Kahle named Whitefish golf coach

Whitefish High School has tapped a familiar face to take over the varsity golf program.

Bill Kahle will step up as head coach of the Bulldogs this fall. He replaces Tim Olson, who resigned last month after four seasons with the team.

The Whitefish school board will consider Kahle’s hiring at their next meeting July 12.

Kahle was an assistant coach for both the boys and girls golf teams last season. For the last decade he has been involved with the Gary Norby Junior Golf Foundation at Whitefish Lake Golf Club. He says that involvement is what sparked his interest in taking on the varsity job.

“Being around that program all these years, I wanted to continue the tradition,” Kahle said.

“The [Junior Golf] program’s relationship with Whitefish High School has been pretty close for a long, long time — going back to Mike Dowaliby, Terry Nelson and Tim Olson. It’s a great legacy.”

Being able to bridge those two programs will benefit the varsity team going forward, he added.

Kahle calls it “a huge honor” to be considered for the job, following in the footsteps of Nelson and Olson. Olson led the Lady Bulldogs to back-to-back State A titles in 2014 and 2015. Nelson amassed 23 state championships, including 15 for the Lady Bulldogs during his tenure.

“I don’t have any illusions that I’ll be able to fill Tim’s or Terry’s shoes, other than to give it my best shot,” Kahle said. “I’ll be building on a phenomenal legacy.”

Both coaches have offered assistance to Kahle has he takes command.

“I’ll pick their brains about different issues and rely on them plenty,” Kahle said.

Kahle expects both teams will have ample talent in the upcoming season, despite a number of top seniors graduating.

“We’ve lost some seniors on the boys and girls side, but we have great young talent coming up,” he said.

“We’ve been working with the kids already and will start in earnest in August.”