GREAT FALLS — On June 24 in Rapid City, S.D., former Geraldine football, basketball and track and field coach Rod Tweet was inducted into the National High School Athletics Coaches Association (NHSACA) Hall of Fame.
"It's a surprise. It's a nice reward for a lot of years," Tweet said Wednesday at C.M. Russell High School during the 58th annual Montana Coaches Association clinic.
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Tweet led the Tigers in football for 41 years, track for 43 and basketball for 13.
"It was pretty cool just being around all these other coaches and wondering . .. what they did, what their records were. Some of those records that they had were just unbelievable," Tweet said. "I don't know they could ever do that, so it's a great experience."
Tweet has been a Montana Coaches Association hall of famer since 2009 and won a national coach of the year award for football in 2019.
In total, he led Geraldine to four 6-Man state championships as well as a fifth when the school co-opped with Highwood.
He said that while it was great to win, that was not his biggest accomplishment.
"We won a lot of games, but our participation numbers were just extraordinary," Tweet said. "I would say we had like 90% of the boys (in high school playing) football, and I think that's probably conservative."
With that participation came the chance to be a role model for his athletes, Tweet said.
"Our job as teachers, coaches is try to make kids to be the best version of themselves ... that we possibly can," Tweet said.
This induction into the national hall of fame is not just an honor for himself, he said.
"But for the community that I represent, the student-athletes that I represent, the teachers," Tweet said. "When you're in a small community, it's not just one person. You might be the figurehead, but there's a lot of other people that are supporting you.
"It's kind of (an) everybody type award, so pretty proud of that."
Of course, with coaching comes lots of passion and love for it.
"Ask my wife, I was never home," Tweet joked.
Tweet certainly had the dedication to coach, and the hours he put in over the years paid off in a special way for him.
