Brother of Dirigo coach plans to meet Jay parents, players soon
JAY – It wasn’t the kind of welcome a new coach anticipates.
Tim Kane was presented to the Jay School Committee on Thursday night for approval as the new varsity girls’ basketball coach.
Although Kane was hired by a 3-2 vote at the meeting, he encountered a small group of supporters who pushed for another candidate that had not been nominated.
“They don’t know me other than by name, and they know (the other man) because he had coached their daughters,” Kane said Friday. “I understand. They knew him, and he was their kids’ coach. As long as there was no mudslinging.”
Kane had been nominated by Principal Peter Brown, Athletic Director Kenric Charles and teacher/softball coach Steve Hamblin. All are former or current coaches and have extensive experience selecting quality coaching candidates.
There were three candidates for the position, and Kane was chosen for approval by the committee.
“It’s frustrating,” said Charles. “We’re the ones that conduct the interviews. You ask all the candidates the same questions. You check their references. You do your homework, and you select which candidate you think is best for the program.”
Charles says players from junior high and high school were among an estimated 20 people at the meeting to push for the nomination of Wilton recreation director Frank Donald.
That group was heard but dissuaded from any negative comments about the candidates. Attempts to block the nomination were dismissed, and Kane was approved.
Charles said he spoke with some of the opposing contingent Friday, and Kane hopes to hold a meeting Monday to introduce himself to prospective players and parents. Both felt good about being able to smooth over any hard feelings and allow the program to move forward.
“It’s not about the coach,” said Kane. “It’s about the kids. I want to see them enjoying their playing experience and help them be successful while they do it.”
Kane has been an assistant high school and college coach. He was the junior varsity coach at Mt. Blue while his brother, Mike, was the varsity coach there. He later was a JV and varsity assistant at Dirigo alongside his brother, Gavin. He was with the Cougars for five years, contributing to the Cougars’ state record of nine straight regional championships.
The last two seasons, Tim teamed up with Mike again, assisting him with the men’s team at the University of Maine at Augusta. UMA lost to eventual national champion Johnson & Wales in the quarterfinals of the USCAA Tournament in Auburn.
“I enjoyed coaching under Gavin,” said Kane, who replaces Troy Eastman. “I hope to install that sort of system at Jay. Hopefully, we can enjoy the same kind of success that we had over there. Jay’s always been very rich in tradition. They’ve always had very good female athletes.”
Kane, who is currently working on his Community Health degree at the University of Maine at Farmington, contemplated applying for the Jay job a few years ago. After Dirigo lost a close game to Calais in the state final the previous season, he decided to stay and assist his brother another year.
Ladd hired at EL
At a recent board meeting in Auburn, Jim Ladd was approved as the new varsity girls’ basketball coach at Edward Little.
Ladd had the entire season to contemplate applying for the job. Bob Fallon filled in after Val Brown’s late resignation last fall. When no outside candidates applied for the position, Ladd rekindled his interest.
“I knew Bob was only going to take it for a year,” said Ladd. “Then I knew it was going to be open, so I gave it some thought.”
Ladd knows the program and is familiar with the kids involved, so he believes it will be a natural transition for him and the players. Considering that Ladd’s two children are fairly young, this was a good time for him to take on a head coaching job before devoting more time to his children.
“If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it now,” said Ladd.
EL struggled to a 4-14 season in 2002-03. The fact that the program had just 31 kids between three high school teams shows a need for rebuilding the system.
“We’ve got to get our numbers back up,” said Ladd. “We went through some times where Bob didn’t even have 10 kids at practice.”
Ladd coached six years at Oxford Hills as an assistant with the boys’ program. He was the EL girls’ JV coach for six seasons before coaching the freshman squad last year. Ladd intends to resurrect the summer program for third graders on up. He worked with the youth in similar programs at Oxford Hills with Fallon and helped former EL coach Jim Seavey.
“When Jim Seavey was here, he had a nice program,” said Ladd. “Our biggest thing is to challenge them and get the program back.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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