"I'm extremely honored, and humbled, and thankful to everybody involved in the school," Hansen said, "I'm so happy and excited to have this opportunity."
 

The Escanaba School Board voted 7-0 to hire Hansen, who becomes just the third head coach in the last half-century in the Escanaba football program, after Jerry Cvengros coached from 1963 to 1985, and Flynn from '85 until this past year. "To follow them, well, it's a great honor, and extremely humbling" Hansen said.
 

"He has a real strong desire and a passion and a love for the game of football," Escanaba High School Athletic Director Dave Wilson said. "He's shown the great ability to teach the game of football. That's was one of the things that came forward (in the interviewing process)."
 

Hansen was the Eskymo offensive coordinator, and was praised for his team's ability to outscore opponents as the Eskymos went 7-4 and made the state playoffs.
 

"It's been great to watch. I mean, I've been a fan of it just watching on the sidelines," Hansen said. "We're planning on doing the exact same thing with respect to the offense, trying to put the kids in the best-possible spot to be successful."
 

Hansen, however, didn't want to take too much credit for the success of the offense.
 

"Guys like Austin Young, and (David) Falish, and (Mitch) VanEffen, and (Max) Vandeweile…they've made us coaches look good," Hansen said. "Those guys worked their butts off to improve this program."
 

"Jim has a great opportunity, but with that comes great responsibility," Wilson said. "We haven't had a lot of football coaches over the years, and football brings a lot of strong passion in the Escanaba community. It's certainly the most high-profile job, and it effects the most kids in the school. We have 150 kids playing football."
 

Hansen says his first priority is to assemble a coaching staff.
 

"After Spring Break, we've got to figure out who's here, and who's not here," Hansen said. "If we have openings, we'll need to get those taken care of. I'll meet with everyone one-on-one, and in a group, and we'll figure out where we're going from there."
 

Hansen coached at Superior Central for a year after graduating from high school, then coaches football in Gladstone for four years before returning to his alma-mater in 2006. He is also the head coach for the Eskymo boys varsity tennis team, and is the ESkymo assistant wrestling coach in the winter.