BILLINGS — The 2026 season will be Rob Stanton's last as head football coach at Billings West.
Stanton confirmed to MTN Sports on Monday he is leaving West at the end of the fall semester to become the head track and field coach at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, a member of the NAIA Frontier Conference.
Stanton will replace previous DSU track coach Shayne Wittkopp, who stepped down in July. Stanton's brother, Pete, is the athletic director and head football coach at Dickinson State.
The 2026 high school football season will be Stanton's 12th as head coach at West. He spent the previous 13 years with the Golden Bears as an assistant under previous coach Paul Klaboe. Stanton had also been the longtime head track and field coach at West before stepping down from that role in 2025.
Prior to his arrival at West High, Stanton served on the coaching staff at Miles City under Ed Rohloff for nine seasons, giving him 34 years as a coach and educator in Montana.
Stanton said he had already decided that the 2026 season was going to be his last as West's football coach prior to being offered the opportunity at Dickinson State. He said he has informed the team of his plans.
"I just want to make sure that my focus is West High, our players and my students that I have coming up," Stanton told MTN Sports. "The attention's on our kids and our program and our upcoming season."
In 11 years as head coach, Stanton has guided West to four Class AA state championship game appearances, including a 20-14 victory over Kalispell Flathead in the title game in 2018. The Bears advanced to at least the semifinal round of the postseason in six of the past eight years, including four in a row from 2018 to 2021.
Entering 2026, Stanton has a 91-33 overall record, a winning percentage of .734.
