Owner / Head Coach

Laurel Loco Express / Billings Xtreme
2014 - 2018

Offensive Coordinator / Head Coach

Billings Bullets
2012 - 2013

Montana's most successful semi-pro coach, well-traveled "Coach Ken" Blankenship embarked on his semi-pro career going back to the 1993-1994 season with the Reno Heat in Nevada and the Arena Football League San Jose Sabercats.  By 2004 Ken was establishing himself in Arizona with the Yuma Blitz from 2004 to 2010 and the Central Arizona Blitz from 2010 to 2012 before he got the call to Montana.

That call would be coaching at Billings Senior High school and as the offensive coordinator with the Billings Bullets, a new Rocky Mountain Football League team in 2012 posting a .500 record that season.  With Blankenship hired on in 2013, the Bullets rolled out to a 6-1 season including three consecutive shut-outs to start the season, while offensive production in the first five games nearly matched the entire 2012 season.

Seeing a need to break away from the Bullets over managerial differences, Blankenship created the Laurel Loco Express for the 2014 season, sixteen miles southeast of Billings where the small town atmosphere was welcomed by players and fans alike.  Over a dozen former Bullets followed their coach to Laurel.  The new team opened with a heart breaking 27-26 loss to Utah's Logan Stampede before crushing Idaho's Magic Valley Bulldawgs 53-0 and his former Bullets squad 40-0.  The Express and Bullets would meet again with a similar 29-0 victory for Laurel.  Posting another six-win season in the RMFL, the Utah Shock got away with a 24-13 playoff victory to end the first season under the Express banner.  The 2015 season would be another winner, as the Express upped the win total to seven losing only to the Idaho Mustangs, and twice to the Wasatch Revolution including the playoff finale.

Blankenship was also hired on as defensive coordinator of the 2015 Billings Wolves, an indoor team scheduled to play at Rimrock Auto Arena and coached by former quarterback legend Chris Dixon who led the Billings Outlaws to three indoor championships in six seasons.

Beginning in 2016, the Express would rebrand to the Billing Xtreme while at the same time Blankenship's duties at Billings High increased.  The Xtreme would be the #1 Montana team from 2016 through the 2019 season, with the 2019 team going undefeated into the RMFL championship.  Billings would fall to the Idaho Falls Mustangs in the title game just as the Mustangs launched into one of the greatest runs in Northwest history winning 35-consecutive games remaining undefeated for three seasons.  Following the 2019 season, the Xtreme franchise shut down as Ken's businesses in roofing and contracting continued to grow and expand across the west and southwest US demanding more attention and time than he could give to football.

While at Billings High, Ken coached the freshman team, sophomore team, served as QB coach, offensive coordinator and eventually head coach at Roundup High in 2020, but suffered set-backs due to Covid.  Coach Ken had been a coach at one level or another, from youth to indoor professional for the past 30 seasons from Montana to Arizona.

Blankenship was inducted into the American Football Association Hall of Fame in 2012 and the AAA Minor League Football Hall of Fame in 2014.