FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — One McLaughlin takes over for another as the new leader of the Fort Fairfield boys’ varsity basketball program.
SAD 20 Athletic Director Tim Watt said Vaughn McLaughlin was hired Wednesday as the Tigers’ new coach during a school board meeting. He replaces Logan McLaughlin, who resigned after four successful seasons due to the desire to spend more time with his family and devote more time to the 1,000-acre family potato farm he manages in Mars Hill. The two McLaughlins are not related.
Vaughn McLaughlin, a long-time band director at Caribou High School, has coached at several levels in the SAD 20 system, including JV boys, eighth-grade girls and as a volunteer assistant under Larry Gardner with both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams. He is currently the varsity softball coach at Fort Fairfield.
Watt said another coaching vacancy was filled Wednesday when Cody Tompkins was picked as the new boys’ varsity soccer coach for the Tigers. Tompkins served as an assistant coach at Easton before coaching the Central Aroostook boys’ soccer team for three seasons. He also has varsity coaching experience in basketball, with stints with the Hodgdon, Ashland and Central Aroostook programs.
Tompkins serves as human resources director for Northern Lighthouse, Inc. He succeeds John Ala, who coached the Fort Fairfield boys’ soccer team for 14 years before recently moving over to lead the school’s girls varsity team, which was previously coached by Jocelyn McDonald for two seasons before her resignation.
Ala’s 2015 team captured the Class D state championship.
