BILLINGS — In the beginning, Montana wasn't in Scott King's long-term plan as a high school coach and educator.
"When we moved in 1981, we were just going to try Montana out for a year or two," King told MTN Sports this week. "Of course, we continue to live here. So Montana's been great to us."
And King's been great to those he served, particularly in Malta, where he coached the football program to three Class B state championships and an overall record of 206-48 — a winning percentage of .811 — from 1989 to 2012.
In June, King, 67, was honored for his achievements when he was selected for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame as part of its 2026 induction class.
"It came as quite a surprise, and I'm extremely humbled by that because I know individuals from Montana that are also members of this hall of fame who had great careers in high school athletics," King said. "As you're going about your business, you never think about awards like this or recognition like this, and so I'm just very appreciative, and as I mentioned, very humbled by this honor."
King built a formidable résumé at Malta. Under King, the Mustangs won 15 conference championships and shared the league crown four other times. They made the playoffs in all 24 of his seasons as head coach and advanced to at least the semifinals of the Class B playoffs in 14 seasons and made the championship game seven times. Malta won state titles under King's guidance in 1996, 2000 and 2006.
Including his first four years as the head coach at Harlem (1981-84), King accumulated an overall record of 216-71.
But it wasn't just football. King also served as head wrestling coach at both Harlem and Malta in the 1980s and early 1990s, winning two Northern B/C championships and a second-place finish at the state tournament in 1990.
King said his NHSACA hall of fame induction forced him to open his memory vault and look back on his coaching years with pride.
"That's something we always talked about with our own student-athletes, hoping that they would have great experiences, that they would be able to collect these memories that would last them a lifetime," said King, who is also in the halls of fame of the Montana Coaches Association and his alma mater of Valley City State University in his native North Dakota. "And in turn, as coaches, we have the good fortune to gather many great memories as well.
"A lot of the well-wishers since this has been released have come from past athletes, and it's just been phenomenal to talk to those individuals and talk about our experiences together."
Off the field, King dedicated 22 years of service to the Montana Coaches Association as a member of its executive board. He also served as athletic director at Malta.
King attended the NHSACA induction ceremony in Coralville, Iowa, with his wife Kathy and friends Tad and Amy Schye. Tad Schye was an assistant football coach under King at Malta, and King served under Schye as an assistant track and field coach with the Mustangs.
Of Kathy, King said: "If they had a hall of fame for coaches' wives, (she) would be right there. She just understood the importance of it, and just really allowed me to live out my dream as a high school football coach."
King is the 37th coach from Montana to be chosen for the national hall of fame and the second from Malta, joining the late Del Fried, who built a juggernaut girls basketball program at the school.
Also of note from this year's NHSACA awards convention, Erika Cannon of Bozeman High School was named national girls soccer coach of the year.
In the end, beyond the Xs and Os and the wins and losses, King said he hoped to impart a specific mindset to those he coached.
"I think one of the big things that we wanted to be able to do is we wanted our players to understand that they were part of something bigger than just themselves," King said. "That Mustang football was important to a lot of people. It's of course important to our community and to Phillips County — because it included Saco and Whitewater as well.
"And so we were able to just reinforce that as players of Mustang football, you're ambassadors of our program and you'll continue to be ambassadors of our community and our football program even after you've graduated. And I think it's a message that's stuck."
