More than one month after the end of high school basketball season, coaching vacancies continue to pile up. Hermon, Winslow and Washington Academy in East Machias are all seeking new basketball coaches.

Count Hermon High’s girls program as a team without a coach as Don Erb has resigned, acting athletic director Ned Collins confirmed Monday.

Erb, who teaches at Bangor High and was an assistant boys soccer coach there last fall, had said he did not want to coach and teach at different schools. He had coached the Hawks since 1998 and was named the Eastern Conference Class B Coach of the Year in 1999.

He also served as the Hermon boys soccer coach in the mid-1990s.

“It’s tough anytime you’re coaching in one system and teaching or doing something else in another,” Collins said. “It’s a tough situation.”

Hermon would like to have its new coach in place for this summer, Collins said, and at least one or two people have already applied. The school will likely start the hiring process next week.

At Washington Academy of East Machias, girls basketball coach Tony Maker stepped down at the end of the season. Maker, who is the principal of the Elm Street School in East Machias, had been coaching the Raiders since 1993.

“I think his job demanded more time than he had,” said WA athletic director David Dowley said. “He’s going to be hard to replace.”

Maker also resigned from the baseball coaching position, which prompted the school to quickly hire former Jonesport-Beals baseball and girls basketball coach Blaine Steeves.

Winslow boys coach Mike Thurston has stepped down after five years with the program, athletic director Sean Keenan said.

Thurston, who has been a familiar face in Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference basketball programs in both Class A and Class B for about 20 years, resigned at the end of the season to spend more time with his family.

“We’re very sorry to see him go,” Keenan said. “He did a heck of a job.”

Thurston has not resigned from his social studies teaching post at the school.

MPA meeting opens Thursday

The issues of the open tournament and regional play, recruiting and transfers will all get good looks when the Maine Principals’ Association gathers Thursday and Friday for its spring meeting at the Samoset Resort in Rockport.

The MPA, which has 153 members, can conduct business with a quorum of 40 schools and a simple majority is needed for approval of a proposal, with each school awarded one vote.

Any voting is likely to be done Thursday, when each MPA committee reports to the whole membership.

The interscholastic executive committee, which has been examining the open tournament and regional play and even sent out a survey to gauge member schools’ opinions, has already said it will recommend that those postseason formats remain in place for the 2002-03 school year.

Of the 117 schools that responded to the survey, only 31 (26.4 percent) favored the continuation of the open tournament and 45 (38.4 percent) favored regional play. Although the majority of schools would do away with both formats, the committee made its recommendation because it could not come to a consensus solution at a meeting last month.

An ad-hoc MPA committee will also reintroduce rules changes for recruitment and transfer of student-athletes. That committee, which is headed up by Scarborough principal Andrew Dolloff and Maine Central Institute headmaster Doug Cummings, presented its ideas at the general membership meeting in November to give the member schools some time to think over the changes. The committee’s proposal is on the agenda this week.

Hy-Tek offering discounts

Hy-Tek, the company that produces the software many high school and college track and field programs use to score meets, is offering a 25 percent discount to schools and coaches.

Software such as Meet Manager and Team Manager are available and discounted.

To receive a catalog contact Hy-Tek’s sales center at 252-633-5111 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., fax a request to 252-533-5122, email the company at sales@hy-tekltd.com, or visit the web site, www.hy-tekltd.com. To order on line, go to www.hy-tekltd.com/store.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.