Walter Polky talks with a player during a 2017 Maranacook football practice in Readfield. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
OAKLAND — Messalonskee High School football coach Walter Polky is no longer with the program, school Athletic Director Chad Foye said Wednesday, marking the second time in seven seasons the coach did not finish out a full football season as a head coach.
Foye declined to provide a reason for Polky’s departure, saying only it was a “personnel decision.”
Polky was not on the sidelines during the Eagles’ last game, a 39-38 loss to Mt. Blue on Sept. 30 in Farmington. Foye said he will help coach the team with assistant coaches Dave Cusano, Ryan Doucette and Dennis Martin for the rest of the season.
Messalonskee (1-4) has lost three consecutive games and is clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in Class B North.
Polky did not return phone calls Wednesday seeking comment.
Polky’s departure from the Messalonskee role is the second time he has not finished out a full football season as a head coach. He resigned midway through the 2016 season as football coach at Spruce Mountain High School in Jay.
At the time, Polky declined to elaborate on his Spruce Mountain departure, saying in a 2016 interview with the Sun Journal, “I’m not getting into detail because it’s a lot of nonsense.”
Walter Polky looks on during a 2017 Maranacook football practice in Readfield. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal
Polky became Messalonskee head coach in 2019 after Brad Bishop left for Mattanawcook Academy. He went 4-18 in two and a half seasons leading the Eagles. Messalonskee followed a winless season in 2019 with a three-win campaign last fall.
After leaving Spruce Mountain — where he went 24-17 overall with 8-3 and 8-2 marks in 2013 and 2014, respectively — Polky spent two seasons as head football coach at Maranacook. He went 13-8 with the Black Bears, who finished 7-4 in 2017 and 6-4 in 2018 as part of the now-defunct developmental Class E.
Polky, a Winthrop native, had spent two years as an assistant coach at Bates College prior to his tenure in the high school coaching ranks. In high school, he was a star player on Winthrop’s 2000 Class C championship team, the last Ramblers squad to win a state title.
Foye said he hopes to provide stability to the program in the final weeks of the season.
“I’m working with those three coaches right now, and we’re trying to move forward and just kind of maintain the progress these kids have made all year,” said Foye, now in his fifth year as Messalonskee’s athletic director. “I’m doing what I can and fitting in where I can to help our kids.”
Foye has a football coaching background, having served as a Cony assistant coach from 1994-2004. He was also the head boys hockey coach at Cony for 22 years, as well as an assistant soccer coach before becoming Messalonskee athletic director in June 2018.
Messalonskee is next scheduled to play Friday night at 7 against Cony (3-2) at Fuller Field in Augusta.
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