Former Bulldog coaches Shrine game

Merrill, the son of Sheila and Mike Merrill of Baker City, played in the Oregon East-West Shrine Game the following summer.

Merrill was born Sept. 5, 1979, in Rexburg, Idaho. He lived in Menan, Idaho, until 1988 at which time the family moved to Baker City.

While attending Baker High School Merrill was an avid wrestler and football player. He graduated from Baker High in May 1997. The following August he played center for the East-West Shrine Game, which they won. After graduating from Baker High, Merrill attended Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario where he earned his Associates of Arts in Psychology.

Merrill then attended Boise State University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History for Secondary Education.

While at BSU, Merrill worked for the Broncos football team and also took a coaching class from Coach Dirk Koetter.

After graduating from Boise State, Merrill returned to Baker High to do his student teaching. While at Baker he was also the assistant football coach for the Junior Varsity team. After completing his student teaching he got a job at Mountain Village, Alaska. He finished out the year at Mountain Village then returned to Idaho with a teaching job at Declo, Idaho. He was the defensive coordinator for the varsity football team.

After two years at Declo, Merrill got the head football coach job at Melba, Idaho. He also taught history. He was there two years, both winning seasons.

Next he took at job at Vallivue High School where he taught history and was defensive coordinator for varsity football team.

While at Vallivue, he earned his Master’s of Education in Educational Administration which took him to Riggins, Idaho, as principal of Salmon River High School. There he married Jenny Hassakis.

Wanting to get back to the Treasure Valley, Merrill took the principal job at Notus High School. The second year at Notus he also became the head football coach for the Pirates.

The Pirates went 7-2 under Merrill and went to State for District III for the first time in five years. Merrill was named Coach of the Year for the Idaho 1A Division 1 schools this past season.

Also this year, Ben and Jenny welcomed their first child, Kaylee Diane. 

At this time Merrill is working on his doctorate degree to become a Superintendent.