Shawn Huse is in his second season as Head Coach for the Lights.  In his first season (2002-2003), he guided the team to a 19-14 record.  After being picked seventh in the coaches’ pre-season poll, the Lights exceeded all expectations with a 4-0 conference start and a fifth place finish.  At the conference tournament, the Lights fell by just two points to eventual tournament champion Rocky Mountain College.  A very potent offensive team, Coach Huse’s Lights finished second in the Frontier in scoring offense at 85 points/game. 
          “I want to thank all of our fans for coming out to support the Lights again this season.  Despite several changes and additions to the Frontier Conference, MSU-Northern has several intangibles that still make it the most exciting environment to coach and play in.  Mainly, the community and campus involvement combined with the uniqueness of the Armory gymnasium creates an atmosphere that is unmatched in the league,” commented Huse. 
           “I am very excited about the future of MSU-Northern basketball and the progression of our program to this point.  Thanks to a great deal of effort and enthusiasm from a very special bunch of student-athletes last season, the Lights laid a great foundation for the future.  The 2003-2004 squad consists of a good combination of returnees and newcomers.  In all, we added nine new players to the roster and return eight.  We feel we added size, depth and athleticism to an already competitive team.  Most importantly though, we feel we added players with good character, that our staff, team, and this institution can be proud of.  The Lights continue to have no expectations of themselves other than to play hard, smart, unselfish basketball," Huse added.
            Prior to working here at MSU-Northern, coach Huse served as the graduate assistant coach at the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK) for two years.  His primary duty was coaching the defense, which ranked third out of fourteen teams, in points allowed at 71 points per game.  While there, he coached in two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament championships.  The 2001-2002 team finished regular season champs with a 24-6 overall record, a school record eighteen consecutive wins, finished the year ranked 13^th in NCAA division II basketball.  The 2000-2001 squad achieved a 22-6 overall record.
            Before coaching at UNK, Huse was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, for three years (1997-2000).  While coaching there, his primary duty was recruiting.  The teams won back-to-back Frontier Conference Tournament Championships and enjoyed the school's first-ever National Tournament appearances in 1998 and 1999.
            As a player at Montana Tech, his teams won the regular season championship twice, played in the Frontier Conference Championship game three times and captured the title in 1993.  He was named League MVP in 1995, was named All-Conference in 1994 and 1995, earned Player-of-the-Week honors six times and earned Academic All-Conference honors as well.
            Huse was born and raised in Missoula, MT.  Shawn has a Master of Arts degree in Education with an emphasis in Sports Administration from the University of Nebraska-Kearney (2002), a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and emphasis in Education from the University of Montana (1997), and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering and a minor in Business from Montana Tech (1995).
            Shawn's wife Stephanie is also from Missoula.  She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Safety and Health from Montana Tech and was a First-Team All-Conference volleyball player for the Orediggers.  She works in Havre as a Home-Based Educator for Early Head Start and is also working toward her Masters Degree in Counseling here at MSU-Northern.