Fred Conlogue, center, stands with his sons, Zac, left, and Griffin at a Mt. Blue High School practice field on Tuesday. Fred Conlogue will now serve as junior varsity coach for the Mt. Blue girls soccer and girls basketball teams, which are now being coached by his sons. Callahan Towle photo
Longtime Mt. Blue coach Fred Conlogue and his sons, Griffin and Zac, are amused at the thought of their family becoming a coaching dynasty.
Both sons worked with Fred as junior varsity or co-coaches before their roles flipped, with Fred stepping down to the JV level of the girls basketball and girls soccer programs and allowing Zac and Griffin to take a crack as head varsity coaches for those sports. This will be Zac’s fifth year as the girls basketball coach. Griffin is heading into his first season as the girls soccer coach.
“I don’t know about (a dynasty), but it is kind of funny,” Fred said with a laugh. “There are probably some people who would say that in the area: ‘Conlogues coach everything around here.’”
Zac and Griffin said labeling their family as a coaching dynasty is an uncertainty.
“We’ll see. I think it is kind of a little too early to tell,” Zac said. “We will see what kind of happens over the next few years. It is pretty good having the three of us together…”
“It is mostly about that we live in the community, a community that we grew up in, and we love that community,” Griffin said. “We want to give back to that community in any way possible. For us, it is sports.”
MAKE WAY
Fred Conlogue did a 12-year coaching stint at Dirigo and another 14 years at Mt. Blue before relegating himself to JV status.
“I am sure there is a lot of varsity coaches who might have a hard time going down to be a JV coach, but for me, I almost look at (my sons) as an extension of me, even though they are different than I am,” Fred said. “I know they are going to get the job done. They are going to do everything they possibly can for their teams.”
So the torch has been passed to Zac and Griffin, with Fred still remaining as a JV coach in those sports.
“I am not a head coach at anything at this point,” Fred said. “Zac and I no longer co-coach the basketball. We were co-coaching for a while, even though I was doing JV, but it got to the point where just one voice was easier. (Zac) definitely had a more energetic voice than mine at that point, so I went with the youth.”
Fred resigned this past April as the girls soccer coach. Griffin applied for the head coaching position and got the job in June.
“I just got hired for the JV coach just a week and half ago,” Fred added. “That was the only route we could go. Originally, we wanted to co-coach and (former athletic director Chad Brackett) wanted one leader. I told him I was going to step down, and if (Griffin) got hired, I would be interested in doing the JV job.”
CONFIDENCE IS HIGH
Fred said the girls soccer program is in good hands with Griffin at the helm.
“(Griffin) is really working hard to develop the youth program in the town,” Fred said. “The one thing that I always have remembered from the time he started (coaching) with me is he doesn’t want to cut kids. He wants as many of them to play as possible. I think he understands that he needs the depth to be successful.
“It is encouraging to see (his) growth. He has really developed a good relationship with his players. He has really stepped up and helped the program in that way.”
Griffin has always enjoyed walking the sidelines with his father and observing how his dad handled himself on the field.
“I think it was a huge reason why I am ready to coach now,” Griffin said. “I was coached by him at a young age, so we are already on the same page because I grew up with his coaching style. The No. 1 thing is he is a player-first coach. So it is always about putting the kids first. He is also incredibly good at working with kids at all age groups, which is something I have taken from him.”
Zac said his father is well-organized and remains passionate about coaching.
“He likes making athletes better,” Zac said about Fred. “It is really cool working with him. He has been coaching a long time. I think one of the things that makes him and I work is that we can say something to each other and we won’t be offended by it.”
Zac Conlogue was also recently named the Mt. Blue boys soccer head coach, too — after coaching the Leavitt boys team the past six years — and will continue to coach the boys tennis team as well. Griffin is the girls tennis team’s skipper.
“(Zac) has always been so good with kids,” Fred said. “He gets down to their level and he has always been so good at it. At a very young age, he was coaching quite a few things.
“I was just so fortunate to have (my sons) around. Whenever I needed their help, they were always there if I was doing a camp. They just had so much more experience than most of the other people who were around.”
Fred said his sons have different styles to coaching high school sports.
“Zac isn’t terribly intense, but he is very passionate about wanting to be successful,” Fred said. “Griffin is a little more serious and intense. They are both different.”
The Sunday meal features in-depth conversations about high school sports at Fred’s home. All three coaches, including their mom, Tammy Conlogue — who coaches Mt. Blue Middle School’s eighth grade girls soccer team — trade advice and share the same philosophy of coaching over a home-cooked meal.
“She (Tammy) is the reason why we have been so successful in the past handful of years,” Griffin said. “When (my mom) took over (the middle school program), she was getting the kids ready for that high school competition level and getting them on the same page. So it isn’t just my dad and brother, but my brother’s wife … who coached JVs before I did. The whole family — everyone across the board — is passionate and committed to growing athletics in the community and in Franklin County in general.”
Fred is elated that his sons followed in his footsteps and have become educators and coaches and still put in their time in running soccer and basketball camps.
“How lucky can I get?” Fred asked. “To get to see them coach … and get to work with them is just such a lucky experience that, you know, when I am old and gray, I am definitely going to be able to look back on that time and say, ‘Wow, that was some pretty special times that we had together, to be able to make the most of those teams and get them successful as they can be.’ It is almost like a dream come true in some ways.”
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