Fairbank resigns as Columbia Falls girls' basketball coach

(From the Daily Interlake)

Dan Fairbank has stepped down as the Columbia Falls girls basketball coach after a successful four-year stint that included three straight Northwestern A titles. Fairbank turned in his resignation on March 11.

"When I got back into it I said I was looking at the four-year mark and seeing what I could do with the program in four years," Fairbank said.

He added, "It was an awful nice run. Four years went by awfully fast."

Fairbank, who had a similar coaching stint in the 90s, helped steer the Wildkat program to its first divisional trophy since 1996 in 2009. Since that year, Columbia Falls has a 30-2 conference record and is the three-time reigning divisional champions.

"The highlights have been the kids that I've been able to work with," he said. "We've just had some of the nicest young ladies. They have worked as hard as I asked them to work and they were able to push their way to three-straight conference and divisional championships."

Fairbank credited part of the program's turnaround with reinstating an emphasis at the youth levels with camps involving the high school players working with kids.

"When I took over I wanted to really work hard to connect the younger kids to the high school program," he said. "What really builds the program is you get those 4th-8th graders coming to watch you play and dream of being a Wildkat later in life. I felt that was something I was able to put back into place. We have a large group of kids dreaming to be a Wildkat."

Fairbank continues to teach at the high school and said he plans on perhaps returning to radio, where he has worked alongside Mike Hammer at KOFI covering Columbia Falls athletics.

"We have great kids coming back next year," he said. "I'm leaving the program I think in really good shape and it has the opportunity to continue its success."