There will be three new faces on the sidelines this year of local high school basketball teams. The Katahdin boys will be led by first-year coach Rick Larabee, while the Hodgdon girls are under the tutelage of first-year varsity coach Taylor Quint and the East Grand boys have longtime coach Steve Gray at the helm.
“Steve is a quality coach who will help elevate our boys’ program,” said Chris Young, East Grand School athletic director. “We have numbers in the program and Steve will work to turn that into wins for us. He is also a great mentor.”
Gray, who replaces Marcus Crocker who resigned due to his work schedule, had last coached for the Greater Houlton Christian Academy. He was there for seven years, with a few of those years coaching both girls’ and boys’ teams.
But, Gray’s coaching roots are at East Grand School, where he coached for 13 years prior to heading to the academy.
“This year, I have been coaching 21 years,” said the East Grand alumnus.
Gray used to referee junior high games and a few junior varsity before Larry Malone — then East Grand School principal — asked for his help coaching junior high basketball.
“I told Larry to use me wherever he could,” said Gray.
That led Gray to coaching his two nieces in junior high on a team of 18 players; he coached junior varsity under Mike Carlos years ago and he guided the junior varsity boys program under head coach Jeff Whitten.
The crafty veteran coach is old school and brings values to the court, including seven rules, many carried out by the honor system.
“I want the boys to have a good work ethic and team spirit,” he said. “They are actually talking on the court more than they did in the last couple of years. Their attitudes overall seem much better.”
Gray is rebuilding a team that suits up three freshmen and one eighth-grader, along with several players who have not seen much playing time.
“I want to see them get more on the winning track,” he added. “I do not care if we lose a game if we play hard the whole game. I want them to play right to when the buzzer sounds.”
Quint was originally set to coach the girls team at GHCA before officials at the school opted not to have a varsity team due to the lack of participants. Out of respect for GHCA, she did not want to be interviewed again for this story as a new coach.
