Flathead High School activities director Matt Allison announced on Thursday the hiring of three head coaches, for boys basketball, girls soccer and volleyball.

Andy Harrel, a Stillwater Christian graduate who has been coaching the Cougars’ girls basketball program, will take over the Braves’ boys basketball coach.  

He is currently Stillwater Christian’s activities director.  

Chris Putzler, a Flathead teacher who spent five seasons as the Braves boys’ soccer coach (2008-12), is the new coach for Braves’ soccer program. 

Carol Asplund, who has had a very successful coaching career in Connecticut, will be the Bravettes’ volleyball coach. 

Allison said all three hires have been approved by the school board. 

Harrel was a standout player at Stillwater Christian, playing on back-to-back Montana Christian Athletic Association championship teams, in 2005-06. He went on to play at Crown College, a Division III program in Minnesota. His girls finished third at the most recent MCAA state tournament. 

“I think his player-centered, holistic, ‘We’re going to coach the whole person’ philosophy is going to match up well here at Flathead,” Alliison. “One of our core values is ‘Flathead Family.’ We’re going to take care of kids and raise them up to be fine people. 

“He’s been all-in since being offered the position.” 

Harrel replaces Dan Trageser, who went 4-49 in three seasons with the Braves. 

Putzler, Allison noted, is the head of the Science Department at Flathead.  

“A great guy, someone I really trust, and he’s been in and around Flathead soccer since the early 2000s,” Allison said. “I really appreciate his ability to continually ask the question, ‘ 

‘How do we get better? I’m excited about him and his leadership. It was great to get him hired.” 

Flathead made the 2023 State AA quarterfinals under coach Zach Brenneman, but went 2-12 the next two seasons, with coach Cassie Congdon guiding the squad in 2025. She resigned in January after one season.  

Asplund’s girls volleyball program at Joel Barlow High School is one of the most decorated in Connecticut High School history, with Class L titles in 2018 and 2022 and a Class M championship in 2024 (Connecticut classification ranges from LL, the largest, to L, M and S).  

The Falcons were state runners up twice and won South-West Conference titles 12 times in her 13 seasons as head coach. 

“She is really impressive and a super person,” Allison said. “I went to the first open gym and was really impressed with what I saw.  

“Any time you can get a new perspective on how to do things, it’s a positive. She’s just a wealth of knowledge. She doesn’t want to blow things up but she does have a system and it’s clearly shown.” 

The Bravettes made the State AA tournament once, in 2021, during the six-season tenure of Emily Russell, who stepped down in November after a 5-21 campaign. Flathead’s last state appearance before 2021 came in 2018. 

Phone calls to all three coaches were not returned to the Inter Lake Thursday.