Class act coach

Longtime Columbus High School coach Paul Barta was recently named to the Montana Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. He and four other coaches were inducted during a ceremony in Great Falls on July 30.
“It’s pretty humbling to be nominated and voted in,” he told the News. “I was fortunate to be around when there were lots of good players, good assistant coaches and good parents.”
Barta, who grew up in Buffalo and Moore, has been nominated for Montana Coach of the Year nine times in his 37-year career coaching high school sports in Montana. He spent five years in Medicine Lake and five in Glasgow before moving to Columbus 27 years ago.
During that 37-year career, Barta’s boys and girls basketball teams have won 757 games, played in 29 district and 18 divisional championship games, and played in state tournaments 27 times.
“He’s a highly committed coach who makes sure he produces high quality student athletes,” Columbus High School Athletic Director John Smith said.
Smith has been at Columbus High School for 34 years and nominated Barta for the Hall of Fame.
Barta is the physical education teacher at Columbus Elementary School and coaches the high school’s boys and girls basketball and cross-country teams. He has also helped coach the high school’s track team.
“He’s known our varsity athletes since they were in kindergarten,” Smith said.
Under Barta, the Cougar boys basketball team were district champions 14 times and divisional champions nine times. Last year under his leadership, the girls team won the district title and the boys won the district and divisional titles.
“He’s highly respected around the state,” Columbus High School Principal George McKay said. “At any gathering across the state, his name always comes up.”
Barta, who has served as district and divisional president, managed numerous district and divisional track meets, and coached the Radisson Senior Classic boys basketball tournament in Billings for 22 years, said he has no plans for retirement.
“The day you don’t enjoy being around kids is the day you retire,” he said.