Ryan Malmin, head coach of the Class AA American Legion baseball Kalispell Lakers for the past 20 seasons, is stepping down effective immediately.
A Whitefish High graduate and a Glacier Twins player from 1988-90, Malmin took over the AA Lakers in 2005 after eight seasons coaching the Class A Glasgow Reds and one guiding the Class A Lakers. He announced his departure in a short email to the Daily Inter Lake on Thursday.
Malmin had personal reasons for stepping away.
“Some new members of the board have created a culture that no longer is a joy to be a part of, or work with,” Malmin wrote, adding: “It takes a tremendous amount of time. My wife Shannon is the G.O.A.T. when it comes to being a coach’s wife and understanding all that comes with it. That is a tough job.
“This is my choice. I look forward to sharing that time with her, and I am really good with that.”
Malmin’s teams won a lot, starting in Glasgow and then in Kalispell. His coaching record is 924-557, including a runner-up finish at the State A tournament in 2000 with the Reds — Glasgow hosted the tournament and surged into the final against the Bitterroot Red Sox — and another runner-up with the 2016 AA Lakers against the Billings Scarlets.
“And I thought he was going to win it all before a barely-misplayed, deep fly in left field dropped for multiple RBIs late in the chipper,” said Carl Hennell, a Lakers assistant before then who is now state chairman for Montana/Alberta American Legion baseball. “But there are so many winners’ bracket state tournament games that he had the Lakers battling and close to winning until crazy baseball plays happened.
“Looking back at all his state tournament games, dozens were lost in heartbreaking fashion in very close games. And a lot of times, it just didn’t seem fair that all the bang-bang plays late in games all went against the Lakers.”
The 2025 Lakers went 38-21, including a championship at the Dwight Church Memorial tournament in Lewistown, Idaho, on July 15. Heading into the state tournament they’d won 9 of 11, then wrapped two one-run losses there around a 4-1 win over Great Falls.
“During Coach Malmin’s tenure the Lakers produced 19 All-State players for 18 years running, from 2008 to 2025,” Brad Nikunen, president of the local Legion board, said in a Monday press release. “Beyond learning to throw, catch and hit a baseball, many players felt that Lakers Baseball helped to shape them into the adults they are today.”
Nikunen included statements from former players, including Johnny Graham.
“Coach Malmin’s teams are always prepared, which makes their teams hard to beat,” Graham said. “Everything has been covered — everything has been repped.”
“I am forever grateful to this community who so generously supports the Kalispell Lakers,” Malmin said. “I have enjoyed the kids, teaching the game and mentoring working the process. We have consistently experienced team success because of the dedicated coaching staffs, the families that support, and the great young men who have competed their butts off over the years.
“I will still work with baseball from time to time, but not necessarily to the extent of a year-long commitment that is this job.”
Nikunen noted the changing landscape of Montana baseball, with Flathead High and Glacier High possibly adding baseball as an MHSA-sanctioned sport as soon as next spring.
The Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees will vote on that at its Tuesday’s meeting, at the Flathead High School library.
Malmin is a teacher at Kalispell Middle School and a football coach for KMS.
“The Lakers are so thankful to his wife, Shannon, and their kids Walker and Kaysie, for lending their father to our program and the young baseball players of Kalispell for two decades,” Nikunen said.
“I am happy for him,” Hennell said. “He has given a lot to the community and sacrificed a lot of time with this family for his love of coaching the Lakers. While approaching close to 1,000 victories, there have been many grown men that have texted him later in their lives, thanking him for shaping them into hard-working and head-strong men.”