Region will see new coaches during 2011-12 school year
Prescott decides to retire after 26 years
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
This spring has seen the high school coaching landscape in central Aroostook County change dramatically for the 2011-12 school year.
The biggest move was the resignation of long-time Presque Isle boys basketball coach Tim Prescott. After 26 years, Prescott has decided to step down from the position.
He went 323-186 during his time with the Wildcats. His teams went to the playoffs 22 times and made into the Eastern Maine championship game on four occasions (1988, 1989, 1998 and 2006).
“What Tim has done for Presque Isle athletics is outstanding,” said SAD 1 Athletic Administrator Dave Heald. “Many do not realize the commitment it takes to coach a high profile program as long as he has in these times and his record speaks for itself.”
Ralph Michaud served as his assistant coach for 21 of those years and said Prescott was a great influence over the years.
“We are roughly the same age, but I learned a lot from him,” Michaud said. “The big thing was showing class as many times, especially early in my career, I wanted to blame tough losses on the officials but for Tim, it was always we needed to do something as a team to fix it.
PI girls’ varsity coach Jeff Hudson said Prescott “has stayed close to tons of his former players and I think they all realize that he not only taught them basketball, but also taught them traits that they apply in their adult lives now.”
One of those former players is current Caribou boys’ coach Chris Casavant, who played for Prescott in the late 1980s.
“I will always appreciate the impact that he has had on my career, but most importantly the impact that he has had on my life,” Casavant said. “When I played for him, he was tough because he always felt the better players had to do everything better and needed to be more accountable.
“As a high school kid, that didn’t work at the time, but as I look back, it did make us better because I wanted to play well and do the things he had expected so I didn’t have to feel the wrath.”
Casavant enjoyed the battles he was able to experience against his former coach over the past several seasons, and believes Prescott’s success over the years stems from “sticking to what he believed in and having his players buy into what he thought would make them successful.
“He has tried to instill in kids how to do things the right way and to be good athletes, but also good people,” Casavant added.
Hudson worked alongside Prescott over the past 12 seasons and said the respect each has for the other made for an outstanding relationship.
“At a lot of schools, the boys and girls programs do not get along and could care less about the other. We, as a girls program, cheer wholeheartedly for our boys and they do the same for us,” Hudson said.
“We asked each other questions about everything from plays, to how we would deal with a certain player to what time the bus should leave for a game,” he added. “It makes it a lot easier if you like working with the other coaches, and we all had a great relationship.”
Prescott will continue to teach physical education at PIHS.
Taking his place as the basketball coach will be Terry Cummings, a hiring made official last week. Cummings’ previous coaching job was with the University of Maine at Presque Isle men’s basketball team for the past three seasons.
Cummings is a Houlton native who starred for the Shiretowners in the mid-1980s and went on to a stellar playing career at UMPI, where he scored over 2,000 points and was inducted into the Owls’ Athletic Hall of Fame.
He went on to serve as athletic director at Greater Houlton Christian Academy from 2003-08 and coached both the girls and boys basketball teams during his tenure.
“Terry brings a lot of coaching experience at different levels,” Heald said. “His moral character and professionalism will maintain the level of what is expected at Presque Isle High School in athletics. I think he will fit in well.”
Cummings will serve as a permanent full-time substitute teacher at PIHS beginning this fall.
Another recent coaching development in the district is the recent resignation of boys’ varsity soccer coach Scott Young.
After 10 years of coaching the team, Young has decided leave both the teaching and coaching profession to take up a post “in the private industry.”
Young’s teams made the playoffs every year, winning Eastern Maine titles in 2005 and 2008. He was named coach of the year in the state for Class A and B schools and was a three-time Big East Conference/Penobscot Valley Conference coach of the year choice.
The Wildcats were 145-35-13 under Young.
A few weeks prior to resigning from the soccer job, Young had also stepped down as the boys’ varsity basketball assistant coach.
“Working for SAD 1 has been a wonderful experience and I could not ask for a better group of colleagues, in both teaching and coaching, to have worked with,” he said. “I have grown in many ways here and I will always treasure the opportunities provided to me by the district.”
Heald himself is retiring following 12 years at the post.
“This is a rewarding job in many ways,” Heald said. “SAD 1 is a great place to work. The administration is very supportive and helpful and I’m going to miss the students and the coaching staff.”
Heald received many honors over the years, including the Penobscot Valley Conference President’s Award for 2006-07, the MIAAA Special Achievement Award for the Aroostook League in both 2007 and 2011, the MIAAA Past President Special Achievement Award in 2007 and the IAABO 150 (Aroostook County basketball officiating board) Appreciation Award in 2011.
His replacement will be Mark White, who begins his duties July 1. White has been a coach at the middle school, JV and varsity levels in a number of sports while serving as a social studies teacher in the SAD 1 system for the past 18 years.
White is currently pursuing a master’s degree in interscholastic athletic administration through Ohio University.
“I’m excited to start and get to know the coaching staff,” White said. “I am extremely fortunate to be working with a lot of veteran coaches who have high standards for their athletes and their sub-varsity programs.
“I am quite humbled that the SAD 1 administration and school board have the faith in me to continue all the good work Dave has started,” he added.
Easton also has a coaching vacancy in boys’ varsity basketball following the resignation of Travis Carter last month.
The Bears went 55-40 under Carter and reached the playoffs in four of his five seasons. His team had one tournament appearance during his time at the post.
“When I took this job, I told myself I would step aside when I believed I had taken the team as far as I could,” Carter said. “With the help of my assistant coaches, active families and a great school administration, we brought back summer programs, a JV program and we doubled the number of active athletes in the school system.
“This program is about one step away from taking the boys from a very good team to a great team with a very strong core of players coming back this year and I figured now was the time to let someone step into this program where they are so close to being such a top contender in Class D.”
Carter also cited a time-consuming job in the trucking industry and the desire to spend more time watching his daughter and son in their school and recreation programs as reasons the time was right for the move.
A familiar face has returned to do some teaching and coaching at Central Aroostook Junior-Senior High School in Mars Hill. Stori Shaw has been hired as coach of the Panther girls’ varsity soccer and basketball teams.
“We open all our coaching positions every year to find the best candidates,” said Ryan Guerrette, who serves as SAD 42 athletic director. “We conducted interviews and Stori was the best candidate for the two jobs.”
Shaw is a 1993 CAHS graduate who was a standout athlete in three sports at the school. She has since served as athletic director at Limestone, coached varsity basketball for two years in Georgia and her most recent coaching job came last fall with the Hermon girls varsity soccer program.
Former Panther girls’ soccer coach Dave Collins has moved over to coach the varsity boys team as former coach Wallace Endy’s contract was not renewed, according to Guerrette.
In basketball, Shaw replaces Rodney Codrey, who had resigned after this past season following five years at the post.
