A veteran head football coach and a first-timer have filled a couple of local coaching vacancies.
Former Portland assistant Mark Renna is the new head coach at Gray-New Gloucester. He replaces Jim Hersom, who was confirmed as the new head coach at Dirigo on Monday.
Renna was a two-way lineman at Cheverus, graduating in 1997. After playing at Plymouth State, where he earned an associate’s degree, he returned to Cheverus to coach with Dawson at Cheverus for five years. He then spent two years at Scarborough under current Edward Little head coach Dave Sterling and four years at Westbrook before joining Jim Hartman’s staff as defensive coordinator and line coach when Hartman took over at Portland in 2012.
It was Hartman, who previously coached at nearby Yarmouth, who told Renna about the opening at Gray-New Gloucester and encouraged him to apply.
It will be a challenging introduction to head coaching for Renna. The Patriots have never made the playoffs since becoming a varsity program in 2005 and are 2-31 over the last four years. But he’s optimistic about the program’s future.
“We’ve got a sound group of kids coming up. I’ve only seen them on film, but I’ve gotten to meet quite a few of them up to date,” said Renna, who is scheduled to meet with the players as a group on Thursday. “They’re great kids and hard workers, so that’s what we’re going to be. We’re going to build on hard work and dedication.”
Renna has drawn his football philosophy from a long list of veteran coaches, including Hartman and Sterling, the late Mike Landry and Tom Thornton, Bill LeRoy, Jack Dawson and Ernie and Vin Salamone at Cheverus. Not surprisingly, given that list, he prefers more traditional football over the more trendy run-and-gun philosophy.
“We’re going to be a Wing-T team,” he said. “Obviously, I was a lineman in high school and college, so I’m a three yards and a cloud of dust kind of guy.”
Renna isn’t completely unfamiliar with the Campbell Conference and the teams that dropped down to Western C after last year’s statewide restructuring.
“My last year at Westbrook we were Class B, so I got to see Mountain Valley, Cape Elizabeth, Wells, Spruce Mountain, so I got to see it a little bit,” he said. “I’m not too familiar with the league, but I’ve got a grasp of it, I think.”
Renna, 35, works as a corrections officer at the Cumberland County Jail. He lives in Portland with his wife and two young daughters.
Hersom, whose hiring was approved by the RSU 10 school board Monday night, is making his sixth head-coaching stop.
He has ties to the area for some time (his wife, Mary, has taught in the region for 28 years) and he has followed, and admired, the program from afar.
“They were always competitive,” Hersom said. “I think their vision of athletics is in line with how I feel about it. They take it serious and they support it well.”
Hersom replaces Dave Crutchfield, who stepped down after three seasons at the helm in which he led the Cougars to two Western Maine finals.
“I just really like what they’ve done,” he added. “Certainly, Doug Gilbert and Dave Crutchfield, this is their program. Basically, I think I’m going to be going in there and try to be a caretaker of the program. They’ve built this thing up and the community and the kids have done a great job, so if I can just add a little bit to it and keep the ball rolling, I think everybody will be happy.”
Hersom, who spent the last two years at Gray-New Gloucester, resigned from that post in late January, roughly three weeks before he heard about the opening at Dirigo. He declined to give the reasons for stepping down, but said he gave it a lot of thought before turning in his resignation.
“It was really, really hard to step back at Gray,” he said. “The kids were fabulous. The community was fabulous. Working with (athletic director) Gary Groves and (principal) Eric Klein was great. So it was really, really difficult but it was just something I felt I had to do.”
Hersom has had stints at Livermore Falls, Brunswick, Mt. Ararat and Edward Little. He led Livermore Falls to the Class C West championship in 1992 and EL to the Class A East title in 2002. He also was an assistant coach at Leavitt 2009-11.
“Each opportunity, I’ve had an opportunity to grow as a person and as a coach, and I think that’s been a positive,” Hersom said. “The associations I’ve made with different teachers and coaches has been real positive. Just looking back where I’ve been, I think when I’ve left the program I’ve made it better than it was.”
Hersom said he plans to meet with players and others involved with the program in the near future.
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