Former college and high school assistant and head coach Harold Williams Jr. of Bangor has paid his dues in the coaching profession. Now he hopes to reap the rewards from 11 years of learning on the job and tutelage under other coaches as the new coach of Husson College’s women’s basketball team.

Williams takes over for Mary “Kissy” Walker, who resigned the post she has held for 12 years in order to concentrate more on her administrative duties at Husson. Walker, 37, is Husson’s NCAA Senior Woman Administrator and a teacher at the school. She also serves as assistant to Husson president Bill Beardsley and as the clinical coordinator for the school’s new education program.

“This is a big step as far as exposure and expectations,” said Williams, a graduate of Bangor High School and the University of Maine. “They’ve been constantly competitive as a top three team in the MAC [Maine Athletic Conference] the last several years and they did lose four great players, but I think we have some young players with some talent who can fill some of that void and I think we’ll have a successful season.”

Williams, 35, was Mark Savage’s assistant boys coach at Brewer High School for seven seasons and also worked one year with coachWarren Caruso’s Husson men’s team. He coached Sumner High School’s girls team and was head coach of Eastern Maine Technical College’s fledgling women’s team last year.

“My aspirations were to be a high school coach and teacher early on in my career, but Warren kind of put a bug in my ear about coaching in college and it went on from there,” Williams said. “This feels good. I’ve worked with a lot of successful coaches and this is the culmination of all those years of hard work.”

Walker leaves a large void to fill as she led the Braves to four MAC championships and four trips to the NAIA Division III National Tournament, including one trip to the NAIA Final Four in 1993. Husson won 236 games and lost 95 under Walker’s direction.

Williams is the cooperative education coordinator at Central High School in Corinth and lives in Bangor with his wife Rhonda and daughters Jaime and Brynn.

Dagan captains Mariners’ teams

South Berwick native and Springfield (Mass.) College assistant women’s basketball coach Craig D. Dagan has been appointed as the new head coach of Maine Maritime Academy’s women’s basketball and soccer programs in Castine.

Dagan, who earned degrees from Southern Maine Technical College of South Portland, the University of Massachusetts, and Stockbridge School of Agriculture (Mass.), graduated from Marshwood High School of Eliot. He has served as an assistant at Springfield for two seasons and UMass for five.

MMA is an NCAA Division III school in both basketball and soccer which competes in the North Atlantic Conference.

AE honors top scholar-athletes

Drexel University senior Lori Swanson and University of Vermont senior Chris Shaver have been named America East Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

Both were chosen from the AE scholar-athletes named from each of the conference’s 21 sports. The winners were selected by a committee made up of athletic administrators and NCAA faculty athletics representatives at the AE institutions.

Among the 21 individual sports honorees for the 2000-01 academic year are the University of Maine’s Anna James (women’s basketball) and Vanessa McGowan (women’s indoor and outdoor track and field).

Swanson, a pitcher on the Dragons softball team, compiled a 3.79 grade-point average as an electrical engineering major and is one of three players in America East history to have earned first team all-conference honors in each of her four seasons. She was 19-12 with a 1.62 ERA and a school-record 277 strikeouts in 216? innings.

Shaver was a goalie on the 2000 America East champion Catamounts soccer team. He had a 3.77 GPA as a physical therapy major and was named to the AE academic honor roll in each of his five seasons. Last fall, he posted a 13-8-1 record with a 0.93 goals-against average and eight shutouts.

Trio joins Maine training staff

Mark Badurak, Richard Cercone, and Ellise Spaulding have joined the University of Maine’s athletic training staff.

Badurak comes to Maine after serving as assistant athletic trainer at Union College since 1998. He will work with Maine’s ice hockey, swimming and diving teams.

Cercone was Fairfield University’s assistant athletic trainer for three seasons and will work with Maine’s women’s soccer and ice hockey programs.

Spaulding, a UMaine Class of 2000 graduate, returns after serving as Brewer High’s athletic trainer last year. She’ll work with the Black Bears’ volleyball, track and field, and softball teams.