Palmer football coach doesn’t seek spotlight, but he deserves its beam

PALMER — Rod Christiansen would prefer it if he could just stealth his way through this measure of success he'll soon reach. Just keep his baseball cap tugged down tight, shading his eyes, like always. Just quietly, as is his manner, remain on the periphery, removed from renown. Just keep it about the kids, and Palmer High, and the community, and definitely not about him.

That's not how these things work, of course.

Christiansen is on the verge of the record for most wins by an Alaska high school football coach, at his alma mater, no less, and that inevitably draws attention.

He gets it – earning the most of anything attracts the spotlight. It's just that, dang, it's two days before the season opener and he's still trying to get the punt team and the punt-return team squared away before the North Pole Patriots roll onto Palmer's Machetanz Field.

"So much to do,'' Christiansen says, and launches that familiar, easy laugh, teeth flashing, the lines around his eyes tightening.

The late Buck Nystrom won 150 games in 31 seasons at Eielson High and North Pole. Christiansen, by far the state's longest-tenured active football coach, entered his 27th season leading the Moose with 148 career victories. He's still at 148 after the Moose lost that season opener to North Pole 20-19.

Christiansen guided the Moose to the state championship in 1995 and a runner-up finish in 1996, and under his direction they once made the playoffs in 15 straight seasons. The Moose last season made it to the medium-school state championship game, where they fell to mighty Soldotna.

Christiansen, who was an assistant coach at Palmer before he got the head coaching job in 1991, is a staple in the Valley, right up there with gigantic vegetables and the Alaska State Fair.

Matching Nystrom, a man he admired for his coaching acumen and his lifestyle — a perfect Buck Nystrom day was hunting in the morning, football practice in the afternoon — would be Christiansen's honor. He's thought about it, of course, in his typically understated, half-joking way — namely, by thinking of way he could have avoided attention.

"It's kind of cool,'' he said. "I think it means more to other people. If I was smart, I would have quit with one (win) to go. Somehow got to that point, and stopped.''

Duncan Shackelford laughs when that's relayed to him. He played high school football with Christiansen – back in the late '70s, when the Palmer-Wasilla Falcons drew players from two schools – and coached against him when Shackelford was head coach at Dimond and then Chugiak.

"He's a very humble guy, and it's genuine,'' Shackelford said.

Christiansen, 57, could have timed retiring from coaching with his retirement from teaching. After 30 years teaching science and math, the last 29 at Palmer High, he called it a wrap at the end of last school year.

But any notion of stepping away from football did not gain purchase. Christiansen still loves to teach kids the value of character, hard work, loyalty, teamwork, doing things the right way. Besides, after coaching all four of his and wife Temple's four sons, he's got his two oldest boys – Collin and Cameron – on his coaching staff.

"It's kind of become a family thing,'' Christiansen said.

Strong staffs have been a hallmark in his career. He's given his coordinators ample responsibility and never micromanaged. Shackelford thinks Christiansen's trust in his assistant coaches, and ability to keep them around a long time and keep them focused, has been essential to his success. Christiansen said he's been blessed with terrific assistants, with administrative and community support and, of course, good players

For more than two decades, Brad Hanson was Christiansen's offensive coordinator and Keith Armstrong was his defensive coordinator. Christiansen, Hanson and Armstrong played high school sports together, along with Shackelford.

"Basically, Rod gave us the freedom to do a lot of things,'' Hanson said. "Obviously, he was the boss, but he let us do what we liked. That was one of the reasons Keith and I stayed there for 23 years.''

As head football coaches go, Christiansen is exceedingly composed. He rarely questions officials, and he's respectful when he does. He doesn't make excuses, gives the other team credit. He doesn't yell at players. He teaches them.

To defensive linemen rushing the passer at a practice: "If you can't get there, get your hands up!''

To linebackers on the punt-return team: "You guys are looking for fakes, or a short snap. Make sure they punt the ball.''

To a punt-return cornerback lined up wide, despite no opposing player in front of him: "Move inside. Don't cover grass.''

Each of those instructions came with a smile.

Christiansen's gentle guidance is intentional. He stays in control because he wants his team under control. Rarely do the Moose beat themselves. Historically, they commit relatively few penalties or turnovers.

Not that Christiansen lacks fire. He says he was intense when he played in high school. Hanson remembers a time they were playing a high school basketball game at Seward, and Christiansen dove for a ball in front of the Seward bench. The Seward coach was known to be intense, Hanson said, and Christiansen matched him.

"Rod was in his face, getting after it,'' Hanson said with a laugh. "It was an intense situation.''

Christiansen said he resolved to temper his fire and embrace composure when he started coaching.

"My first few years, I had to really work on that,'' he said. "It's still in there somewhere.''

Maybe, but Rod Christiansen's legacy — "He'll go down in Alaska football history,'' Shackelford said — will be about teaching and molding kids, humility and kindness, and class.

"It was good to see you,'' he said, with one last easy smile, after a practice. "Don't make too big a deal of me.''

Doyle Woody grew up in East Anchorage and is in his fourth decade at the ADN. 

Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network football poll

Division I
1) Bartlett
2) Colony
3) Chugiak
4) Dimond
5) West Valley

Division II and III
1) Soldotna
2) North Pole
3) Eielson
4) Kodiak
5) Eagle River

Week 2 games

Friday's games
6 p.m. — Dimond at Soldotna
7 p.m. — South at Chugiak
7 p.m. — Eagle River at Wasilla
7 p.m. — Kenai at North Pole
7 p.m. — Redington at Valdez
7 p.m. — Bartlett at Colony
7 p.m. — Kodiak at Thunder Mountain

Saturday's games
1 p.m. — Seward at Eielson
1 p.m. — Homer at Barrow
2 p.m. — Monroe Catholic at Nikiski
4 p.m. — West Valley at East
4 p.m. — Palmer at Service
5 p.m. — West at Lathrop
6 p.m. — Ketchikan at Juneau
7 p.m. — Voznesenka at Houston