Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Ben Aarestad has been hired as the new Head Football Coach at Kimball High and this past week arrived to start implementing his plans for the program which includes open weight room nights. Coach Aarestad will also serve as Kimball High’s Physical Education teacher and has a Master’s degree in P.E.
Coach Aarestad brings to the program an impressive background dating back to his playing days at Valley State University in Valley City, North Dakota, where he played from 1998 to 2001. He was a 3 time 1st team All Conference linebacker, and is the school’s all time leading tackler and in 2001 was an All American linebacker. Just this year he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
His coaching career started at the very school he played for when he was an assistant linebacker coach at Valley State in 2002. In 2003-2004, he was an Assistant coach at Chadron State College. In 2005-2006, he was the Defensive Coordinator at Banning High School in Los Angeles, California, where he was linebacker’s coach, special teams coordinator, along with many other duties. In 2006-2008, he was Head Football Coach/Defensive Coordinator at American High School in Miami, Florida and coached a number of athletes to Division One football. In 2009, he was junior varsity coach at Lakeland High School in Lakeland, Florida, where his junior varsity team went 9-0 and the varsity team 14-1. In 2010-2012, he was head coach at Celebration High School in Celebration, Florida, and was named OBC Coach of the Year in 2010, setting a school record for number of wins. From 2013 to the present, he has been an assistant coach at Cheyenne East High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming, serving as defensive and offensive line coach as well as linebacker coach.
Coach Aarestad is married and his wife is the P.E. teacher in Burns, Wyoming. During his interview for the Kimball High position, he informed the Administration, “I love this area and my wife and I wanted to get back to the small town atmosphere and I wanted a head coaching position again.”