CARIBOU, Maine — For the second year in a row, Caribou has decided to let a young and energetic coach take the reins of a varsity basketball program.
Kyle Corrigan, 28, received the nod out of a field of six candidates to succeed Chris Casavant as the boys’ basketball coach for the Vikings.
“I’m excited about this opportunity,” Corrigan wrote in an email. “I love basketball, I love to coach and I love sharing my passion for the game with others.
“I know it’s going to be a challenge at first, but it’s a challenge I’m excited about and ready for.”
Corrigan emerged as the choice of five members of a committee, which included Athletic Director David Wakana, that held interviews last week. Corrigan was approved Wednesday as the selection by RSU 39 Superintendent Tim Doak.
“Kyle was impressive during the interview and the committee members felt he was the right choice out of a solid group of applicants,” Wakana said. “He’s a classy person with a solid foundation in the sport and is committed to the program.
“We were looking for someone to be there for the long haul and we think he is a good, up and coming coach with a bright future,” Wakana added.
Casavant resigned last month after a 20-year varsity coaching career at CHS, the last 17 with the boys team. The Vikings went 6-13 this past season and were eliminated by Belfast in the preliminary round of the playoffs. Casavant’s attorney, Josh Tardy of Newport, acknowledged strained relations between Casavant and some Caribou parents as a factor in Casavant’s decision to step down.
Casavant recorded a 176-156 overall record and his team reached the Class B regional finals in 2014.
Corrigan’s hiring comes a year after Kayla Richards was chosen to coach the Caribou girls’ basketball team. Richards, 24, led the Vikings to an 8-10 record and an appearance in the Class B North tournament quarterfinals in her first season at the helm.
Corrigan played basketball for four seasons at Caribou under Casavant, graduating in 2008. He was a career 1,000-point scorer and was a McDonald’s Senior All-Star and a Bangor Daily News all-state honorable mention. He went on to play three years at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the first two under current Presque Isle Wildcat coach Terry Cummings.
“He was one of the toughest players I’ve ever coached and so unselfish,” Cummings wrote in an email. “I’m very happy for him.”
Corrigan does not have any prior varsity basketball coaching experience, though he has coached at the recreation level and with the local AYBL program.
“Coaching and playing are two completely different dynamics and I know it will be an adjustment at first, but I think I’ll make a strong transition,” Corrigan said.
He did serve as interim varsity soccer coach at Caribou in 2015 and has been an assistant coach every other season since 2013. Corrigan also is the director of the Aroostook Soccer Academy, which serves area youth in kindergarten through eighth grade with a weekly indoor program in the fall and winter and outdoor tournaments during weekends in the spring.
Corrigan and his wife, Jamie, reside in Caribou and have a 9-month-old daughter, Lainey. He is an assistant accountant with Maine Mutual Group in Presque Isle.
Corrigan is looking forward to running the Vikings’ summer program, which begins later this month.
“We are going to spend most of the summer implementing our system and working on the athletes’ individual skills,” Corrigan said. “I’m really big on skill development in the off-season and that’s going to be one of our main focuses.”
He said he favors “an up-tempo, fast-paced game” that needs to be controlled and plans on implementing a variety of defenses depending on his personnel.
Corrigan is confident he possesses the tools necessary to succeed as a varsity coach and is glad to have been given the opportunity.
“I have a lot of passion and knowledge of the game and when I do something, I do it one hundred percent,” Corrigan said. “I really enjoy studying the game and helping the kids and I’m going to give everything I have to these athletes and this program.”
