Coach Salo was no ordinary coach

When Nick Haynes was down in the dumps, Coach Greg Salo made sure it did not last for long.

A large crowd packed Bulldog Memorial Stadium on Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 to watch Butte High open the football season against defending state champion Great Falls Russell, and Haynes fumbled a punt return as the Bulldogs and Rustlers were tied at 7 in the third quarter.

He actually fumbled twice on the same play, and it almost spelled disaster for the Bulldogs.

Haynes, though, got a reprieve when the Rustlers were whistled for an illegal formation on the play, and CMR had to punt the ball again.

Some coaches would have changed punt returners after seeing the ball hit the ground twice on one play. Some coaches would have lost faith in the player who fumbled.

Coach Salo, though, was not some coaches.

The coach sent Haynes right back out into the burning-hot spotlight, and his budding star delivered in a very big way.

Undoubtedly buoyed by his coach’s confidence and encouragement, Haynes did not fumble the second time. Instead, he did something great. Haynes caught the ball near the same part of the field where he had just dropped it, and he broke free for a 69-yard touchdown that proved to be the difference in a 14-9 Bulldog victory.

The Butte High win broke CMR’s 11-game winning streak, and it made legendary coach Jack Johnson wait a little longer to pick up his 300^th win.

After the game, Coach Salo explained why he did not hesitate to stick with Haynes.

“What they don’t know about Haynesey, that we do, is he’s a very tough kid,” the coach said. “He’s competitive. So, I knew he was mad at himself for the time before.”

The coach also knew that he was sending an incredibly talented player back out to field that punt.

“When he gets in the open field, he’s fast,” Coach Salo said. “He was one of our better track kids this year. So, I knew when he broke it out there that they weren’t going to catch him.”

The game-winning score came with 7 minutes, 29 seconds left in the third quarter. It sent the Bulldog players and crowd into delirium.

“I screwed up once and I wanted to make a big play,” Haynes said. “I just went out there and gave it all I could.”

Salo said the win was perhaps the biggest by the Bulldogs since they won the Class AA State title in 1991.

“I was really proud of the way the kids played,” he said. “They carried over some of the momentum that we had last year to this year. They kept their composer really well, and they believed in themselves and the guy next to him.”

Salo knew a thing or two about big Butte High victories, too.

Coach Salo was an All-State player as the Bulldogs won back-to-back state title in 1967 and 1968. He was All-State and All-American in 1969.

As a senior, Coach Salo lettered in football, basketball, track and golf. In the spring of 1970, he took home the school’s Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Outstanding Athlete Award.

Coach Salo accepted a scholarship to play football at UCLA before he eventually transferred to play at the University of Montana. He picked UCLA over about 30 other schools that were wooing the Bulldog standout.

Before coaching the Bulldogs for six seasons from 2002 through 2007, Coach Salo spent a decade with the Montana State Bobcats, where he served as defensive coordinator.

When I heard that Coach Salo, who suffered a stroke late last year, passed away at the age of 72 on Feb. 12, I thought back to that late August night of 2005 at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. It was the only Butte High game I got to cover for The Montana Standard when Coach Salo was in charge, but I had seen enough to know Coach Salo was no ordinary coach.

He was where the old school met the new. He could chew out a player for making a mistake, then he would put his arm around him and build him back up better than ever.

Just ask Nick Haynes, who went on to earn an All-State honorable mention as a junior before being named first-team All-State at safety in 2006.

He was one of a handful of players who went on to play college football from Salo’s 2005 Butte High team, and that was no accident. Haynes played for the University of Montana, and Casey Dennehy went to Montana State. A.J. Konen and Matt Doble became Montana Tech Orediggers.

I’m sure I’m missing some college players from that team, too. Ryan Pollock probably could have played college football, but he played college baseball instead.

The boys who did not go onto the next level left the Bulldog program as better men.

Coach Salo also coached a future NFL player. Colt Anderson, now a member of the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff, was a member of Butte High’s 0-9 team in 2003, and you better believe that Anderson credits Coach Salo for helping him along his journey.

While that winless season was the first for Butte High since the Bulldogs went 0-0-1 in 1902, Coach Salo’s true character shined through all the way. The Bulldogs had several close calls that year, and a team from Canada decided to cancel a game that Butte High surely would have won.

Throughout the season, Coach Salo remained remarkably optimistic. Week after week, he stood up and faced the media. He praised his players for every small step, and he shouldered the blame for each agonizing loss.

While the team did not win, the coach still built character in his players. He also showed us the kind of character he possessed himself.

The next year, Coach Salo’s steady hand paid off when the Bulldogs made their first playoff appearance in 13 years. His Bulldogs were back in the dance in 2006 and 2007, as well.

In 2007, the Bulldogs went 7-2 in the regular season to earn the No. 4 seed and a home playoff game. Butte High fell 28-14 to sophomore star quarterback Brock Osweiller and Kalispell Flathead in that playoff game at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.

Osweiller, of course, went on to play seven seasons in the NFL for the Broncos, Texans and Dolphins.

After that loss, in typical Coach Salo fashion, the coach praised his players.

“I’m proud of the kids,” he said. “They stuck together all year, through all the adversity.”

A little more than a year later, Coach Salo was dismissed as coach of the Bulldogs. Even though the dismissal was unceremonious and not completely fair, Coach Salo took the high road.

“Thank you to the Butte School District for the opportunity to coach the Bulldogs for the last six years,” he said after the board voted to not renew his contract. “I enjoyed every minute of it.”

It was easy to see that Coach Salo did love his job. The man was born coach. He was born to lead.

While that decision stung Coach Salo for the rest of his life, he never showed that he was bitter. Rather, he was still always a No. 1 cheerleader for all athletes from Butte.

He was the No. 1 cheerleader for people in general. Whether he was watching a football game somewhere, playing golf, dealing with a troubled kid as the counselor at Whitter Elementary, appearing on my podcast or paying his water bill, Coach Salo treated every single person he encountered like gold.

He made people feel as though he was the lucky one to encounter them that day, even though it was undoubtedly the other way around.

If you were down in the dumps, he could always make sure it didn’t last long. Even off the field, he had a way of lifting people up.

When Coach Salo was around, we all certainly enjoyed every minute of it.

 — Bill Foley, who certainly enjoyed every minute he was lucky enough to spend with Coach Salo, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.