on I need to follow through on this.”
NBC Montana requested a copy of the footage from Anaconda Police but did not hear back.
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