analysis: Jake christenson hired as bartlesville bruinS basketball coach
Jake Christenson is the new Bartlesville Bruins head basketball coach.
By Mike Tupa
May 1, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Sorry for the mixed sports metaphor, but it appears Bartlesville High School has hit a home run with its hiring of Jake Christenson as the new head boys basketball coach.
Christenson comes from an incredible basketball genealogy — his father Dale guided Pawhuska High, to great success, boys basketball for several years. Jake is a Pawhuska product, former Pawhuska head coach and also spent some time leading the Barnsdall boys basketball program.
He is no newcomer to working with players of all levels of talent. Christenson has 17 years of experience behind him, most recently at Cushing High School, where he earned multiple conference coach of the year honors.
Christenson also will fill the billet this summer as the Large School East All-State Head Boys Basketball Coach.
Christenson leaves a spot opened last month by the resignation of Tommy DeSalme following one year at Bartlesville High.
DeSalme had been an ultra-successful college head coach — mostly at the junior college level — at multiple Kansas schools prior to returning a year ago to his alma mater at Bartlesville High to try to revive the hoops program.
Challenged with a horde of inexperienced freshmen, virtually no significant height or muscle and only one senior on the roster, DeSalme helped guide the team to three wins and some other near victories.
DeSalme — a Bartlesville High graduate — returned a few weeks ago to the college ranks to coach at Garden City, Kan.
Christenson becomes only the eighth Bruin head boys basketball coach since in the 44-year history of the team.
His education resume includes Northwestern Oklahoma State (B.S. in Education) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (Masters in Sports Management). His certification includes physical education and social studies.
"We're very excited for Coach Christenson to become a part of Bruin athletics,” said Bartlesville Athletic Director Thad Dilbeck. “He has great experience leading high school basketball programs, and he has experienced consistent success year after year. Coach Christenson will also be teaching in the BHS social studies department. We look forward to the positive impact he will have on students and athletes."
In a shocking announcement in 2020, Pawhuska announced it was letting Christenson go after he had led the Huskies to a 19-10 record, including a spot in the 2A area consolation finals.
In what would become one of the oddest local sports stories in years, the new coach hired by Pawhuska to replace Christenson left just a few weeks later to become a Bartlesville High head girls basketball coach — and he departed Bartlesville High shortly after that to become a college assistant.
His leaving created the vacancy filled by current Lady Bruin head coach Justyn Shaw.
During that 2019-20 season, Christenson energized Pawhuska to a 13-2 start. Once in the playoffs, Pawhuska downed four opponents in a row by a combined score of 266-181.
Christenson inherits a Bartlesville team with only two winning records since the 2011-12 campaign. The Bruins made their most recent state tourney appearance in 2012.
I like Christenson as a good fit for this particular skill set and young personalities for Bartlesville. He’s displayed before the patience and appropriate emotional torque for building a program of young players for success.
I’ll always believe the Bruins would have done much better in a second DeSalme campaign. I believe Christenson offers a different dynamic in working with developing players and the Bruins should benefit greatly from that.
I thought Jake got kind of a raw deal in 2020 in Pawhuska and am looking forward to seeing what he can do with the Bartlesville administration, parents and players behind him.