Havre athletic director invited to national award ceremony

Havre High School's athletic director, who recently won the Montana Athletic Director of the Year Award, has been nominated for awards from the national level.

Dennis Murphy, who received his award in Kalispell in January, is among eight Montana coaches who have been selected as finalists for National High School Coaches Association awards.

Each of the eight people have been nominated for eight different categories. The Coach of the Year Award winners will be announced at the June 20 awards banquet in Minneapolis.

Murphy said that his tentative plan is to attend the banquet in June, but as it coincides with baseball season, he did not want to be final in his plans.

He said part of the award deals with longevity and when he was nominated in 2012, he was one of the youngest nominees.

"Now, I am getting older, and it's nice to be recognized again and be a part of it," he said. " ... It's a nice honor."

Before the banquet in Minneapolis, each nominee will give a presentation on a topic of their choice to judges before the finalist is announced at the banquet.

The other Montana nominees are: Terry Thomas of Beaverhead High School, Dustin Gordon of Fairfield High School, Georgia Forney of Hardin High School., Mark Garber of Belt/Centerville, Ann Funk of Choteau, Bob Raeth of Flathead High School and Paul Bills of Ennis High School.