Frosh coach Morrison takes Calais varsity basketball post

After a tumultuous year of coaching changes, the Calais boys basketball team has someone who the school hopes can provide some stability.

Athletic director Tom Lynch said the school has elevated freshman coach Randy Morrison to take over the varsity program.

Lynch said Morrison, an employee at the Georgia-Pacific mill in Woodland, has coached in the Calais Recreation Department travel basketball program and is an assistant coach for the Blue Devils’ girls soccer team. He also played basketball for Calais in the 1970s.

“He’s very well-known in Calais and in Washington County but he may be a new name in the rest of Maine,” Lynch said. “He has a great rapport with the kids, great work ethic. What we’ve seen from him in the summer program has been excellent.”

Morrison takes over for Calais principal Jim Frost, who coached the team on an interim basis last season after the school hired longtime area coach Ron Brown, who could not take the position due to an illness. Brown was hired in place of Arnold Clark, whose contract was not renewed during an ongoing dispute with the Calais school board. Clark recently accepted a girls basketball position at Woodland.

Lynch said the school is eager to leave the coaching controversies in the past.

“It’s a relief to have a person on board who’s going to be committed to the team and make this a priority,” Lynch said. “He has the kids excited about the program. He had 20 kids at open gym [Wednesday night], and that’s a big step for us. We’re very happy to have someone of his caliber coaching our kids.”

Madawaska’s Michaud retires

For the first time in 34 summers, Marc Michaud isn’t fretting about summer leagues, tryouts or how to keep the Madawaska boys soccer team in shape during the harvest break.

Michaud, the only coach that the Owls have ever known, announced his retirement at the end of the school year. And although he’s enjoying time at home, his mind is still on the team.

Michaud’s retirement from coaching coincides with his retirement from teaching social studies at Madawaska. He’ll also stop high school officiating duties but plans to do some college games.

“I’ve opted not to officiate in an effort to follow the team,” he said. “I’ll help them out if they’re in a bind but I’d like to watch.”

Athletic director and girls varsity soccer coach Ed Marshall said junior varsity coach Vince Vanier will take over the boys soccer job this fall.

Michaud recorded 316 wins with the team and the Owls won five Eastern Maine titles, including one in 1998. Marshall, who taught with Michaud for 25 years and has coached the Madawaska girls varsity for 19 years, said he could only remember one season in which the boys team didn’t make the playoffs.

“He’s one of the all-time leading coaches in Maine,” Marshall said. “He’s probably one of the top three. That’s been the topic of conversation over the years.”

Michaud, who played soccer at the University of Maine-Fort Kent, started the soccer program the same year he started teaching social studies and civics at the high school. To pick one team that stands out, he joked, might get him in trouble.

“Last year was probably the best technical team I’ve ever had, but it’s something when you take a team that’s not as good and go a long way with them,” he said. “Your record isn’t always a measure of your success.”

New Schenck coach eager to begin

It’s not an ideal situation to step into, replacing a successful, longtime coach whose controversial resignation prompted a flurry of letters in the local paper.

But after some initial apprehension, new Schenck of East Millinocket girls soccer coach Rick Davis said he’s ready for the season.

“Orignially when all this took place I had a few misgivings about this,” said Davis, who runs Rick’s Market in East Millinocket. “But I’ve put it all behind me. My daughter Emily is going to be a junior and I’ve known these kids since she was little. I think I understand them and know them well.”

Davis replaces Ron Marks, who coached the girls soccer team for 19 years until he resigned last fall when he claimed the Schenck administration asked him to stop exchanging lobster or steak for chicken at the team dinner, which Marks said he used as an incentive for on-field achievements.

“I think it was too bad the way it turned out,” Davis said. “I’ve talked to Ron and he wished me all the best. I do feel a little bit of pressure, but not any more than I would going into a program where there is a tradition you want to maintain. I’d like to take it to the next level.”

Davis, who is an assistant girls basketball coach at the school and has coached in the town’s recreational programs, will have plenty to work with this year. The team lost three seniors – although two were key defensive players – to graduation and returns almost all of the offense from last year’s Eastern Maine Class C runners-up.

“He’s done a good job with the [basketball] program,” athletic director John Farrington said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of year he has with the soccer team.”