Dick Barstow has made plenty of stops in his storied coaching career, and he’s had success with almost every girls basketball team he has coached.

That success has translated into four state titles in different classifications, seven Eastern Maine championships and 15 or 16 trips to the tournament – a conservative estimate, according to Barstow.

And on Dec. 29, the 66-year-old Katahdin of Sherman Station skipper earned his 600th coaching win with a 66-32 victory over Deer Isle-Stonington.

Barstow is believed to be the winningest high school coach ever in Maine. The Cougars won their Monday night game against Fort Fairfield, which brings his win total to 604.

“It just means I’ve been around for a long time. It’s a longevity thing,” Barstow said with a laugh.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” the Dexter High graduate added. “I’ve always been involved in athletics, all my life. I’ve enjoyed coaching the girls. They seem to do what you want them to do.”

Other active coaches with a significant number of wins include Hodgdon girls coach Phil Faulkner, who earned his 400th win in 1998, and Jonesport-Beals’ Ordie Alley, who won his 500th on Tuesday night.

Bob Cimbollek, who retired last year, earned his 400th win as the boys coach at John Bapst in Bangor.

Late Stearns of Millinocket boys coach George Wentworth had 478 wins at the time of his retirement and the late Bernard “Bunny” Paradis recorded 360 at Mount Desert Island High School.

Barstow began his career in 1960 at Sherman High School, taking over the girls program because Gerry Duffy (who would prove to be a successful high school coach himself) was already coaching the boys.

Barstow stayed in southern Aroostook County when Sherman and Patten High Schools merged into Katahdin. He has also coached at Central Aroostook in Mars Hill, Waterville and Presque Isle.

Barstow won Class C state titles with Central Aroostook of Mars Hill in 1981 and 1982 and Class A championships in 1990 and 1997 with Presque Isle.

He returned to Katahdin for the 1997-98 season, but Barstow had never really left – he has kept the same home in Sherman since 1970, always choosing to make a daily commute or return on the weekends.

Barstow said he knew he had 502 wins in 1990, and he figured he was getting close to 600, but it took sportscaster Rene Cloukey of WAGM-TV in Presque Isle to tell Barstow he had reached the 600-win plateau.

This season Barstow has had to deal with a knee ligament injury to starter Lindsay Duffy-Stanley, but the open tournament in place this year has allowed him to ease Duffy-Stanley into the lineup without feeling any pressure to bring her back quickly.

The Cougars are 7-5 this season and ranked fifth in the Eastern Maine Class D Heal Point rankings released Tuesday.

“We’re not great,” Barstow said. “But we’re not too bad, either.”

Kemble, Thurston get OT posts

The Old Town School Board filled two coaching vacancies at a special meeting on Tuesday night.

The board appointed Mike Thurston of Old Town to lead the high school softball team and Jay Kemble of Bangor to coach the Indians’ baseball team this spring.

Thurston will coach softball, but he’s likely better known for his exploits as a basketball star. Thurston hit a shot from beyond halfcourt to give Caribou the 1969 state championship.

Thurston also officiated high school basketball games for more than 20 years and earned a reputation as one of the state’s most respected referees. He is an elementary school physical education teacher in Old Town and has served as an assistant softball coach for former coach Lori Bjorn.

Kemble, who played high school baseball at Mt. Blue in Farmington and then pitched at the University of Maine, has served as a coach at both the college and American Legion level.

He coached under UMaine boss John Winkin for more than eight years before resigning in 1998. He’ works as an English teacher and basketball coach at James Doughty Middle School in Bangor.