Apollo Football Coach Skaalerud To Step Down After Season

Apollo’s Justin Skaalerud announced that he will be stepping down from his position as head coach of the football team at the conclusion of the season. Skaalerud has coached the Eagles for the past ten seasons.

Skaalerud says he knew this would be his last season as head coach after being hired as Assistant Principal at Apollo before the season began. He adds that he is looking forward to coaching in the Apollo youth football program, of which his son will be a part next year.

“My son will be a fifth grader next year, and I am going to be working with and coaching the youth program to continue to build the Apollo program from the youth level,” Skaalerud said in a text message Thursday. “This played a big part in it, because I wanted to coach him.”

Skaalerud says that this year’s senior class was a special one, and the coach said he wanted to ‘go out with them.’

“This senior class is a very special class to me, it’s a group of guys that I have been with for the long haul,” Skaalerud said. “I wanted to go out with this senior class, and that’s something I told them.

“It’s been a very emotional season for me,” Skaalerud said. “We wanted to have more success with these guys, but having the young guys stepping up here, it’s gonna be fun to watch this group through a different lens starting next season."

The Eagles finished the regular season with a 1-7 record. Apollo will play at Moorhead Tuesday night to open the section playoffs.