George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
One of Montana State University- Northern's own is coming home again. MSU-N men's basketball head coach Shawn Huse announced recently that former Lights point guard Leo Bullchild has been named the Lights' new assistant head coach. Bullchild takes over for Gabe Walker, who served as Huse's assistant the last two years before moving to Dillon to pursue teaching and coaching opportunities. "Leo is a very motivated, highcharacter guy who brings a great deal of enthusiasm and excitement into this position at MSU-Northern," Huse said. "He is extremely dedicated and has a lot of pride for this program, school and the Havre community. His knowledge of the game is great and he has a lot to offer our players as it was not long ago that he was on the floor competing for the Lights, in our system. We are very lucky to have him joining us once again here at MSUNorthern." Bullchild played for the Lights and Huse from 2002-2007, earning his Bachelors degree in Secondary Education in Social Sciences. Bullchild earned and MSU-Northern Student Excellence Award while at MSU-N, as well as Academic All-Conference. Bullchild also saw as much success on the hardwood as he did in the classroom at Northern. He was a key contributor at the point guard position in helping lead the Lights to two 20-win seasons and one 19-win season, three third-place finishes and three Frontier Conference-semifinal games. He finished just shy of 400 points and 200 assists with 399 and 298, respectively in his time on the court. As a high school player, Bullchild led Browning High School to back-to-back Class A state championships in 2001 and 2002. "I am proud to be returning to the Northern family and Havre community, a home away from home for me.," Bullchild said. "I am excited about this championship-caliber team and the direction they are going. I look forward to helping wherever I can in hopes that we return to the championship level they left off from last season. I always enjoyed the college locker room preparation with the squad, game nights and working with the guys on a daily basis, and look forward to being a part of that again.” Bullchild, who was a coach in Hardin last year, will also assume the duties of sports information director, as well as pursue his Master's degree in Counseling. MSU-N begins its new season in October.
