FARMINGTON — Interviews begin next week in the search for a new girls’ basketball coach at Mt. Blue High School.
Tom Philbrick recently vacated the job he’s had the last five seasons, and the Cougars are in the process of finding a replacement.
The job opened up toward the end of the summer basketball season. Philbrick says on-going conflict with parents and a disagreement with the administration led to his departure.
“I was told that my position at the end (of the summer season) would be advertised and that they would like me to apply again,” Philbrick said. “I just can’t do that. I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t believe I should be applying for a position I already have.”
So Philbrick stepped down from the job, vacating the position in the late stages of the summer basketball season.
“I didn’t do anything to be relieved of my position,” Philbrick said. “I just couldn’t go along with the process. I have standards and morals. If I did something wrong, I should be fired. That’s not what was being said. In the end, from the top, I just didn’t get the support. They wanted me to jump through some hoops. I’m old school. If you did something wrong, you should be relieved, and if you didn’t, it should be resolved and you move on. Then people have to make choices.”
Todd Demmons, the Mt. Blue assistant principal and athletic director confirmed that candidates would be interviewed Monday for the position but declined further comment.
Philbrick said he had been dealing with parental issues for awhile. He had met with some parents and said others went over his head to complain to administrators.
“When I looked at it, nothing was being resolved,” Philbrick said. “When parents and children start to run your program for personal reasons and it becomes about I and not team, I think it’s not a good situation. That’s what it was coming down to.”
The Cougars went 9-11 overall last winter. Mt. Blue beat Lewiston in a thrilling preliminary game and then nearly upset top-ranked Edward Little in the Eastern A quarterfinals, losing by two. The team went 28-62 during Philbrick’s five years, including 1-2 in the playoffs. That was after the team went 1-17 the year before he took over and 0-18 in his first season.
“I just appreciate the opportunity for the five years that I had,” said Philbrick, who had coached the Rangeley boys’ and was an assistant principal and athletic director there. “I thoroughly enjoyed all my teams there and the kids. I enjoyed the competitiveness of those girls. Where we took that team from and where we went in five years was unbelievable. You’ve got to give that to the kids and the parents that were invested in the things we were doing. There’s a lot more good things to come.”
Philbrick stressed that he wasn’t trying to be negative in explaining his departure, but he also sees a need for schools to address these kinds of conflicts.
“I’ve been an athletic director and an assistant principal,” Philbrick said. “It’s tough, but if you have a protocol and you have a system, you would hope it would be followed.”
Philbrick had nothing but praise for Demmons and assistant athletic director Rob Olsen. He said both were quite supportive.
“It is what it is,” Philbrick said. “It’s a hard thing to put out there because I don’t want to be bitter. I appreciate the time that I had. Hopefully, there are things that will be said so that this trend of parents getting in for personal reasons and twisting things can come to a head but it has to come to a head by high up in the administration being able to sort things out. If someone didn’t do something wrong then they need to stand up to that situation and not let them have their way for personal gains.”
The Cougars graduated starters Miranda Nicely, Kiana Thompson and Emily Knowles but return starters Addie Brinkman, a senior forward, and Caitlin Kane, a junior guard. Mt. Blue also has senior Sara Cummings and juniors Eryn Doiron and Emilee Eustis among potential returnees.
“I’m sad because I thought we were headed in the right direction,” Philbrick said. “I thought we really had something going. I really thought we had something where we were going to see some real good things in the near future.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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