HODGDON, Maine — Walking into the Hodgdon High School gymnasium Dec. 13 as an opposing coach for the first time in his career proved to be an emotional experience for former Hawk standout Tyler Putnam.
Now the head coach of the Washburn girls’ basketball team, Putnam said stepping onto the court brought back a flood of positive memories.
“It was a fantastic experience,” he said. “There were a lot of familiar faces here tonight and a little bit of harassing, in a good-natured way, from some of my former teammates. The nostalgia is unbelievable. Everything looks exactly the same and a lot of the faces haven’t changed.”
Putnam, 32, was a basketball standout at Hodgdon from 1998-2002 and made second team all-state his senior year. During his senior year, Putnam scored his 1,000th career point, becoming just the eighth player (at that time) to reach the scoring plateau.
He helped guide the Hawks to a perfect 18-0 regular season record, under the guidance of coach Rob Moran, by averaging nearly 30 points per game. The Hawks, who competed in the Class C region that year, lost to Calais, 67-56, in the quarterfinals at the Bangor Auditorium. In that game, Putnam netted 19 points.
He went on to play collegiately at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. Upon graduation in 2006, he coached middle school basketball for one season in Houlton and then the varsity boys’ team at Hodgdon for a year before moving on to the Acton School Department near Sanford for eight years, where he served as athletic director, soccer coach and basketball coach.
This season, Putnam is in his first year as head coach of the Washburn girls’ basketball team, having taken over the highly successful Beaver program. Washburn captured five consecutive Class D championships from 2011-15, with Mike Carlos coaching the team to the first two and Diana Trams to the final three. Trams stepped down last spring soon after Washburn was eliminated in the semifinal round of the Class D North tournament.
“I realized I wanted to move back to The County and saw the Washburn position was available, so I applied,” he said.
He was hired as a social studies teacher at WDHS this past summer.
Star-Herald sports reporter Kevin Sjoberg contributed to this article.
