Carroll football coach Van Diest chooses to stay

Mike Van Diest says he coaches out of fear. That fear has driven him to a 157-22 record, six NAIA national championships and three runner-up finishes as the head coach of the Carroll College football team in Helena. But it also may have led to a personal crisis that nearly caused him to resign weeks before the start of the 2012 season. “I don’t think I was living up to the expectations I set for myself,” he said. Van Diest (pictured right) said in a news conference Tuesday regarding the last two days in which speculation swirled that he was stepping down. He said that recently, and particularly after Saturday’s scrimmage, he noticed himself seeing his players more for the skills they could bring to the field than as young men who are more than athletes. – AP