Montanasports.com reported on Thursday afternoon that Havre girls’ basketball coach Dustin Kraske is stepping down from his position after 18 seasons in charge. The 1994 Blue Pony grad had a 306-117 record while in charge of his alma mater. Most importantly for the community, he coached six Montana High School Class ‘A’ state champion teams (2014, 2018, 2019, 2021-23).
The main reason for the decision was family, in which Kraske’s got bigger last year with the birth of his daughter.
“It certainly wasn’t easy, but I wouldn’t say it was a difficult decision,” Kraske said to montanasports.com. “We kind of threw our heart and soul into everything for 18 seasons. (My daughter) was born last year kind of toward the end of our 2023 season, and that changes a guy a little bit.”
New Media Broadcasters will do an updated interview with coach Kraske in the near future to get more perspective on his time coaching girls’ high school basketball. For now, this will be a time for continued reflection for Kraske and focus on the next step with multiple in-house candidates that can take over the Blue Ponies program without skipping a beat.
