HOULTON, Maine — When Tim Brewer ended a championship-laden 15-year run as the boys varsity basketball coach at Central Aroostook High School of Mars Hill in 2015, he did not want to classify it as a retirement.
Now everyone knows why.
Brewer, who guided his alma mater to four state championships, five Eastern Maine Class D titles and a 251-64 record record good for a .797 winning percentage, is the new head boys basketball coach at Houlton High School.
RSU 29 superintendent of schools Ellen Schneider made the announcement via email Friday afternoon, adding that Brewer will begin working with the Shiretowners’ summer basketball program beginning next week.
Brewer replaces Dillon Kingsbury, who left the post in June after one season due to job considerations.
“We’re very pleased to be able to bring Tim on board with all of his experience and his success,” said Houlton High principal Marty Bouchard.
“Plus, he’s a good person. The kids loved playing for him in Mars Hill and I’m just happy for our kids and our community that we were able to get such a fine candidate.”
Brewer, a 1995 Central Aroostook graduate who as a junior helped the Panthers win the 1994 Class D state title, became the school’s head coach at the start of the 2000-01 season after two years as an assistant.
He guided Central Aroostook to three state championships during a four-year stretch in 2005, 2006 and 2008, with the team compiling an overall record of 86-3 during that span.
The Panthers added a fourth state championship under Brewer in 2011 and returned to the state final one more time after winning the Eastern D crown in 2013 with a regional tournament run that included three overtime victories.
Central Aroostook went 216-54 during the regular season under his watch. The Panthers were ranked among the top three teams in the final Eastern D Heal points 10 different years, including No. 1 finishes in 2002, 2008 and 2011.
His teams had undefeated regular seasons in 2007, 2008 and 2011.
Brewer’s Central Aroostook squads compiled a 35-10 record during 14 postseason appearances that included additional trips to the Eastern D championship game in 2004 and 2009.
The only time the Panthers did not qualify for postseason play under Brewer was in 2015, when Central Aroostook finished 3-15.
Houlton, which won a Class C state championship as recently as 2014, became the smallest school in Class B North last winter under the new alignment created by the statewide expansion of high school basketball from four to five classes.
The Shiretowners finished 2-16 last season under Kingsbury, who had taken his first head coaching post at age 19 and guided Easton High School to a 67-15 record over four years before being approved for the Houlton job on June 1, 2015.
